As arenas remain closed and seats sit empty, new numbers released last week from Statistics Canada show just how much money Alberta’s economy is missing out on, as major leagues remain shut down due to COVID-19.
ATB Financial released an analysis of the StatsCan numbers which found in 2018 — the most recent year of data — Alberta revenues from spectator sports and other major events like concerts brought in $1.2 billion.
That works out to just over 12 per cent of the Canadian total of $9.7 billion. Of that $1.2 billion, spectator sports in Alberta generated $538 million in revenue, or about 45 per cent of the provincial total. “It really is money that can’t come back, and that’s why the NHL and NBA is so loathe to just call off the season,”