Who else loses when the NBA cancels their season?

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One of the special things about Boston is the passion and intensity of our sports fans. I learned this firsthand a number of years ago when I worked for Sports Illustrated and sold advertising to these folks.  I know the intensity of the Boston fans is annoying to die hard sports fans in other cities, particularly New Yorkers (read Red Sox and Yankees rivalry).  But the passion is not confined to just baseball.  There are rabid Celtics fan in this town too. So as we all sit and wait and wonder if the two sides in the NBA negotiation can ever come together, it is not just the fans who suffer.  Consider the number of nonprofits and schools who will lose out on hundreds and even thousands of dollars of charitable support.

The Celtics are one organization that makes a very significant commitment to a number of charitable organizations in the Boston community.  Their players donate their time to all kinds of charitable events and fundraisers.  I'm sure this is true across the country for all of the teams in the NBA. It is what good sports team do.   And then there is the vast number of generous folks who donate their sports tickets into auctions.  We see this everyday.  Tickets to sporting events are one of the most popular categories of items in our auctions.  A sweet set of tickets in a box with VIP privileges can often go for hundreds of dollars, sometimes more.

So what is the cost in this stand-off?  How much will the deserving nonprofits out there have to make up from the loss of this important source of donations.  Let's hope that generous donors will continue to donate their football, hockey, baseball, soccer, tennis and golf tickets into deserving auctions until the tall men of the NBA can come together.