Possibility of No Yankees Post-Season Will Hurt Businesses

Some establishments may be praying for the Yankees' playoffs hopes, or else they'll see lower sales. The Post commissioned a study that shows city business could lose $141 million if the Yankees keep sputtering. If they advance to the division series, businesses earn $26 million; they get another $54 million if the Yanks manage to make it to the AL Championship. And a World Series if worth an additional $61 million. As for the Mets, their post-season run would add another $147 million (a Mets World Series is worth $81 million to businesses!). For more about baseball and economics, check out Andrew Zimbalist's 1992 book, Baseball and Billions, and 2006 book, The Bottom Line.

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By Jen Chung in News on September 2, 2008 12:08 PM

Comments [rss]

MaiaW

SP: There doesn't seem to be any strict explanation. It says in the article "Marlin factored in that Mets fans are primarily based in Brooklyn and Queens, while the Yankees draw from across the region, including Westchester, New Jersey and Connecticut." I was under the impression that Jersey was big Mets country...so maybe the reporter missed that? Plus, with the resurgence of the Red Sox in the last five years, I bet the number of casual (fair-weather) Yankee fans has gone down in Connecticut, at least. I dunno, just a hunch.

babyhitler

They don't "lose" 140 million dollars. They "gained" 140 million dollars for the last 12 years. That's like saying Knicks establishments lose 140 million dollars every year they don't make the playoffs.

SP

I'm directing my question to Jen Chung who presumably read enough of it to paraphrase and summarize it for this post.

famdoc

Hopefully, Girardi and Cash will also be occupationally hurt by the Yankees failure to make the post-season.

esquared

They already lost 252 million dollars by re-signing A-Rod. Schadenfreude you Yankee bitches.

Mr Mel

Interesting, when I was in the retail TV business, sales would go up or down with interest in the teams. The Yankees were always in it, the Giants, Jets, Devils and Rangers came and went and the Knicks usually did nothing. I met a fellow a many years ago whose family was in the parking garage business in several cities including NY and Boston. He had one near MSG and it barely broke even unless there some post-season activity. He said that the one they owned near Boston Garden never let them down.

lanciano

@SP:

Perhaps you should direct your question to John Tepper Marlin who wrote the report. That interesting figure comes from him, not Gothamist.