Forbes: Yanks Fan Not All That Valuable
In the YES pre-game today, they had a segment with Bob Lorenz and Forbes Magazine where they talked about the Most Valuable Fans in baseball. I just checked Forbes on-line and here’s a link to the story they did on this last month. As per the feature, this is what Forbes did:
In our first ranking of the most valuable fans of MLB, we flipped tradition on its head and took a look at what audiences around America are worth to the business of baseball. We divided local revenue of each team (including such sources as local television and radio revenue, gate receipts and sponsorships) for the 2008 season by the population of its metropolitan area, according to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate. The resulting revenue-per-fan figure is a rough yardstick of a team’s ability to capitalize on its fan base, regardless of market size.
Revenue figures are before revenue sharing and exclude national media and licensing revenue, which is divvied up equally to all 30 MLB team. For cities with two teams, we divided the population in half for each team, figuring the city’s fan base was split more or less evenly between the two.
Interestingly, the Yankees were in the middle of the pack in terms of the Most Valuable Fans rankings. But, the Red Sox were in the top five. (Ouch!) Here’s the skinny, per Forbes, on the top five fanbases:
1. San Francisco Giants
Revenue per fan: $78
Local Revenue: $166 million
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Population: 4.3 million
Team Value: $471 millionIn the first year post-Barry Bonds, the team focused on engaging fans in experiences centered around the team’s 50th anniversary, including offering a chance to take batting practice on the field on opening day, creating a “Forever Giants Friday” to honor former greats like Willie Mays, and selling commemorative collectibles.
2. Milwaukee Brewers
Revenue per fan: $73
Local Revenue: $114 million
MSA Population: 1.5 million
Team Value: $347 millionMiller Park scores high among fans for its affordability and amenities. Management keeps them coming back with endless promotions, from the ubiquitous bobble heads and posters to Little League nights, where all tykes in uniform parade around the warning track in a pregame ceremony.
3. Boston Red Sox
Revenue per fan: $67
Local Revenue: $303 million
MSA Population: 4.5 million
Team Value: $833 millionComing off their second World Series win in four years, Red Sox management raised ticket prices by an average 10.1% for the 2008 season. The team went on to set a club record for attendance for a ninth straight season with 3,048,250 fans, surpassing the 3 million mark for the first time in club history.
4. Cleveland Indians
Revenue per fan: $64
Local Revenue: $133 million
MSA Population: 2.1 million
Team Value: $399 millionThe Indians have been one of the pioneers in variable ticket pricing in order to maximize gate receipts. A Diamond Box seat that costs $35 on a weekday night in April will run $75 for a weekday game in June and $85 on a summer weekend.
5. St. Louis Cardinals
Revenue per fan: $57Local Revenue: $160 million
MSA Population: 2.8 million
Team Value: $486 millionThanks to radio and television affiliates in nine states, Cardinal Nation isn’t shrinking anytime soon. The exposure has had a positive effect at the park–gate receipts account for nearly 60% of local revenue.
I would imagine that New York’s “Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Population” worked against the Yankees in this study – even if it was split with the Mets. Then again, when you add in New Jersey…it would get even worse for the Yankees…had Forbes factored that it too…
This is a silly study. Firstly, using MSA data is silly, especially for teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs, who have fanbases that extend far past their MSA’s. Secondly, there is bound to be diminishing returns as a population gets larger. There are only so many tickets that a club can sell. Also, a city with a larger immigrant population may have less fans than those in more homogenous cities.
@yagotta. The team with the biggest radio network, the Cards , are one of those teams whose fan base really extends outside of its geographical area. And BTW they are in the top five for good reason. Quite frankly, it’s an interesting study and shows that the profit centers are not necsessarily nestled in NYC, Chicago and LA.
I agree with yagottagotomo1. MSA is a horrible way to judge territory boundaries for professional sports. Nielsen’s DMA (designated marketing area) would be a better map as at least it bases its boundaries on television carriage which is much more relevant to fan base than physical proximity.
Aside from that NY has 2 baseball teams and 9 prof sports franchises (real ones). I would venture to guess there very few New Yorkers that support all 9 teams. Throw in the fact that just about every one of those teams has played for a championship in the past 25 years and you get some splintering of fan loyalties.
Throw in a diverse immigrant population which forces the team to split its fanbase to an extent with international sports like soccer. I would venture to guess that Cleveland, St. Louis, and Milwaukee don’t have that problem.
Currently living in Boston I can tell you the Red Sox fanbase is very real. However those numbers are flawed because the MSA does not take into account STUDENTS which make up a distinct portion of the population in Boston (and at Sox games). Hence the local revenue generated by team is drawing from much further boundaries than are indicated here.
All in all I’d say that study just proved that the writer knows very little about sports marketing. Even with all the flaws stated above, the fact that MLB games are now available nationally (via Extra Innings) pretty much make the point moot as teams are no longer bound by these geographical boundaries.
How about they include the entire island of Taiwan and good parts of Tokyo? I’m pretty sure the Brewers don’t generate quite as much revenue over there as the Yanks. All in all this is a very closed minded view of sports fans behavior.