Good morning. My name is Theresa, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Madison Square Garden Sports Corp Fiscal 2021 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session.
If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star then the number 1 on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press the pound key. Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference over to Ari Danes, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you. Good morning, welcome to MSG Sports Fiscal 2021 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Our President and CEO, Andy Lustgarten, will begin this morning's call with an update on the company's operations. This will be followed by a review of our financial results with Victoria Mink, our EVP, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer. After our prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions. If you do not have a copy of today's earnings release, it is available in the Investors section of our corporate website.
Please take note of the following. Today's discussion may contain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results, developments, and events may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.
These include financial community perceptions of the company and its business, operations, financial condition, and the industry in which it operates. As well as the factors described in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the sections entitled Risk Factors and Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contained therein. The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements that may be discussed during this call.
On pages four and five of today's earnings release, we provide consolidated statements of operations and a reconciliation of operating income to adjusted operating income, or AOI, a non-GAAP financial measure. With that, I will now turn the call over to Andy.
Thank you, Ari, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to begin by saying that we're excited to have both the Knicks and Rangers back in action. Even though the season started later than usual, our fans can't be at the Garden in person, we know they are enjoying watching their teams compete again. While the COVID-19 pandemic still presents operating challenges in the near term, we are paying close attention to the vaccine rollout and what it means for the return of normal operations.
Since our last earnings call, there have been a number of positive developments for both our company and the leagues. The NHL and NBA completed their 2019 seasons. The success of each league's return to play clearly demonstrated the shared commitment and strong working relationships that both the leagues have with their teams, players, and partners. This was followed by the 2020 NHL and NBA drafts, during which both the Rangers and Knicks made key additions to their rosters.
The Rangers used their number one overall pick to select Alexis Lafrenière, a dynamic forward with the potential to become an all-star player for the team. The Knicks finished the draft welcoming two talented first-round picks. Forward, Obi Toppin, who last season was named college basketball player of the year, and guard Immanuel Quickley, who was named the 2019/2020 SEC player of the year.
The Knicks and the Rangers each have a talented young core and strong leadership in place, and we look forward to watching them progress over the 2021 season. We are also excited that the teams have returned to the world's most famous arena for the first time since March, with December marking the start of the NBA's 72-game regular season, and January the start of the NHL's 56-game season.
While home games at the Garden are currently being played without fans due to government restrictions, we are working towards safely welcoming guests back into the building as soon as possible. In addition to watching select markets where the NBA and NHL are hosting games with reduced fan attendance, we are also following developments in New York State, including the Buffalo Bills hosting limited crowds for their two playoff games.
We are obviously interested in what the success of these events could mean for the Knicks' and Rangers' fan attendance when the time is right. Until that happens, we are seeing a number of signs that illustrate just how eager our fans are to cheer on their teams in person. For example, even with the current uncertainty and a fan-friendly refund policy, we have a combined Knicks and Rangers average season ticket renewal rate of approximately 75%.
For those who have not renewed, we are optimistic that many will reconsider once we are through the pandemic. Nevertheless, between renewals by our existing customers and the sale of season ticket packages to new customers, we are very pleased with the level of interest we are seeing and are grateful to our loyal fans. We have a strict fan-first policy, which, in the current environment, has been about providing Knicks and Rangers ticket holders with significant flexibility.
This includes pausing season ticket payments and requiring only a minimal deposit to maintain season ticket member status. We continue to be thankful for the support of our fans who, despite not being able to attend games, have remained passionate about their teams. As just one example, after launching the Rangers' new 2020 Statue of Liberty retro jerseys in November, they quickly became one of the best-selling jerseys in the league.
While it is still early in the seasons, we've been pleased with the local and national ratings to date, which we believe creates opportunities for our leagues as national media rights come up for renewal over time. As a reminder, the NHL's US national media deal expires after the season, and its Canadian deal ends after 2025/2026. The NBA's media agreements expire after 2024/2025.
While we remain confident that the fundamentals of our business are strong, we have taken steps to further strengthen our balance sheet until regular operations can resume. In November, we completed a $600 million debt refinancing, which enhanced our financial flexibility through an extended maturity schedule and increased borrowing capacity. Victoria will provide more details shortly. As of December 31st, we had over $290 million in liquidity between cash on hand and availability under our credit facilities.
Our quarter-end cash balance included $30 million from the NBA, which it provided to each team following the league's $900 million private placement in December. Last month, the NHL completed its own debt raise of $1 billion in order to provide additional liquidity to the league and teams, and we may look to access our portion, which is approximately $30 million, to further enhance our cash position.
The NBA and NHL's ability to raise these amounts on attractive terms during such an uncertain period is a great illustration of the confidence in the long-term outlook for both leagues. It's also a reminder of the significant value of professional sports franchises. Even in this environment, the scarcity of the teams, along with their strong fundamentals, has continued to drive substantial interest in these assets, as evidenced by the recent transaction for the Utah Jazz.
Furthermore, the NBA recently approved widening the pool of potential investors by allowing private equity funds to own interest in multiple teams, which should be positive for team valuations. The NBA and NHL have also been great partners as we continue to pursue creative solutions to satisfy our marketing partnership commitments. We've worked closely with both leagues to create new inventory and opportunities for our partners this season, and we're very pleased with the demand we're seeing for these assets.
For example, we've placed Lexus and Kia vehicles on the arena floor at the Knicks games and welcomed Chase as our first-ever Rangers helmet sponsor. We've also added new arena signage as well as virtual signage on the court and ice, all of which can be seen clearly by TV audiences during Knicks and Rangers games. Finally, we were happy to name Northwell Health the first Rangers practice jersey sponsor.
On the esports front, our teams have continued to compete throughout the pandemic as interest and fan engagement in the sports grows, and we remain excited about the long-term opportunity. We are also incredibly encouraged by the recent developments around the potential legalization of mobile gaming in New York State. We remain bullish about the impact this could have on our fan engagement, sponsorship, media rights, and ultimately, the value of our teams.
In conclusion, as we navigate through this challenging time, we are confident in the strength of our business and are optimistic about the future of our company. We believe the vaccine rollout offers a light at the end of this tunnel, getting us closer to the day when we could safely welcome fans back to cheer on their teams in person. Until then, I'd like to thank our fans, partners, employees, and shareholders for their continued support. With that, I'll turn the call over to Victoria.
Thank you, Andy, and good morning, everyone. I'm going to begin by discussing our November debt refinancing and providing an update on our company's liquidity position. As Andy mentioned, in November, we enhanced our financial flexibility and increased our borrowing capacity by completing a $600 million debt refinancing.
As part of the refinancing, the Knicks increased the availability under their senior secured revolving credit facility by $75 million- $275 million, while the Rangers increased the availability under their revolver by $100 million- $250 million. In addition, both teams extended the maturity dates of their facilities to November 2023. As a reminder, the Knicks and Rangers facilities were previously set to mature in September 2021 and January 2022, respectively.
The Knicks also entered into a new $75 million unsecured revolving credit facility, which also matures in November 2023. As part of this refinancing, the Knicks' previous $15 million unsecured revolver and the $200 million delayed draw term loans with MSG Entertainment were extinguished. At the end of the quarter, we had $380 million of total debt outstanding, consisting of $220 million drawn on our Knicks senior secured revolver and $160 million on our Rangers facility.
Turning to our liquidity, as of December 31st, we had $290.8 million of liquidity, comprised of $70.8 million of cash and cash equivalents and $220 million in borrowing capacity under the team's revolving credit facilities. Our quarter-end cash balance of $70.8 million represented a net increase of $47.2 million compared to our September 30th balance of $23.5 million.
This net increase was primarily due to local and national media rights fees related to the 2021 NBA and NHL seasons, a combined $30 million draw on our Knicks and Rangers senior secured revolvers, and the $30 million from the NBA that Andy mentioned.
These inflows were partially offset by a number of items, including our normal operating expenses, such as compensation for our teams, as well as our corporate and administrative staff, payments to MSG Entertainment under our various commercial agreements, and debt-related payments, including non-recurring amounts for our recent refinancing. I would note that our quarter-end cash balance did not include the approximately $30 million that we may look to access from the NHL's recent debt raise.
As of December 31st, our deferred revenue balance, net of billed but not yet collected revenue, was $206 million as compared to approximately $127 million as of September 30th. The increase in this balance was primarily due to local and national media rights payments for the 2021 seasons and the $30 million from the NBA.
This deferred revenue balance as of December 31st was primarily comprised of local and national media rights, tickets, and suites, which will be addressed through games played, and if necessary, through make-goods, credits, or refunds. I will now touch on our fiscal second quarter financial performance. Results for the quarter were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both the NBA and NHL seasons began later than usual, and as Andy mentioned, Knicks and Rangers home games are currently being played without fans in attendance. As a result, total revenues for the quarter were $28.8 million, a decrease of $264 million on a year-over-year basis. Revenues decreased across every major revenue line item, including tickets, local media rights fees, national media and league distributions, suites, and sponsorship and signage.
Adjusted operating income decreased $38 million to a loss of $19 million. This was due to lower revenues, partially offset by a decrease in direct operating expenses, and to a lesser extent, lower SG&A expenses. Similar to revenues, the decrease in direct operating expenses mainly reflects the delayed start to the seasons and the impact of home games being played without fans in attendance. This was reflected in declines across team compensation and other team operating expenses, as well as revenue-sharing expense.
I would note that these results include significantly reduced arena license fees due to attendance restrictions at the Garden. The decline in SG&A expenses was primarily due to lower corporate overhead costs.
And a s a reminder, results for the prior year's second quarter are not directly comparable, as they include certain corporate overhead expenses that we no longer incur following the spin-off of MSG Entertainment, but which did not meet the criteria for inclusion in discontinued operations. With that, I will now turn the call back over to Ari.
Thank you, Victoria. We would now like to open the call for questions.
As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. Again that is star, then the number one. We will pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from John Janedis with Wolfe Research.
Hi, thank you. Andy, you've talked about private equity investments in NBA teams, and I think the liquidity position is well appreciated, but can you talk about the potential willingness to bring in a minority partner to further bolster the balance sheet if COVID drags on longer than expected, or to at least establish what could be perceived as normalized value for the equity?
Thanks, John. Yeah, I did mention private equity. The NBA has made some rule changes, as you know. In terms of our point of view, we're not going to comment on hypotheticals on a sale of stakes right now.
In the past, you guys have also talked about the impact of no fans for a full season. Can you talk about to what extent that changes or not due to the shortened seasons?
Victoria, you want to take that question?
Yeah, sure, John. Hi, good morning. You're right. As you know, we're currently operating in an environment where fan attendance at the Garden is restricted by government mandate. The fan restrictions will have a greater impact on our financials this year as compared to the impact of just the shortened seasons. With that said, in terms of the impact of fewer games this year, I can certainly give you a little color.
From a revenue perspective, we currently expect a reduction in local media rights fees for the Rangers side, as we have a minimum threshold of games that must be delivered to MSG Networks for broadcast on an exclusive basis. So if those thresholds are not met, there'd be a pro-rata reduction in our local media rights fees. I'll also note that we currently don't anticipate a reduction in local media rights fees on the Knicks side. In a shortened season, it reduces camera-visible sponsorship and signage opportunities.
On the other side, on the expense side, we would anticipate additional reductions in, for example, costs under our arena licenses, such as day-of-game expenses. We would expect reductions for certain other team operating expenses. And Just noteworthy is to the extent revenues on a league-wide basis are impacted by the shortened seasons, we could see reductions in other areas, including player compensation.
Great. Thank you.
Your next question comes from Brandon Ross with LightShed Partners.
Hey, Andy. You mentioned earlier your excitement around potential mobile sports betting legalization in New York. Could you unpack some of the opportunities for MSG and maybe help us understand how incremental sponsorship or an on-site sportsbook would break down as opportunities between MSGS and MSGE?
Thanks, Brandon. Happy to take you through it. We've been focusing on this for a long time. We think this is a tremendous opportunity for our company. You know I note if you look across the border in New Jersey, the Meadowlands, which opened in 2018, has become one of the largest, if not the largest sportsbook in the country. Much of the research I've seen would suggest that New York State will be the largest market for sports gaming once legalized.
Obviously, we're extremely encouraged by Governor Cuomo's recent announcement regarding sports gaming here, but there's lots of questions as to what regulations are going to be, and there's lots of different flavors as we look to places where it is legal. Just to take it from the highest level, we like it just from what it does for fan engagement during programming and the ability to drive extra eyeballs, which therefore drives sponsorship just on its face.
On top and of course, implicitly, the media rights that would come from having increased engagement. We think there's also a big upside for sponsorship, official partners, and there's many other ways to make money. If you look at Washington, they have a sportsbook in their building. It's just a question of how do the regulations play out.
I know there's a big opportunity for us. In terms of how it would play between what the opportunity here, there's lots of ways. Both companies would benefit if there was a sportsbook. This is a big opportunity, and it's just a question of exactly how to commercialize it.
You just mentioned media rights. At the local level, is there anything that would be available to you at Sports besides what you've already kind of licensed out to MSG Networks?
Do you mean in terms of rights?
What are the additional opportunities for MSG Sports on the media front? Is that really more of an MSG Networks?
Well, look, we have a long-term rights deal with Networks. Networks will have many ways to monetize the rights. As always, being a rights holder, owning sports, it's a unique asset in these times. We love being a sports rights holder. The leagues will obviously, when their rights agreements will come up, will have an impact on sports. There still is opportunities. We have game visible signage. We have official partnerships. There's lots of ways to generate incremental revenue, even if it's not directly from a rights fee the second.
Got it. And then staying on the rights fees, the NHL deal is obviously coming up. I've been surprised there hasn't been an announcement yet. Maybe if you could comment on how and when you see that playing out. More generally, as an NBA and NHL team owner, how you think about the future of national and local sports rights, especially with cord-cutting and younger demos being on other platforms and shying away from full-length games. Do you think the model needs to be adjusted some?
That's a lot to unpack there, so let me try to start at the top and come in on out.
Yeah.
That's great, Brandon. I think I should. Let me start at the highest level. I think at the highest level, as I mentioned, we have almost 16 years left of MSG Networks on our media deals. The leagues sell their rights for the league level, both the NHL deal's coming up very shortly, as you mentioned, but the NBA's coming up a few years after that. As everyone knows, the media landscape is constantly evolving. The distribution pattern is going to change, right? I don't know, or it may.
That's not something I can opine on. What I do know is what's the fundamental value of live sports. We feel really good about that. There's going to be a market for that. And a s there is more platforms that come into line, the one thing we know is content is king. There is nothing like live sports for premium content. I know there is going to be platforms. The more platforms that are out there, the more buyers. There is more value in our product.
Once you add in the fact of legalized gaming and what impact is that is going to have on media rights, I feel very good about our long-term nature of being a sports rights holder. In terms on the shorter term with the NHL, I am not at liberty to discuss their current negotiations. I could say that it is expiring at the end of the season. I love being a sports rights holder. Ratings have been up this year.
Everyone is focused on what legalized, as I said, legalized sports gaming and its impact on media rights. And so, w hen the NHL has more information, we feel very good about where the future is of all being a rights holder. I can't give you much more on NHL itself.
Understood. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of David Karnovsky with JP Morgan.
Prepare the marks on how the pandemic and some of the resulting fallout to the New York City area may impact the current or even future cycles.
Hey, David.
For the season.
Could you start over again? I missed the beginning here. You cut out for a second there. I didn't hear what you started your question. I'm sorry.
Sure. Can you just comment on how the pandemic and maybe some of the resulting fallout to the New York City area may impact the current or even future cycles for the suite and sponsor renewals?
Right now, we're working with all of our partners. We generally have long-term deals with both suite holders as well as sponsor agreements. We believe in being consumer friendly, we're working with all of our partners right now. Obviously, New York is in a different place today than it was a year ago. I'm hopeful on the rebound. I feel the city getting more lively every single day I'm here. And our partners, we're very focused on staying very close to our partners and thinking long term.
While we're currently focused on this season, it's hard to take a really long-term point of view, but I feel very good about long term and our long-term relationships and the way the partners, how we've been able to, both suite holders and partners, how they've been working with us during these difficult times.
Okay. Maybe as a follow-up to John's first question, do you expect that in time the NBA or NHL might be open to PE firms taking controlling interest in teams? If so, how might that further impact team values overall in your view?
The leagues, it was pretty public, have a pretty detailed vetting process about who can buy both minority stakes as well as controlling stakes. It's very hard for me to comment on any further than that. I'll note that the recent changes are focused on certain approved PE funds to own minority stakes in multiple teams. Not obviously a control stake in multiple teams, but minority stakes, which we believe will help drive team valuations. Can't give you much more than that.
Okay. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of David Beckel with Berenberg.
Great. Thanks so much for the question. Andy, one for you on reopening. I'm curious if you could share some insights with respect to talks you've had with local or state regulators regarding the prospective timeline of a reopening for the Garden to fans, and specifically, I'd love to hear your thoughts to the extent you're able to share on any specifics with respect to disease incidence or vaccination thresholds that are being considered, and if it's more likely than not that capacity will be phased once a reopening occurs.
And Victoria, just as a quick housekeeping, could you shed some light from an accounting perspective in terms of how the revised CBAs for the NHL and NBA might affect the accrual of player compensation throughout the year, and cash flows for this year and years going forward? Thanks so much.
Happy to. Thanks, David. Let's start with the reopening. Governor Cuomo and the state have always been clear but have been increasingly clear on the importance of reopening the economy, both here in New York State as well as New York City. I'm sure you followed this, but he recently permitted the Buffalo Bills to host fans in a pilot for their two playoff games. It was regarded as a wide success. In addition, his pattern so far has been limited opening, and then as he moves towards a fuller capacity.
We're very happy with the recent move to announce that restaurants are now able to host 25% capacity starting February 14th. That comes on the heels of the reduced levels of positivity rates here in New York State, in New York City. I expect that if things keep on going down, we'll continue to see capacities increase. In addition, the state announced that gatherings such as wedding receptions or parties could increase their capacity to 150 people, assuming protocols are followed, starting in March.
That's another positive movement towards capacity increases. Yes, he's definitely weighing reopening with health and safety of everybody. The vaccine rollout is clearly critical towards getting this economy fully reopened. The Governor has been very vocal and very focused on delivering the vaccine as fast as possible. I saw him last night even mentioned that there is even a further amount of vaccines distributed here in New York over the next three weeks, and so that should even further drive vaccine rollout here in New York.
But in terms of our opening, look, the thing that's most important to us is the safety of our fans, our athletes, our employees. We're going to do this in a phased way, and we continue to remain in contact. There's been an open dialogue on what the possible protocols are, including testing, and we really are focused on just getting this back open safe, and something that everyone can enjoy and have a great experience.
Okay. David, your question was around the mechanics around the CBAs. First, let me start with the NBA. The amended collective bargaining agreement for the NBA includes more flexibility, with new terms added as a result of COVID-19 to ensure that the players still ultimately receive the approximately 50% of the league-wide revenues. Right? For example, while the escrow remains the same at 10%, player compensation can be reduced by up to 20% in a season inclusive of the escrow.
Now the salary cap and the luxury trigger for the 2021 seasons are flat with last year, with the 2019/2020 season. The CBA lays out a minimum of 3% and a maximum of 10% annual increases in the salary cap through the remainder of the CBA. On the NHL side, the amended CBA includes a four-year extension, so it now expires in September 2026. Obviously that gives us some additional visibility. The NHL's amendment also includes more flexibility, also adding new terms as a result of COVID-19.
So for the NHL, for example, the salary cap for 2021 was also kept flat with last season, and there'll only be modest average annual increases throughout the 2025/2026 season. In addition, the players for the NHL have agreed to defer a portion of their 2021 salaries and signing bonuses. With new maximum escrow recovery rates also having been established, with those same mechanism in place to achieve the players ultimately receiving the 50% of league-wide revenues.
When you think about the two leagues, the mechanisms are a little different, but the end result is generally the same, with the players ultimately receiving the 50% of league-wide revenue.
Thanks, David. Operator, we'll take our next caller.
Your next question comes from Ben Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.
Thanks. Good morning. Victoria, could you help us think about sort of the cash flows over the next couple of quarters and through the end of the fiscal year, particularly around your deferred revenue balance? I'm just thinking if you have refunds as we move through the rest of the season, but also whether you're going to be pulling in some cash from season tickets. Anything you can tell us about the puts and takes around cash flows through the end of the fiscal year would be great.
Then Andy, I wanted to ask you about the Knicks. Congratulations on Quickley, looks like a steal in the draft. I'm just wondering what you guys are doing to try to maximize fan engagement during the pandemic. Obviously, everyone's wishing they were there at the games, but the team seems to have really picked up in interest level and excitement. I'm wondering what you guys are doing specifically to try to maximize fan engagement during this tough period. Anything you can share would be great. Thanks.
Thanks, Ben. Why don't I answer that question first, then we'll talk about cash flow a second, just jumping in close. We've definitely had to shift a little bit how we communicate with our fans. It actually happened to tie with what we've been pushing anyway for the last couple of years, so we've been slowly getting better and better. We've been very focused on social media, and how do we connect with people that obviously right now, it's very hard to connect people with people in person, but how do you connect groups of people?
We've done many small round tables with our either retired players or current players, our coaches, to communicate directly with our fans. We've been very focused on increasing the access. I was really proud of our team during the NHL draft. We made a trade in the first round to get a second first-rounder, and our team was right there, and there's a great video, I don't know if you've seen it, where Jeff Gorton is going, "Yes, we got it," and we got that moment on camera.
We're bringing people behind the scenes. And our players have really welcomed it and really want to connect with their fans. We've been very focused on how do we connect people, give people more insight of what's going on, and I think it's been pretty successful. It shows also in our ratings and our users and our interactions, and everything seems to be trending in the right direction.
I'd also say, we're focused on other unique types of ways to connect with people, such as we have a partnership with Kith, where they designed our new jersey and had a rollout of a line of Knicks/Kith-branded clothes, which sold out in record times for them. The NHL, on the NHL side, we released a new jersey called, on the Rangers side, of a Liberty retro jersey, which quickly became one of the fastest-selling items or fastest-selling jerseys in the NHL. We're just trying to stay in touch with our people.
We're trying to give them a voice, and we're trying to stay connected. Obviously we have to do it in different ways than we would've when we had people in the building. On the cash flow side, I'll let Victoria comment, there's just one thing I would say is we've had a very fan-friendly policy so far, we haven't been charging people's credit cards so far this year. We've allowed people to keep their season ticket membership by having a very low amount of the deposit. We believe that's a really important way to treat people during these times.
Many other teams just took people's money and rolled into next year. We don't think that's very fan-friendly. They didn't give people an option. We did not take that decision, and we won't do that. I mentioned earlier we're beginning to get ready for our renewal cycle, obviously once the renewals start, there will be a timing and period of charging around that, we haven't started that yet. It's coming soon. I'll let Victoria add on top of it, but I just thought it was important to talk about our philosophy.
Yeah.
On how we treat our customers, because it does tie very close to cash flow.
Yeah.
Great. Thank you, Andy. Ben, let me just take a step back. With $290.8 million in available liquidity at the quarter end, including a cash balance of $70.8 million, and then the $220 million capacity under our Knicks and Rangers facilities, we feel confident in our liquidity position and some of the cost reduction measures we've taken to date that we've talked about.
I think also one of the items mentioned in our prepared remarks is that we may also look to access our portion of the NHL's recent $1 billion private placement, which would be approximately $30 million. That's not reflected in our December 31st cash balance or liquidity. We are feeling good about our liquidity position, and as I had indicated, talking about the CBAs, part of this cash provided by the leagues is to assist with the timing of payments as it relates to player compensation and recovery.
We feel like we're in a good position there as well. Particularly at December 31st, is we've received a lot of the national and local media rights cash in advance, we would expect to record revenue and earn that. The seasons play over the next two quarters. But in general, as Andy has said, we have a very fan-friendly approach, but we hope to earn the deferred revenue through games played or make- goods and then to an extent, if necessary, through refunds.
Got it. Thank you.
Thanks, Ben. We have time for one last caller.
Your last question is from David Joyce with Barclays.
Thank you. Two questions, please. First, on the COVID impacts. Given that you've got some variability in the lease expense, how should we think about what that would look like in a normalcy kind of a period? Also related to COVID, are there any expenses that you've just taken out of the equation going forward?
Can you discuss the expenses that'll be required for new things like air purification and cleaning? A second question is on the sports gaming aspect. What is the status of the leagues trying to participate in the sports betting handle via legally inserting the integrity fee concept into the talking about revenue expenses.
Yeah. Let me touch on the COVID impacts. I think you explicitly referenced the arena license agreement first, so let me just touch on that. Yeah, our arena license fee payments to MSG Entertainment have been impacted by both the season starting later through December 31st, starting later than usual, with only the Knicks playing a few games to date through December, and no Rangers games, and obviously the restrictions on fan attendance during those games.
The arena license fees for the games we're currently playing are at an 80% reduction due to these attendance restrictions at the Garden. Of course, the situation remains fluid. Really into the arena at some point this season, which would be great, our license fee payments would change accordingly. Then I think you sort of mentioned overall just some of our expense impacts as it relates to COVID.
We've talked a bit both last quarter and a little bit this quarter about our various revenue impacts on in-arena tickets, suites, food, beverage, et cetera, and some reductions that we would be anticipating because of the NHL's shortened season. Specifically on the expense side, as compared to a normal season, we're seeing expense reductions for player compensation, revenue sharing expense, league assessments.
Talked about the leagues amending the CBAs to ensure that players are still only receiving about half of the league-wide revenues. We do have lower day-of-game costs and lower marketing expenses. I think that's the bulk of the types of savings that we're seeing across the board as it relates to COVID. Obviously, getting fans back in the building is really what we're looking forward to.
I note, at least the way I think about it, even one fan is marginal revenue because we have to put on the event already. The events are already on, so every time we have a ticket sale or any revenue, it's profitable. Your question about what changes do we need to make because marginally profitable. The questions we would have to change to make it effective is, look, remember, we have a relatively new building. We built our building, our filter system is pretty strong.
We're not starting from scratch. Yeah, there might be some additional costs, but we've been thinking about it very carefully, and if we are able to have fans safely, it'll be a positive revenue and marginal profit related to those fans. Turn to your question around the integrity fee. Look, I can't really comment on league matters, but as I said, and I'll keep on saying it, we believe sports gaming provides a number of growth opportunities both for the leagues and for the teams, including media rights.
As I noted, the NHL is coming up soon, as well as the NBA in a few years, as well as sponsorship opportunities, and I'm sure there's other ways to commercialize. I can't comment specifically on the integrity fee.
Now we'd like to turn the call back over to Ari for closing remarks.
Thank you all for joining us. We look forward to speaking with you on our next earnings call. Have a good day.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your participation. You may now disconnect.