A LEAGUE ABOVE
How do you assemble a great American pastime? With bats, balls, beer—and a pro league that nets $6.1 billion in revenue.
As the World Series looms, we break down what’s driving Baseball Inc. BY EMMA HAAK
FANS BOUGH T
73,053,807
MLB TICKETS
LAST YEAR, DO WN 0.45% FROM 2009.
$6.1 BILLION
1. 6 MILLION TICKETS TORON TO BLUE JA YS
1. 4 MILLION TICKETS CLEVELAND INDIANS
2,020, 125
PLAYERS ON KIDDIE BASEBALL TEAMS.
LE T’S HEAR I T FOR LI T TLE LEAGUE: LAS T YEAR, THERE WERE
HOT DOG
$3.88
TEAM CAP
$14.35
BEER
$5.81
SODA
BOS TON RED SOX $272 MILLION IN REVENUE
$258 MILLION IN REVENUE CHICAGO CUBS
$3,305,393
THAT’S A HECK OF A LO T LESS THAN SUPERSTAR YANKS LIKE . . .
$32 MILLION
$24.3 MILLION
At least 50 everyday expressions
can be credited to baseball,
including “playing hardball,”
“hitting it out of the park,”
and “Say it ain’t so, Joe!”
100% of them are cliché.
The New York Yankees tout
27 World Series titles,
making them baseball’s most
successful franchise. But
wins don’t come cheap. The
team’s 2011 payroll will top
$201 MILLION—almost
$30 million more than the
second-highest MLB team’s.
In modern U.S. ballparks, home plate
must sit from
the nearest outfield fence—a cinch
for late Yankee Babe Ruth, who
once hit a
Budweiser, Chevrolet, and
MasterCard all shelled out
at least $450,000 to
advertise during Fox’s 2010
World Series telecast.
Alas, American viewership
averaged just
14. 3 MILLION—
the second-lowest count in
series history.
A League of Their Own (1992)
$107.5 MILLION
