BATON ROUGE, LA — North Carolina’s loss was Louisiana’s gain to the tune of $44.9 million. That’s the direct economic impact of the 2017 NBA All-Star Game, according to LSU.
Charlotte was originally scheduled to be the host city. But the NBA backed out of the deal after North Carolina legislators passed a bill that placed limits on which public bathrooms transgender people could use.
In July of 2016, the NBA announced that the game would be moved. So the NBA needed to find a new city to host the game, and fast. And the league didn’t have time to break in a newbie. Cha-ching, New Orleans had a game plan in place to host the game, with just months to prepare, so the NBA awarded the 2017 All-Star Game to the Crescent City.
Now, the LSU Economics & Policy Research Group is releasing the results of its study on the economic impact of the game for Louisiana.
Here’s a breakdown from the study of how the money was spent:
Visitors: $23.7 million
National Basketball Association (NBA): $18.7 million
Media Outlets: $1.4 million
Sponsors: $3.9 million
But the benefits went beyond those figures. According to the study, there was an additional indirect benefit of $82.7 million in sales. Also, workers in the state earned a total of $24.7 million. On the government’s side, the study says the game brought in $2.5 million in state sales and excise taxes.
Since the game’s move from Charlotte to New Orleans, North Carolina lawmakers passed a compromise bill to address many of the concerns surrounding its controversial bathroom bill, and the NBA responded. Now, Charlotte will host the 2019 All-Star Game.