MLB Attendance Is Down, but Revenues Continue to Rise
By Bill Felber
MLB attendance is falling, but spectators are far from baseball’s most significant revenue source. A look at the changing business model.
If all you do is look at attendance figures, you would conclude that MLB is facing an imminent crisis. In fact, average MLB attendance is about 26,000 per game; that’s about 9% below last year’s 28,800 average.
Home attendance is up for only five MLB teams: the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, and the Philadelphia Phillies. In more than two-thirds of stadiums, MLB attendance declines exceed 5%.
Gates are on pace to be off by 34% for teams like the Toronto Blue Jays, and by more than 25% for the Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, and the Cleveland Indians.
But if the above makes it sound like America’s National Pastime is in its death throes, you haven’t been reading the ballclubs’ revenue documents. Contrary to what the above data might suggest, both team valuations and revenues are at all-time highs virtually across the board…and rising annually.
How is this possible?
Easy. As study after study has demonstrated, the 30 MLB teams – and really teams in all sports – have come to rely less and less on the gate to finance their operations. To a far greater extent than has ever been the case, the nation’s professional sports establishment has figured out how to make money from you whether you actually show up at the stadium or not.