Major League Baseball’s revenues have reached new record highs in spite of stagnant attendance rates. The league’s gross revenues will exceed $8 billion in 2013, largely thanks to the continued growth of television deals, reports Maury Brown of Forbes.
MLB’s 2013 revenue exceeds $8 billion
Baseball is swimming in money right now.
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The exact revenue figure is unknown, but it’s expected to fall between $8-$8.5 billion. It marks a considerable increase over the roughly $7.5 billion the league pulled in revenues in 2012 and, per Brown, is a staggering 264 percent increase from the inflation-adjusted $2.2 billion the league pulled in 1995.
The 2013 figure marks the first time ever that MLB has exceeded $8 billion in revenue, but it’s unlikely to be the last. The league’s new national television deals with ESPN, TBS, and Fox go into effect in 2014, which will add nearly $800 million to yearly revenue over the next eight seasons.
While the new TV deals and the serious uptick in revenue has had some effect on the open market this winter--how else does one explain Boone Logan getting a three-year, $16.5 million deal--it will likely take a while before all that extra money is syphoned into player payroll. The current collective bargaining agreement does not expire until after the 2016 season, so significant increases to things like the league minimum or the luxury tax threshold are unlikely to occur before revenues have reached well north of $9 billion.
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