How Much Money Do Teams Make Off Postseason Games?

Maury Brown at Biz of Baseball analyzes the numbers.

over 2 years ago Al Yellon 15 comments 0 recs |

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The only thing stopping this is winter

It’s snowing in CO. They would have to cut the amount of games down each year for that to happen.

by ak123 on Oct 11, 2009 10:29 AM CDT up reply actions

Expanding the Division Series to 7 games could be done with less days off.

During the regular season, teams play over 6 games per week, usually with at least one flight. Why can’t the play five-ish games in a week, with 2 flights now?

by madcow256 on Oct 11, 2009 10:34 AM CDT up reply actions

It could

But I think they do the days off to get as many teams playing in primetime for advertising.

That probably wouldn’t change as networks make much more money that way.

But I wouldn’t be opposed to cutting the season by 10-12 games. Players get tired and by October some can’t keep it up. I know the argument is that’s what makes the difference between a World Series team and a contender. But Pujols was cooled off by October. If one of the best players in the game might have been worn down, it’s something to think about a little…

by ak123 on Oct 11, 2009 3:57 PM CDT up reply actions

i think pujols cooled off because he isnt a LH hitter..

"hey

by jesus christos on Oct 11, 2009 4:46 PM CDT up reply actions

Unfortunately, baseball has far too many stats that are based on the 162 game season

So it would probably be a tough sell. Not to mention that owners would be accepting less revenue (unless more of the new playoff revenue were shared, which would still probably come up short).

by madcow256 on Oct 11, 2009 5:28 PM CDT up reply actions

You're right

I was basing this off if they were to expand Division Series to 7 games. I think cutting games out of the regular season is the only way they could do that.

You can’t start the season earlier (well this year they could have and you can’t avoid the off-days because of the primetime needs.

by ak123 on Oct 11, 2009 5:54 PM CDT up reply actions

Not to mention...

that player salaries are theoretically based on 162 (or 81 home games) worth of revenue. If they were to scale back to the 154 games that it used to be that would be 4 home games and 4 road games worth of tickets, concessions, advertising, etc, etc that the owners would lose out on.

You can almost guarantee that they’d want that factored into any players current salary and they might even go so far as to just adjust it an lop 5% off everyone’s numbers.

by CubFan81 on Oct 11, 2009 7:26 PM CDT up reply actions

I seriously hope said wildcard miniseries never happens.

But if it does, I would be in favor of eschewing the divisional system altogether and having a one big 14- or 16-team division with the top three teams plus the winner of a playoff between the fourth and fifth place team advancing. Just way cleaner than having so many wildcards muddling up divisional “races”.

by cubsforever on Oct 11, 2009 10:31 AM CDT up reply actions

How about this for revising the format?

- Seven games for the division series with fewer days off
- Keep the schedule at 162, but have 1 “traditional” DH every month for each home team

This would make the postseason more closely mirror the regular season, where depth is important, and compress the schedule by a week.

The obvious problem with this is the lost revenue from the DH’s, but players hate “split” double headers, so those aren’t likely to fly. So – why not charge 1.5X ticket prices for the traditional DH’s as a compromise?

I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT

Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson

by Shanghai Badger on Oct 12, 2009 12:39 PM CDT reply actions

I think...

… you could even get away with one split DH a month — that’s only six a year.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al Yellon on Oct 12, 2009 1:30 PM CDT up reply actions

That'd be fine, too

Kind of OT for the thread, but while we’re on scheduling — EVERY team should be playing on Memorial Day, Labor Day, Independence Day . . . it’s amazing to me that some teams have those days off. MLB doesn’t get it. . . . a perfect chance to promote itself, and once again it drops the ball.

I'm singing, "GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO!" -- DrCrawdad on Jun 12, 2009 7:23 AM CDT

Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -- Homer J. Simpson

by Shanghai Badger on Oct 12, 2009 2:38 PM CDT up reply actions

100% agreed.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al Yellon on Oct 12, 2009 2:48 PM CDT up reply actions

These ideas won't fly

cuz too much money is left on the tables. It’s simply a state of today’s game.

Split DH’s are the only way; each team needs to go into every season with an anticipated 81 home gates. But to maximize them, travel must be decreased.

To decrease travel:

abolish interleague play and put those extra games back into divisional play.

schedule the season with those divisional teams coming to each rivals’ city 2 times only. If that means 5-game scheduled series, so be it.

no more 3-game home stands for any team. All home stands and road trips are 7-8 games minimum and 12-13 games maximum; for every team.

Schedule 12 split DH’s per home team per season, 2 average per team per month.

The CBA may have to be amended to allow teams to play on 20 consecutive games but that will mean more than 20 games on those consecutive games.

Doing this should be able to take 14 days off the season calendar.

Other than the ideas we’ve all floated out there, there is simply no other way to cram a 162-game schedule into the shorter northern/mountainous cities w/o split DH, traditional DH or domes everywhere. I can’t see the game going back to a 154-game season or less.

Just win the next game...!

by blackhawk24 on Oct 12, 2009 3:53 PM CDT up reply actions

PCL

of which our Iowa Cubs plays is pretty easy schedule. 4 game series. 8 road then 8 at home. There are some quirks though. Sorry, this makes too much sense to work. MLB would never do anything that is simple and makes sense.

This is only the beginning....Lou Pinella end of '07 season and Chicago Transit Authority (the band when they were really good).

by mrcubsfan on Oct 12, 2009 4:02 PM CDT reply actions