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Will MLB Surpass NFL as Top $ Sport

October 26th, 2007

MLB’s sales will surpass six billion US dollars for the 1st time this year. This amount has doubled in comparison with 2000 putting baseball closer to passing the NFL.

Usually, when it comes to sales, the NFL used to dwarf the MLB like a defensive lineman towers over a batboy. No more. The MLB will finish this year with just over six billion US dollars in revenue, according to Major League Baseball’s president and chief operating officer Bob DuPuy.

Considering the numbers, that will put baseball right on the heels of the more than six billion US dollars in revenue reported by the NFL last year.

And in fact, the MLB has a lot more games from which to generate sales than the National Football League, but that has always been the case. To put it simple, the MLB has done a much better job in the past years of boosting its revenues beyond traditional sources, like TV broadcasting and ticket sales.

MLB’s sales have increased fifty per cent percent from 2004 and have since doubled 2000. The National Football League’s sales grew at roughly half of the MLB’s pace during the same period.

Even DuPuy and Commissioner Bud Selig were surprised by the level of growth this year. DuPuy attributed the gains to more competitive balance in the game that helped improve attendance for teams in smaller markets like the NL champion Rockies and Brewers, which was in the race for a division title up until the very last week of the season.

The rapid growth of the online ticket resale market has spurred more season ticket sales, which helped cut down on the number of no-shows.

Entry Filed under: MLB, Sporting Events, Baseball Tickets, Baseball, Sports and Concert Tickets