So some Angels and Indians meet in Milwaukee...

April 10, 2007 12:06 PM

The Cleveland Indians are playing their "home opener" in Milwaukee due to the weather in Ohio. This got me wondering...

Does Miller Park/the Brewers organization get the revenue generated by ticket sales, food, souvenirs, etc.? Does the Indians organization get a cut? Perhaps MLB compensates them in some way?
I'm just curious (after chatting with some friends) about how exactly the financial side of this move works out, and no source I could find goes into any detail.

posted by Bromius to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

I've looked and looked and still haven't found a good answer either. My guess is that there's a chance Miller Park could lose money on the deal, considering that it must be rather expensive to heat the park in current weather and bring in employees, security, etc.

Apparently, they've sold nearly 10k tickets though.
posted by drezdn at 12:16 PM on April 10, 2007

I heard on WKNR that the Indians get ticket revenue, and Miller Park gets concessions.
posted by Nahum Tate at 12:21 PM on April 10, 2007

The only thing I could find was an AP article talking about how much Cleveland will lose in tax revenue as the result of the move..
posted by inigo2 at 12:40 PM on April 10, 2007

Both Feeney and Rich Levin, a Major League Baseball spokesman, said the Indians and the Angels will be made whole financially. "Any shortfall will come out of a contingency fund," Levin said. "Nobody is going to make money out of this."

That also includes the Brewers. An MLB official said that the Brewers would not make any money out of the arrangement. They still must pay ticket takers, maintenance people, concession workers, front-office employees and other personnel to staff the game. Brewers team officials declined to comment on costs.

Rick Schlesinger, Brewers executive vice president for business operations, said that, for now, no one was going to worry about financial considerations.

via
posted by desjardins at 12:46 PM on April 10, 2007

"Nobody is going to make money out of this."

Keeping in mind the stinking cesspit of creative accounting that is major league baseball.
posted by docgonzo at 1:28 PM on April 10, 2007

"Any shortfall will come out of a contingency fund," Levin said. "Nobody is going to make money out of this."

Nobody is going to make money ... Because they've already made the money. The MLB contingency fund is paid into from team revenues, and itself earns interest revenue when it goes unused, which is most of the time.

So, it's more correct to say "Nobody is going to make new money out of this."
posted by frogan at 3:01 PM on April 10, 2007

Off the topic somewhat, but it's kind of ironic that Milwaukee itself is forecast to get hammered by a snowstorm during both the Wednesday night game and the Thursday afternoon game of this series. Up to a foot of snow, supposedly. Of course, the roof will protect anyone who actually makes it to the stadium.

They're still charging regular rates for parking and concessions, and I think that all comes back to Miller Park & the Brewers.
posted by gazole at 3:50 PM on April 10, 2007

Gazole, I was going to head out to the game tomorrow, but if the weather goes down as planned it'll be nearly impossible for me (unless if they cancel work and I take the bus).
posted by drezdn at 5:05 PM on April 10, 2007