Squatters Occupying Vacant Luxury Boxes at Hard-Hit NBA Arenas

NEW YORK, NY (Sportsman's Daily Wire Service) The global economic crisis has the NBA reeling. While attendance is technically up (official figures include no-shows), revenues from parking, concessions and merchandise have fallen dramatically. To underscore the league's financial straits, 12 teams are vying for a piece of the $200 million the NBA is borrowing from JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America to sustain those most hard-hit by the economic downturn.

The crisis has even reached into luxury suites, many of which have remained dark for months. But while the suites are dark, not all are unoccupied. According to Brian Weathers, a league official, squatters have been found living -- quite comfortably -- in luxury suites at arenas around the country.

"There's hardly an arena in the league that doesn't have a squatter problem - in fact, we've found entire families living in luxury suites, some who've been there undisturbed for weeks," said Weathers. "They stock the refrig, use the facilities, and hang their clothes out to dry. You kick them out, but they re-appear in another empty suite the next day. And they're not just your garden variety homeless types - we've seen former bank managers, loan officers, financial planners and car salesmen with no where else to turn. Our official position is that luxury suites are not to be used as homeless shelters. Unofficially, we welcome the additional body count - have you been to a Clippers or Grizzlies game lately? It's like a morgue in there...we'll take warm bodies any way we can get them."

Morris Katz, a 49 year old former financial planner from Memphis, has been living comfortably at an undisclosed luxury suite for four weeks.

"This suite was actually owned by a former client, I used to watch several games a year from this very couch," said Katz, heating a cup of soup on the stove. The TV played in the background. "I'm very comfortable here. Every so often someone comes in to vacuum and clean up, but other than that no one really bothers you. And it's really quiet, particularly at night, which is a tribute to our fans and the Grizzlies' brand of basketball."

It's also been learned that several current NBA players have used luxury suites to temporarily house friends and family members.

"It's not just out-of-work fans -- one of the best-kept secrets is all the players living paycheck to paycheck who pretend to go back to houses that are actually in foreclosure, but are in fact living out of a pimped-out corporate suite with their posses, girlfriends and extended families - all of whom they support," said Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns. "I'm not gonna name names, but last week during a time-out, one of the guys gets a call from his brother asking to have several rolls of toilet paper sent up to the suite. Unfortunately we had to step onto the court before the matter could be resolved. It's just not a situation conducive to fan-friendly basketball."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-sportsmans-daily/squatters-occupying-vacan_b_171524.html

Ahhh, no "tent city" for these (former) high-rollers!

And what about this?
It's also been learned that several current NBA players have used luxury suites to temporarily house friends and family members.

:wtf: Don't these guys make millions playing a kids' game? Couldn't they spare some $$$ to help out a "friend or family member?"

for OKC was the lack of adequate numbers of luxury suites in our "substandard" Key Arena.

this kind of makes that argument ridiculous.



see the luxury boxes up there? they're like slums!

An occupied house can stay in much better shape than an abandoned one.

:P