Look closely, there were some fans in attendance

Two weeks ago, I blogged about how Bob Nutting, the owner of our local “newspapers” and the Pittsburgh Pirates, ran both organizations in a similar fashion -- as cheaply as possible with no interest in quality. Here’s a look at PNC Park (home of the Pirates) a few minutes before the beginning of last night’s game with the Miami Marlins from Jason Mackey, who covers sports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

I don’t run the Pirates. If I did, this look a couple minutes before first pitch would scare the hell out of me: pic.twitter.com/eA85K7RHaP

— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) September 4, 2019

Okay, these are two of the worst teams in the National League and attendance usually drops once the kids go back to school. Still . . . .

Mackey seems concerned. However, I doubt that owner Bob Nutting is. As I argued in last month’s post, in-the-park attendance has become a minor factor in determining whether a baseball club actually makes money. A web search suggests a couple of new ways that baseball owners can increase their profits.

Borrowing an idea from NASCAR and the NBA

A couple of weeks ago, Forbes wrote about how baseball was looking into selling advertising on baseball uniforms:

Sleeve patches worn on the arms of players could serve as advertising space, and some reports indicate that they could prove quite lucrative.

In fact, a study conducted by Nielsen concluded that they could even be more profitable than similar patches worn in the NBA. In baseball, the arm patches are visible on camera more than twice as often as patches on basketball jerseys and they get almost three times more air time in baseball.

If MLB decides to adopt such patches, it could mean as much as $11 million in added value per team, according to Nielsen's report.

Borrowing an idea from NCAA football in order to sell a few more tickets

West Virginia University is currently not selling single game tickets for two of their most important home games, Texas and North Carolina. In order to get a Texas or NC game ticket, you will need to buy a mini package which will include paying for tickets to other games. (This is common practice among bigtime NCAA Division 1 schools.)

Okay, the Florida Marlins are not a big draw. But what about the New York Yankees? Each year, baseball teams alternate divisions from the opposite league in interleague play. This year, the Los Angeles Dodgers played the American League East which include the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. If you were a Dodger fan and wanted to see your team play either of these perennial American League powerhouses, you could not buy a single game ticket – the Yankee or Red Sox ticket was only available if you bought a 20-game package. Next year the AL East comes to Pittsburgh and it wouldn’t surprise me if you had to buy a 5-game package to see the Yankees.

Additionally, Major League Baseball is still talking integrity fees and data streaming fees which becomes pure profit for the owners.

Bottom line: As I suggested in my earlier post, I see no reason why Nutting would sell the Pirates – he doesn’t need to pay the cost of fielding a winning team in order to make a profit.