B'way Strike Price: $17M a Day

With no talks scheduled, hotels, restaurants feeling the pain, worrying about tourists
By Lucas Laursen,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 13, 2007 8:09 AM CST
B'way Strike Price: $17M a Day
Broadway lights are reflected on the door of a Broadway theater with an exchange or refund policy notice posted on it, Monday, Nov. 12, 2007, in New York. Striking stagehands and theater producers traded accusations but not much else as the work stoppage that has shut down more than two dozen Broadway...   (Associated Press)

The strike by theater stagehands is taking a big toll on Broadway’s $5-billion-a-year business, the Wall Street Journal reports. With restaurants, hotels, and bars feeling the pain as theatergoers stay away, officials estimate that the city that never sleeps is losing up to $17 million a day. No talks are currently scheduled.

The strike, which began Saturday, has shuttered 27 Broadway shows, though a handful, and all off-Broadway productions, remain open under different contracts. There are worries that the blackout will affect tourism during the holiday season; up to 60% of Broadway’s revenues come from tourists, say theater officials. “If they feel they can't count on New York, they may not come." (More Broadway stories.)

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