What is the World Series?
October is the biggest baseball month in the United States. Major League Baseball is the only league among the top 4 continental championships that conducts its season on a spring-autumn basis. The regular season ends at the end of September, after which two finalists are determined within three weeks. And they will start in the World Series at the end of the month.
In recent years, Major League Baseball has noticeably declined in popularity. If a few decades ago baseball could compete with American football, now the NFL and NBA are far behind in terms of income and ratings, and in the future soccer could potentially squeeze Major League Baseball out of the top three.
However, the World Series is the main baseball brand, thanks to which Major League Baseball becomes the main league in the country for 1-2 weeks. Due to the structure of the season, the decisive matches fall at the start of the championship in the NBA and NHL, as well as in the middle of the regular season in the NFL and college football – not the most intriguing events of the season.
On top of that, the World Series has a historical advantage. Major League Baseball is the oldest league in North America, and the playoff finals were called that way back in 1903. At that time, even the rules in American football were not unified, and basketball had just begun to emerge from colleges to the professional level.
Over the decades, the principle of distribution of prize money for the World Series has been formed. It is not static and depends on ticket sales, TV revenue and other earnings of all teams in the playoffs. World Series winners expected will earn $35 million, and the losers about $25 million. This money will be divided between the players and the coaching staff.
In total, a Major League Baseball champion could potentially, at the expense of sponsors and income from the match, help out in the playoffs over $100 million. Potentially, this is an all-time record. It’s just that the entire current playoffs turned out to be unique, but at the same time scandalous – for the first time in 43 years, the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers met in the finals.
What is unique about the current series?
The Yankees and Dodgers met in the World Series for the twelfth time, the most in Major League Baseball history. More importantly for Major League Baseball, however, these teams represent two of the largest cities in the country. New York and Los Angeles are considered the most important markets for all American leagues.
Major League Baseball itself states that the current World Series is extremely important for the development of the league. Last year (season 2023) the total income of all league clubs made up a record $11.6 billion, which is about $1 billion more than in 2022. And the Yankees and the Dodgers were in the lead on revenue for the year: the club from New York earned $679 million and the one from Los Angeles earned $549 million.
Major League Baseball now has a historic opportunity to break through the $12 billion revenue mark, or even higher. Just the 2024 season became the most attended in seven years, and the first time in 12 years that overall match attendance increased rather than decreased. It also reported a twofold increase in TV ratings among young audiences.
The playoffs also showed good results – the first round matches showed the best TV ratings in history. Against this background, in 2024 the league’s sponsorship income grew up by 20% compared to last year – to $1.9 billion. And in the end, Major League Baseball received the most coveted sign – this is approximately like the game between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the Champions League final.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has not yet reported revenue for the season, but said it was a very good year. And after the first game of the World Series, he statedthat the final between the Yankees and Dodgers is an opportunity to build on the work the entire league has done in recent years. And he especially added that the 2024 World Series will allow Major League Baseball to expand far beyond North America.
The TV ratings for the World Series bear this out. First two matches on average watched 14.5 million Americans across all available platforms. This is the best figure in 7 years. By comparison, no NBA playoff finals in the last five years I couldn’t attract an average of more than 14 million viewers.
According to Nielsen, viewership among young people (18-34 years old) increased by 93%, views on social networks of Major League Baseball and clubs – by 229%. In total, indicators of social activities (interactions, reposts, third-party comments) increased by 225%, and this is not yet data on the decisive games of the finals.
But more importantly, TV ratings in Japan, Major League Baseball’s main foreign market. They are even higher than in the USA – the first game looked 14.4 million Japanese, and the second – a historical 15.9 million. Although both games started at 9 am Tokyo time. There are no data for other markets yet, but records can also be expected here. Japan has suddenly fallen in love with Major League Baseball thanks to Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who play for the Dodgers.
It’s just impossible to imagine such a star couple and a sign in other American championships. Not only is it a good thing for Major League Baseball, but it also shows all the “vices” of the league.
What’s the problem with the 2024 World Series?
Major League Baseball is the only major league in North America with no salary cap. In the NFL and NHL everything is strictly regulated, and in the NBA there is a strict tax on exceeding the threshold. Major League Baseball also has it, but the teams’ income levels are completely different. Some, like the Oakland Athletics, skimp on everything. And as a result of this economy, they move into the unknown.
The three teams with the biggest payrolls in Major League Baseball at the start of the season made it to the conference finals of the 2024 playoffs. Both the Yankees and Dodgers are in their number (2nd and 3rd). Only one team in the league pays its baseball players more: the New York Mets. It was them who were knocked out by the team from Los Angeles on the way to the final.
At the beginning of the season, the Yankees had staked $303.3 million in payouts to baseball players, while the Dodgers have $249.8 million. No pair of finalists has yet paid so many players. As the season progressed, other teams signed players, causing Los Angeles to be ranked second in salary rankings. fell to 5th place. But the club can still afford to sign the strongest baseball players for record money.
So, the Dodgers took Sehei Ohtani in the offseason, who instantly became the team leader. And he didn’t just take it, but wrote him an astronomical contract worth $700 million for 10 years. But only $2 million goes under the salary cap. And so on until 2034. And after that, the Dodgers will pay him $68 million every year.
Therefore, Los Angeles is not at the top of the rankings, unlike the New York teams. They found the perfect loophole in the regulations, which allowed them to avoid even more tax on excess wages. And here’s just a quick summary of the finalists’ power: The Yankees in recent years concluded four contracts with a total value of over $1 billion – with Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Rodon. And the Dodgers have three (Ohtani, Yamamoto and Mookie Betts).
So the 2024 World Series is not only a gift to fans, but also an indicator of huge financial inequality. All this is very reminiscent of European football, where the richest almost always reach the Champions League finals. In the short term, Major League Baseball will benefit greatly from such showcases, but in the long term, we can expect a decline in interest. Unless the richest people start bringing in even more money to the league and sharing it with the underdogs.
