NBA commissioner David Stern claims that the league is holding steady financially, and that they won't settle for losing a considerable about of money.

"I always get into trouble saying this," Stern said. "I have been concerned for 25 years, and so I always worry about everything. But all I can say is that in a difficult economic environment we are going to maintain our attendance and our revenues, even last year."

Stern admitted that the league was forecasting growth in September before America's markets collapsed. Instead, he predicted the NBA will "be even rather than up because of the overall economic situation."

"The stock market is down 30 or 40 percent," he said. "The fact that we may be flat or down a percent or two, I'd sign up for it now in this environment for a long time because we just don't know what's going to happen."