The MLB set a new revenue record in 2022, recording a 10.8-10.9 billion dollar revenue. According to Forbes, the revenue surpassed 10.7 billion in 2019. This is also a huge bounce back from the pandemic, which did not allow fans to attend the game and struggled to bring in income, especially with the high player payrolls for each team.
The revenue increase also comes on a season where although there were no Covid-19 restrictions, there was still a decline in attendance. Toward the end of the 2022 season, some ballparks were reporting only 20% capacity for games. This is on-brand for the league however as attendance has dropped nine seasons not adding in the Covid-19 affected season.
The main source of revenue for the MLB comes from the media deals the league can sign. The league's new deals with Fox, TBS, and ESPN were a huge revenue stream accounting for about 1.75 billion in revenue each. This also paired well with having an uptick in tv viewers to combat the attendance decrease. The deals also covered new streaming platforms and opportunities making the game more accessible.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2023/01/10/mlb-sets-new-revenue-record-exceeding-108-billion-for-2022/?sh=4f5c1c6a77ee
This is awesome! I love the MLB and love to see they are bouncing back from a rough time. I hope they stay on the right track.
ReplyDeleteDo you think this article implies that it is worth more for the MLB to invest more in their media deals than to invest in in-person entertainment?
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting to see the revenue go up, while there was a decline in attendance. The impact of the deals with the streaming services after Covid have shown their worth.
ReplyDeleteThis is great to see as it seems like MLB popularity has been decreasing for a few years now. Clearly the media deals are a much more reliable source of revenue for the league than relying on attendance, I think the league would have to make large changes to see attendance bounce back to previous levels but luckily it looks like that will not be needed.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see the MLB bouncing back from the issues it faced with COVID, I am not personally a big fan of watching baseball, but when American sports are setting revenue records, it's almost always a good thing. It'll be interesting to see if they can keep it up in the coming years.
ReplyDelete