Professional sports feels the pinch of the economy

Even the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers are feeling the pinch of the current economic recession, according to the Los Angeles Times. Even though the team is the most-profitable in the league, as one of several cost-cutting measures, the Lakers emailed Holiday greetings to fans instead of mailing cards. The L.A. Times reports on a litany of sports casualties from the year, and detailed how several teams in the various professional sports leagues faced layoffs, a drop in advertising and sponsorship and slower ticket sales in 2009.