Minor League Baseball announces 2017 licensing leaders
Minor league baseball has its own unique culture and loyal customers. Those customers are especially loyal to the minor league baseball logos they love.
On Monday, Minor League Baseball released the final numbers on licensing revenue for each logo in minor league baseball. The information was very interesting, to say the least!
Running from January to December of 2017, the licensing revenue reported by Minor League Baseball showed $70.8 million in revenue, an increase of 3.6% over 2016. The list of teams that make the top 25 in licensed merchandise revenue represent 21 organizations. However, what struck me was this little tid bit from the press release:
The South Bend Cubs were the only team to make the list using the nickname of their major league affiliate.
A recent trend in minor league baseball has been for the major league affiliate to purchase its affiliate and then name the affiliate after the major league organization (i.e. Mississippi Braves, Oklahoma City Dodgers). This trend has led to one of the most fun part of the minor league baseball offseason – re-branding – being much less prominent than previous. Sure, we’ve gotten the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Binghamton Rumble Ponies, and Gwinnett Stripers (and the ensuing mix-up of adding an extra “p” into that name) over the last few years, but there used to be a handful of those every single year!
As we look to the affiliate shuffle again this offseason, when many of those affiliates that are not owned by their parent clubs will have their contract come to an end, we could see a number of those teams on that top 25 list change parent teams.
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Here are the top 25 teams (in alphabetical order): Albuquerque Isotopes, Buffalo Bisons, Charlotte Knights, Columbia Fireflies, Columbus Clippers, Durham Bulls, El Paso Chihuahuas, Fort Wayne TinCaps, Frisco RoughRiders, Hartford Yard Goats, Indianapolis Indians, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Nashville Sounds, New Orleans Baby Cakes, Omaha Storm Chasers, Portland SeaDogs, Reading Fightin Phils, Rochester Red Wings, Sacramento River Cats, Salt Lake Bees, South Bend Cubs, Tacoma Rainiers, Toledo Mud Hens and Trenton Thunder. Interestingly, this is the 25th year that the Durham Bulls have been among the top 25 minor league baseball teams in licensing revenue, longer than their current parent club, the Tampa Bay Rays, have been a Major League Baseball organization!