CBS SportsLine wire reports
Dec. 8, 1998

PHILADELPHIA -- The NBA lockout cost this city more than the All-Star game. Make it an estimated $35 million.

Now,

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Philadelphia will have to wait until 2002 for another chance.

NBA commissioner David Stern told Mayor Edward Rendell Tuesday the Feb. 14 game was canceled, leaving hotels, restaurants and other businesses scrambling to recoup lost revenue.

"We certainly hope to make up the business, but there's no guarantee," said Wendy Reismen of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Philadelphia.

The 2000 All-Star game has been awarded to the Golden State Warriors, and the 2001 game is expected to go to the Washington Wizards. But Stern promised it would be back in Philadelphia the following year.

"We promise you'll get a first-class All-Star experience in 2002," Stern said.

"By then we'll get the real game with the maximum economic benefits for the city and it will be a happy occasion," Rendell said.

ABOUT 5,300 ROOMS WERE BOOKED leading to the game at First Union Center. That alone was expected to bring in about $3 million, said J. Mickey Rowley, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association.

"And you can probably double that amount when you include associated revenue, such as meals," Rowley said.

The Ritz-Carlton was one of 18 area hotels with contracts with the league. A representative said her hotel lost "hundreds of thousands" since about 80 percent of their 290 rooms had been booked.

About 175 of the 193 rooms at the Sheraton Rittenhouse Square were reserved from Friday to Sunday of All-Star Weekend for media members, said the hotel's director of sales, Bruce Hamlin.

"We will be a bit luckier than most other hotels," Hamlin said. ``We had TV and radio crews staying here who canceled weeks ago because they knew this would happen."

THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR since 1951 the showcase game will not be held. The announcement was expected as the lockout threatens to wipe out the entire season, and in the event of a sudden settlement the players would need weeks to practice.

A hint of the cancellation came with the earlier decision to scrap the NBA Jam Session, a four-day interactive fan event scheduled for the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Feb. 11.

In anticipation of the cancellation, tourism officials began working on a marketing blitz weeks ago. Meryl Levitz, president of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp, said the ads will try to lure couples to the area for Valentine's Day weekend.

Fans had already been turned off at sporting goods stores by the lockout. Many retailers in the Philadelphia area said they never bothered to order All-Star game paraphernalia.

"WE WOULD HAVE BOOKED some shirts, but with the impending lockout, we didn't," said Dan Newell, manager of Wayne Sporting Goods Co. in nearby Delaware County.