Brewers Fans with the 2nd Most Moola in all of Baseball (Forbes Study)

[lcbj68c]

A recent article and study by Forbes financial magazine has reported that Brewers fans are the 2nd most valuable behind only the SF Giants. The article is very interesting, but I believe deceiving.

The 2nd paragraph of the report is as follows: "We divided local revenue of each team (including such sources as local television and radio revenue, gate receipts and sponsorships) for the 2008 season by the population of its metropolitan area, according to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate. The resulting revenue-per-fan figure is a rough yardstick of a team's ability to capitalize on its fan base, regardless of market size."

In the Brewers portion, they take a stab at Attanasio for whinning about losing Sabathia to a bigger market, yet point out he had a second best, $73.00 per fan to work with. It would seem to me that the study has a lot of holes. First and foremost being where they cut the population? 9 games per year against Chicago, etc. It also doesnt seem to take into account expenses, only "plausible revenue".

Does this change anybody's perception as to us being a small market? Or our ability to have more money in the coffers? I've looked for merit in the article, I just can't find any.

JSonline article http://www.jsonline.com/business/45883102.html
Forbes Study http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/22/baseballs-most-valuable-fans-business-sports-top-fans.html

[Invader3K]

I think it's a good indicator that the Brewers are making the maximum possible from their fan base, and that Mark Attanasio has done a great job since buying the team. Beyond that, I don't know if it means much.

 

Also, the remark about the Yankees seems way off base. So what if the Yankees "only" get $45.00 per fan. They probably have about 10x the fan base that the Brewers do, so they're still coming out way ahead.

[Ennder]

I find that Attanasio comment very odd. The Brewers are obviously doing a better job of cashing in on their fan base but still got outbid by the Yankees purely because of the size of the market, that should support what Attanasio said, not be a knock against him.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

This is really solid evidence that the ownership, the counties that invested in MP and the fans all have something to be proud of. They've all stepped up and supported the team. It's showing up in the financials and it that has allowed the ownership to put a better product on the field. I agree with you guys, it hardly means we don't need a luxury tax. If anything it supports it. Despite all the Brewers have done more than any other team, their payroll will be about 40% of what the Yankees is. The Brewers will also be lucky to breakeven, the Yankees will be wildly profitable. The article must have been written by a Yankee fan.

[jeffy]

The study is interesting, but the conclusion is moronic...as it implies that getting, say, $75x2,000,000 is better than getting $45x20,000,000

[tomwopat]

"What else do they have to spend it on? Cheese?"

[DHonks]

The Brewers do a great job with their very loyal fanbase. Everyone in Milwaukee seemingly has a wardrobe of Brewers stuff. It seems like all women 13-25 have Braun or Fielder tshirts.

 

We are a small market...we are the smallest market. But for now, we have become a medium-revenue generating club. There's a difference!

[Unstable]

Two team metros are disadvantaged by this metric. Hardly anyone is a fan of the Yankees and Mets, the White Sox and Cubs, the Athletics and Giants, or the Angels and Dodgers.

[bani1717]

Didn't it say that they divided the populations for those greater metro areas in half to account for that fact?

[Unstable]

If so I missed that. "In half" would be pretty arbitrary though.

[bani1717]

Well, it is a quick and easy way to divide the population in a way that probably fairly accurately describes the population's tendencies. Maybe it's not exact (ie, in any one market, maybe 60% are fans of one team and 40% are fans of another), but unless you polled everyone who lived in that area, you wouldn't know for sure what the percentages are.

 

Also, the study is meant to show revenue generated per person in that market (whether any one person is actually a true "fan" of that team is irrelevant to the study - if everyone in each market were "true fans", then the average revenue numbers per fan would be much, much higher). So, theoretically, in cities with 2 teams, each team has a "market" of about half the city's population. Basically, the study shows how much a team capitalizes on its POTENTIAL fan base (all fans in that market), and in 2-team cities, the potential fan base is essentially half the population.

 

I think the study has a fair measurement, I just think that the claim about Attanasio not having to complain about payroll/salary issues is a bad point. If anything, the fact that the Brewers capitalize on people in the Milwaukee market so well and STILL couldn't afford to match the Yankees' offer to CC says that we need a salary cap even more.

[BCZF]

All the quibbles aside, how cool is it to see this team come back from the dead like it has? When I first joined this board (under another nickname, cant remember what it was) when they had that funky old message board (the one where members could submit articles) we used to squeeze the blood of hope from the stone that was Davy Lopes, etc and always thinking "someday....someday"...I do not want those days back..We may not win the big one, but we aren't the recycled tires doormat for the division any more, and to me, that is soo cool..

 

Just my $.02

[BrewCrewForever]

Very proud to be a Brewers fan. Milwaukee has and has always had great baseball fans. We never got any credit for it, nice to see we are now. It has just been all gravy since Attanasio bought the team. It's night and day compared to the previous ownership.

[jeffy]

Ah yes, things certainly have changed in this area. My wife is a 1st grade teacher and a lot of the kids now are interested in the Brewers. Years ago that was rare amongst her students, it was all football and Favre in those days.

[hawing]

That "2nd most moola" thread title keeps making me feel like I should feel wealthy. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/ohwell.gif

 

For years at my workplace, when I'd send around a list of days I'm leaving early for night games, my colleagues' collective response used to be one of good-natured pity: "Oh, that hawing, still following those Brewers." Now people from even other departments ask me about the team and the games and are interested in our extra tickets. For the mostly-glorious workweek of September 29-October 3, 2008, I wore Brewers swag every day and no one thought it was weird.

 

I won't lie, I like it.

[Never Outhustled]

Mark Attanosio mentioned how the Brewers being a strong baseball market demographically was a major reason he bought the team. This isn't the 2nd best market in baseball, but it is about 10th. This isn't really a tribute of how we are as Brewers fans, its a tribute to how we are as professionals.