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Rays On The Rise: What's A Winner Worth?

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 6, 2008

What a turnaround.

Last year at this time, the Tampa Bay Rays were a bedeviled last-place team with a sorry 58-82 win-loss record. Today, for the first time in the Rays' 11-year history, they have a winning season at 85-54 and are poised for a division championship.

This season has built goodwill for the Rays. But Major League Baseball is, at the end of the day, big business. Ticket and merchandise sales count for now. In the long term, it's about stadium contracts, broadcast deals and luxury suite sales.

Team Value

Earlier this year, the Tampa Bay Rays were valued by Forbes Magazine at $290 million. The Rays ranked 29th among 30 ball clubs.

The Rays' winning season should boost that value by 10 percent, or $29 million, says Michael Ozanian, national editor for Forbes, although he said it's still a little early to tell.

Attendance

Last year, the Rays' home attendance as of Sept. 3 after 70 games was 1.1 million, an average of 16,318 a game, dead last in the major leagues. This year, after 71 home games as of Aug. 31, the Rays ranked 26th in attendance at 1.5 million, an average of 21,457 per game.

"This winning season provides a platform for the Rays to grow its base of support, especially with respect to season tickets," says Rays President Matt Silverman. "If the community, especially the business community, jumps aboard, the winning season can provide lasting dividends."

Merchandise Sales

Last season, the Rays ranked 29th out of 30 major-league teams for licensed merchandise sales nationwide. This year, they improved to 22nd, according to the trade journal SportsOneSource.com. Sales are up 70 percent at Tropicana Field and nearly 100 percent at the team's store in Tampa.

"While the Rays have made tremendous strides on the field, they have yet to really leverage that success into merchandise sales," says Matt Powell, an analyst with SportsOneSource.

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