It turns out that HVS, a sports and entertainment consulting firm, put a nice little presentation on MLS finances together for the Portland 2011 bid. There are some interesting tidbits in there, and I thought I'd share a few that interested me.
Stadium Revenue
Total projected stadium revenue is less than $15 million; now, I'm sure that's a conservative estimate, but it seems shockingly low. Of course, I'm certainly jaded by the type of money made in big time American sports.
Ticket Price
Portland's projected average ticket price is $33.65, significantly higher than the 2007 league average (cited in the presentation) of $22.47. Not sure if that really means anything, just an interesting note.
Chivas Season Tickets
If you needed more evidence that Chivas is the most poorly marketed team in the league, here's a kicker for you: in both 2007 and 2008, season tickets sales for Chivas USA were less than 900. Wow. They need to do something out there, and I think re-branding the club would be a good start. That, or move them (St. Louis?).
Kansas City Season Tickets
Unlike Chivas, the Wizards seem to be making progress. While the number of season tickets sold for Kansas City is second worst in the league, they saw a 232% percent increase between 2007 and 2008. Pretty damned impressive, and certain to rise again when the team moves into their new digs in a couple of years.
Portland's Projected Ticket Sales
Now, I don't know a thing about sports venue consulting, but it just seems odd that HVS would assume a decline in total tickets sold from 2011 to 2015. Isn't the goal to make the team more popular, thereby increasing ticket sales? I guess that's just part of the overly conservative outlook these type of things have to take when it comes to public financing issues. Oh, and if Portland is averaging less than 12,000 in 2015, I think it would be safe to say at that point that giving them a team was a bad idea. Not going to happen, of course. I have faith in the soccer fans out there.
TFC Fans Like Their Beer
The report says that Toronto fans spent more on average than an other team in the league, at a rate of $11.00 per game (I'm assuming that's USD). Think they were spending that $11.00 on hot dogs and nachos? I doubt it. If TFC charged for bathroom access, they could probably bring in another couple mill a year.
Both Kinds of Football at PGE Park
Listed as a source of "other event" income in the report is Portland State football. Now, I guess it would be naive to think that the renovated PGE Park would be used for nothing but Timbers games, but I was certainly unaware of Portland State playing their other kind of football there. High school games? Fine. Concerts? If you must. College football? No thanks. Guess you just have to take the good with the bad. Maybe we'll never be able to separate soccer in this country from American football, no matter how many soccer-specific stadiums we build.
I was made aware of the report by Footiebusiness, and you can read the original report in .pdf form here.
