The Recession Has Hit the Red Sox

The Boston Globe has a great article on parts of the current economic state of the Red Sox, who have been one of, if not the most successful teams in recent years.

Ticket sales are down.  The Red Sox are currently riding a 469 consecutive game sellout streak that could end this month.  There are still seats available for most April home games and for about 30 games this season.  Sales of the premium hospitality suites are also down this year.

Sponsorships also took a hit.  The Red Sox lost a six and seven figure deals with PC Connection and Nikon respectively.  Local sponsors Filene’s Basement and Cambridge Eye Center also pulled out, while DHL and Bano America scaled down their deals.

The slump has also affected neighborhood businesses.  The secondary ticket market has taken a huge hit.  Local broker, Ace Tickets, reports about a 40% drop in ticket prices for Opening Day (the Red Sox held ticket prices steady this year).  The Howard Johnson Inn, which sits across the street from Fenway, usually sells out for Opening Day, but is only about 60% filled this year.

I think that the worst news for the Red Sox is actually the fact that their television ratings dropped 20% from 2007 to 2008, and the pregame show on NESN dropped by 33%.  That tells me that in addition to the economy, which should turn around, the Red Sox are facing a decline in passion among the fan base.  Watching TV is free so the declining ratings can’t be blamed on the economy.  The Red Sox had a good team last year – they made it to within a game of the World Series and they were the defending champions.

The Red Sox have been the best run team in baseball in the past few years on and off the field.   And even as that has been the case, fan interest waned significantly last year and seems to be down even more this year.

All that said, the Red Sox are still in much better financial shape than most teams and their ticket sales still dwarf most teams.  It’s far from panic time in Boston, but you can be sure the team is aware of the current trends and is at least a little worried.

Cardinals Cutting Payroll, Blame Decrease in Ticket Sales and Sponsorships

The Cardinals will open the season with a roster making about $93.2 million, down about $8.5 million from last season.  Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. says the team is “tightening our belts” in the “challenging economic environment.”

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This is the first season in the new Busch Stadium’s 4-year history that 3 million seats won’t be sold before Opening Day.  Things aren’t that dire in St. Louis – they’ve already sold 2.7 million tickets.

In addition to a decline in ticket sales, DeWitt reports that “sponsorship categories like automotive and financial are not as strong as they were before. We’re seeing some slippage.”

Back to ticket sales, the Cardinals have had a 92-93% renewal rate among season ticket holders, but they’re struggling to fill the all-inclusive and premium-seating areas that usually are bought by corporations and civic groups.  I think that season ticket renewals would have been even lower if the Cardinals weren’t hosting the All Star Game this year.

White Sox Ticket Sales Up, Sponsorships Going Down

In this interview, White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf reports that ticket sales for the regular season are ahead of where they were last year in spite of the economy.  Of course, this year’s team is the defending 2008 AL Central Champions whereas last year they were coming off a 72-win season and few people expected them to be competitive.

As far as sponsorships, Reinsdorf reports that the White Sox lost a few this year, but he expects to lose more next year.  Apparently a number of sponsors, including Chevrolet, had deals that expire after this season and Reinsdorf does not expect them to renew.

New Stadium on Horizon Helping Twins Weather Economy

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has a long story on the affect the economy is having on pro sports.  While the Timberwolves are struggling the most, the Twins have been doing okay, something the team attributes to Target Field replacing the Metrodome next year.

The team expects that 90 percent of 2008 season ticket holders will renew, which is higher than the team’s usual 85% rate.  Furthermore, the team expects to set a franchise record of tickets sold this season.

All is not grand in Twinsland though.  The expects sponsorship and TV/radio revenues to remain flat.  And as we’re seeing with the Mets and Yankees this year, the Twins are having trouble selling private suites in the new stadium.  So much so that they have reduced the number of private suites from 60 to 54.

Rockies Ticket Sales and Sponsorships Are Down

According to team owner Dick Monfort, the Rockies are experiencing a significant downturn in season ticket sales and sponsorships.

The Rockies sold about 19,000 season tickets last season. The Rockies won’t admit how far things have fallen but Monfort said the team needs to get out to a hot start to generate fan interest.    Monfort also said that corporate sponsorships have dropped.

The Rockies had a huge increase in both season ticket sales and corporate sponsorships following their World Series appearance in 2007, which makes the huge drop this year that much harder to swallow.

Angels Season Ticket Sales Take Hit; Sponsorships Doing Fine

The LA Times reports the Angels, who have had six consecutive years of 3 million fans going to games, are seeing a 10% decline in season ticket sales this season.   Owner Arte Moreno expects the team to sell about 27,000 season tickets, down from 30,000 last year.  The drop has been smaller in the premium seats, where presumably the wealthiest season ticket holders sit; they are renewing at about a 95% rate.  All is not perfect among the upper crust, however.  First, 95% is not 100%.  Second, the Angels had sold out their 76 luxury suites for years, but there are still 4 available this season.

At the same time, team president Dennis Kuhl says sponsorship renewals are on track to equal or exceed 2008 levels.

Red Sox Ticket Sales and Corporate Sponsorships are Taking a Hit

According to the Boston Globe, the Red Sox are taking a little bit of a hit on ticket sales and corporate sponsorships this year.  As of late January, the Red Sox had sold 2.2 million tickets for the 2009 season, which is down a couple of percentage points from last year.  As far as sponsorships go, Sam Kennedy, Boston’s chief sales and marketing officer says, “We are spending a lot of time renewing existing business as opposed to generating new business. From a sales perspective, that is not a good thing.”