It is the 17th year in a row that MLB has seen a record increase in revenue, according to Forbes.
MLB has been seeing gross revenue above $10 billion since 2017. Last year it was at $10.3 billion. This year saw an increase to $10.7 billion, setting the new record.
Is this because the price of tickets, beer, and food keep going up? No, but that did cross my mind, too. A lot of this is thanks to new and larger national television deals, such as with FOX, ESPN, and Turner Sports, that the league has made.
Did you also notice that in 2020 teams will be wearing a new uniform with the Nike swoosh sign in the top corner? That is bringing the league another $1 billion solely from Nike, not even including sales of the new uniforms for the fans that want to wear the newest.
In terms of expenses, that increased as well for the 2019 season – up to $9.7 billion from 2018’s $9.4 billion. The majority of these expenses did not stem from the players – player payrolls, bonuses, and benefits totaled in at $4.7 billion for the year.
From this increase in revenue, it is safe to assume we will be watching more nationally televised games in the year to come and seeing more large sponsorship deals happening, such as with this Nike uniform deal.
