The start of a lockout-shortened NBA season will be a welcome holiday gift for the businesses reliant on the fans who flock to and around the Pepsi Center.
With a 66-game season tentatively scheduled to begin Christmas Day, street vendors, restaurateurs and sports merchandisers are excited to make up for the six weeks of revenue already lost.
Nuggets games are big money to downtown businesses, according to the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. Each home game generates about $1.5 million in economic activity.
“It couldn’t come at a better time, since January and February are really slow seasons for us,” said Casey Bobay, owner of Mile High Pedicabs. “Wednesday nights are slim pickings downtown in the winter, but with the Lakers in town, it’s a whole different thing.”
Thousands rely on surrounding surface parking lots to attend games, and the Auraria Higher Education Center campus across the parkway from the Pepsi Center gets plenty of business on game nights.
With about 300 parking spots consumed by construction of a new building, the demise of an NBA season would mean a chunk of lost change.
“We were expecting to lose about half of our special-events revenue,” said Bill Mummert, the Auraria campus’ chief financial officer.
Nuggets fans bring a $320,000 payday each season to the Auraria campus.
Local restaurants are hoping to salvage revenues many already chalked up as lost.
At nearby Brooklyn’s, Nuggets games accounted for about 10 to 15 percent of its monthly business, manager Kyle Gutherz said.
“It wasn’t just our business that was impacted but that of the staff, which wasn’t working as many shifts because of the shortfall,” Gutherz said. “We feel like, finally, they got it done. Let’s go to work.”
While some businesses welcome the extra work, others shifted into a frenzied overdrive.
“We’re ramping up, fast, and that’s not that easy to do,” said John Brennan, division manager for the Sportsfan retailer, which had stopped its Nuggets orders. Now, a good bit of confusion comes from not knowing which players are returning.
“It’s a personality-driven league, so jerseys are always the thing,” Brennan said. “It’s all dependent on who we sign and who goes on the floor.”
With the makings of a mediocre Avalanche season and what looked to be a no-go basketball season, Brennan was prepared to grasp at anything that would boost sales.
“With an almost-negative Broncos start and fans turning on them, it was looking bleak,” he said.
His solution, if necessary?
“We can be Raiders fans if we really had to be.”
David Migoya: 303-954-1506, dmigoya@denverpost.com,
