And finally, forgive me if I wrap up the show quickly, there’s a huge celebration going on just down the street and I want to get out of here and try and avoid a big traffic snarl.
L.A. Kings fans are celebrating the team’s first-ever Stanley Cup victory. They’re also buying a lot of stuff, as our intern Liyna Anwar found out.
Fan: Hardcore Kings fan, baby!
Liyna Anwar: So basically, I see you’re wearing L.A. Kings jerseys. Are you planning to buy more merchandise today?
Fan: Probably not today, but hopefully next weekend.
Anwar: And what kind of stuff are you buying?
Fan: Jerseys, baseball caps. Whatever has the Kings logo — I’m there.
Anwar: And how much do you plan on spending?
Fan: I would say about $500 or so. Yep.
Anwar: How much have you spent already?
Fan: About $200.
$700 on hockey stuff? Turns out, though, the Kings don’t even get all that money. Here’s sports economist Andrew Zimbalist.
Andrew Zimbalist: In terms of merchandising, the teams don’t get that directly. What happens in all of the sports leagues is that when merchandise is sold to consumers, the league gets around 16 percent of the receipts from that. It goes to the central office, and then the central office distributes that equally to all of the teams. And so, you know, if the Montreal Canadiens had gone to the Stanley Cup and won the Stanley Cup, it would have the same impact on the Kings as the Kings going to the Stanley Cup and winning.
Montreal Canadiens. Heaven forbid.
Just an idea how crazed these Kings fans are in this town? We read today that some fans were paying up to $600 for seats today.
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