Divvying Up Postseason Ticket Revenue
During the 2012 postseason, I wrote this post explaining how revenue generated by postseason tickets sales is shared among the league, postseason teams and players on postseason teams. The basic distribution formulas are established by MLB Rules and the collective bargaining agreement, and haven’t changed. But let’s review to make sure we’re all on the same page.
- Ticket revenue is just that — revenue raised by the sale of postseason tickets. It doesn’t include concessions, parking or merchandise.
- The Commissioner’s Office takes 15% of all postseason ticket revenue.
- The remaining 85% of postseason ticket revenue is divided among the playoff teams and the Players Pool.
- Fifty percent of Wild Card game ticket revenue is contributed to the Players Pool.
- Sixty percent of ticket revenue from the first three games of the Division Series is contributed to the Players Pool.
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Sixty percent of ticket revenue from the first four games of the Championship Series and the World Series is contributed to the Players Pool.
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All postseason ticket revenue not paid to the Commissioner’s Office or contributed to the Players Pool is shared equally between the two teams in each Series or Wild Card game.
What kind of ticket revenue are we talking about?
I don’t have ticket prices the two Wild Card games as I started my research after those games were played, and the information is no longer available on the team websites.
For the eight teams that played or are still playing in a Division Series, below is a chart listing the range of ticket prices for the Division Series and, where applicable, the Championship Series. The Giants haven’t published ticket prices for the NLCS, so I estimated the their ticket price range for the Championship Series based on the increase in price for my seats at AT&T Park between the NLDS and the NLCS.
| Team | Division Series | Championship Series | Seating Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royals | $76 – $450 | $68 – $562 | 37,903 |
| Angels | $30 – $275 | 45,483 | |
| Orioles | $15 – $150 | $40 – $225 | 45,971 |
| Tigers | $30 – $150 | 41,681 | |
| Cardinals | $35 – $165 | $71 – $240 | 46,861 |
| Dodgers | $15 – $180 | $50 – $200 | 56,000 |
| Giants | $50 – $339 | $75 – $450 | 41,915 |
| Nationals | $25 – $275 | $55 – $325 | 41,418 |
MLB sets ticket prices for the World Series for all ballparks. Tickets will start at $125 and go as high as $425.
Where do we stand so far?
The A’s and Royals shared equally in 35% of the ticket revenue from the AL Wild Card Game. The Giants and Pirates split 35% of the ticket revenue from the NL Wild Card Game. That’s all the A’s and Pirates will see from postseason ticket sales.
The Royals and Angels shared equally in 25% of total ticket revenue from the three games in their ALDS. Same for the Tigers and Orioles. That’s all the Tigers and Angels will see from postseason ticket sales.
The Dodgers and Cardinals will play at least four games. Those teams will split 25% of ticket revenue from the first two games in Los Angeles and the first game in St. Louis, but will share equally in 85% of ticket revenue from Game 4, and Game 5 back in Los Angeles, if necessary. The same will be true for the Giants and Nationals, with Game 4 in San Francisco and Game 5, if necessary, in Washington.
What about the Players Pool? That money is divided as follows:
- World Series Winner: 36%
- World Series Loser: 24%
- Two Championship Series Losers: 24%
- Four Division Series Losers: 13%
- Wild Card Losers: 3%
Last year, postseason ticket sales contributed $62,683,962 to the Players Pool. And while ticket prices are likely higher this year than last year, there were 18 Division Series games. With the Tigers and Angels already eliminated, there will be a maximum of 16 Division Series games. Depending on what happens in the two Championship Series and the World Series, we could see the Players Pool funds go down from 2013, as they did from 2012 to 2013.
Wendy writes about sports and the business of sports. She's been published most recently by Vice Sports, Deadspin and NewYorker.com. You can find her work at wendythurm.pressfolios.com and follow her on Twitter @hangingsliders.
What kind of distribution is there internally with the players pool? I have heard that teams will vote for which non-rostered players/personnel receive a share of the teams’ pools. Using my simple monkey math, the Red Sox cleared $22.5 million least year. Do you have any intel on the distribution within the team for that money?
http://bit.ly/1rfjnPB
The story I linked to about the 2013 Players Pool explains that. There’s also this good article from the NYT over the weekend. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/sports/postseason-paychecks-are-all-about-sharing.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1
The NYT article confusingly seems to imply that the LCS losers *each* get 24% instead of sharing it, which is of course mathematically impossible:
Obviously the Orioles were not one win away from a guaranteed 24% of the pool; they were one win away from a guaranteed half of 24%.
The players’ pool should not be affected by the number of games played – in fact, it’s set up not to be affected; the players don’t benefit from extending a series. Year-to-year fluctuations in the pool depend upon ticket pricing and sales/seating capacity.
Aren’t sales ultimately impacted by the number of games played, though? I believe the players receive their share based on series played rather than games, but the total dollar value in the pool is obviously different if more postseason games are played, and therefore, more tickets sold.
You are right. I even italicized the games limitations in the post to make this point, and then, apparently, had a brain fart.
Oh
Based on quick and dirty calculation using my understanding of this formula and last year’s total player pool amount, the minimum a wildcard world series winner team will earn (ie, wild card win and sweeps in each subsequent series) is approximately $15 million. Obviously each game beyond the minimum should add substantially to this number.
Perhaps I’ve misunderstood though? Is it possible to derive the “owner” amount based on the player pool since the player pool is from all games and the “owner” pool only from games played by that team?
Are there additional TV or concession revenues one can estimate?
Beyond the math curiosity, I’m trying to figure out how the Blue Jays’ wealthy ownership group can’t figure out that a little more payroll spending will even out with playoff revenue (not even accounting for the goodwill revenue they’ll rack up).
As Punchy said, I think there is no benefit to the players for additional games in each series (at least not until the World Series). They receive money on only the first three games of the DS or first four games of the CS, but they do receive per-game revenues in the World Series (at least according to the info Wendy provided above). So the players maximize their take in high-capacity stadiums and a 7-game World Series.
(But yes, I do wish the Jays would make some midseason efforts.)
I think you misread the post. Based on my understanding at least the players get 60% of the first four games of the WS too. Everything else, that’s not given to the Commissioner’s Office, goes to the owners.
But I also wasn’t implying anything with short series’, just trying to keep it simple. What I meant was that the players’ pool is contributed to by a cut of every series (ie 2 WC, 4 DS, 2 CS) where as the “owner’s pool” only comes from the specific series played by that team (I think).
The ticket revenue goes into a pool and is distributed based on where you end up, so the players don’t actually make more money if they win the WS via the wild card game or not. All wild card game losers share 3% of the total player pool. Any world series winner gets 36% of the total player pool. Nothing more. Nothing less.
@TKDC I’m aware. I was speaking of TEAMS/OWNERS making more based on being a wildcard team.
Teams share revenue from the particular series they play in. Teams with larger ballparks and higher ticket prices will earn more for themselves and their opponent.
Wendy, anybody, does the concession, merchandise, parking, etc constitute shared revenue during post season games as it does in regular season games?
Concession revenue is shared by the teams playing in the particular game. Revenue generated by sales of MLB-licensed merchandise goes the MLB Central Fund — and that money is distributed equally among the 30 teams. Anything with the MLB or team name or logo is MLB licensed merchandise.
The rules are clearly set up to keep players from pulling any stunts to extend the length of a series, but there is nothing really in place to keep a team from trying to pull something right? And they can benefit immensely. I’m looking at you, Jeff Loria.
Jeff Loria would have to actually get to the Postseason first.
The attendance at Game 3 of the ALDS in KC was 40657, so they sold about 2700 extra tickets for standing room only at $35 apiece (I bought 4 myself). I assume that price will go up in the ALCS.
After the game, Eric Hosmer paid for everyone’s drinks for an hour at a bar in downtown KC, rumor is that the bill was $20k. Looks like his playoff share should more than cover it.
Wendy, FWIW, I am a Mariner season ticket holder, and purchased playoff tickets (now unused). The price for the wild card game was the same as the ALDS. Don’t know if that is how any other team did it, of course.
Terrance Gore is gonna get paid. Good for him.
A 20th round draft pick with a murky future, he got 11 big-league game checks this year and might pull in a quarter million for the playoffs (which I’m guessing is more than he’s made as professional up to this point).
This October probably means a lot more to him in the long run (no pun intended) than anybody else on a postseason playoff roster.
The Royals make the post season for the first time in 30 years, then gouge their fans. 76$ starting price doesn’t seem too bad til you see their opponent last round started tickets at 30 bucks, and their next opponent started ticket prices at 15. No wonder Hosmer had to buy drinks for everybody, because the fans were broke.
I like the fact that they took out the conflict of interest the players would have had if they were to be paid more if the series went longer.
What about umpires? Do they get paid more if the series goes longer? Do they get paid the same regardless of the number of games played? It’s a conflict of interest either way.
I think the ideal solution would be to have a different team of umpires for the games that go beyond the minimum.