MLB Normalcy in 2022?

Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly said MLB could be back to normal by 2022. By March, the Dodgers and the league hope to have a better idea of vaccination and testing protocols to get fans back in the stands at ballparks.

MLB estimates that 40% of revenue comes from tickets and concessions. California announced Oct. 20 that the state’s professional sports teams would be able to sell tickets to 20% of capacity if their county is in the orange tier, which means moderate spread of the virus, and 25% of capacity if the county is in the yellow tier, which means minimal spread. Los Angeles county has not yet reached those tiers.

Local safety protocols will determine fan attendance, but with games expected to be played, MLB should keep its estimated $1.7 billion in annual TV revenue. There’s no expectation that the values of MLB teams will decrease in the long term.

In Other Baseball News

Rawlings Sporting Goods, Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire competitor Easton Diamond Sports. Rawlings is owned by MLB and Seidler Equity Partners, whose chief owner is Peter Seidler, the managing partner of the San Diego Padres.

Fanatics will now be the sole distributor of Tom Brady’s autographs, collectibles and memorabilia. The long-term exclusive deal expands the merchandiser’s collection of Tampa Bay Buccaneers products and will make game-used products from Brady’s first season in Tampa available in real time. 

The six-time Super Bowl champion joins fellow future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning and rookie sensation Joe Burrow on the company’s roster of athletes.

Fanatics’ Exclusive Memorabilia Roster Includes:

• Peyton Manning
• Alexander Ovechkin
• Zion Williamson 
• Pete Alonso
• Aaron Judge
• Joe Burrow 
• Luka Doncic

European sports are catching on better in the U.S. than American sports are in Europe. Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s La Liga and the English Premier League are each popular with about 20% of American sports fans.

No U.S.-based league cracked the top 25 favorite sports leagues or tournaments in any European market surveyed by Altman Solon. That is despite the fact that several leagues, including the NFL, MLB and the NHL, have played games in Europe in recent years.

There is a silver lining though: European fans of U.S. leagues are on average younger than fans of those leagues in the U.S., indicating there could be growth in the future.

U.S. League Fans Are Most Interested In:

France — NBA, 16% of sports fans
Germany — NFL, 15%
Italy — NBA, 18%
Poland — NBA, 17%
U.K. — NFL, 10%

Twitch has continued its run as the undisputed leader of livestreaming platforms, garnering 91.1% of the market share for hours streamed from July to September, up 14.5% from last quarter. That vastly outpaces its two competitors in YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming, which had 5.5% and 3.4% of the market share, respectively.

That lead has grown thanks to Among Us, a 2018 multiplayer social deduction game where players have to figure out who is the imposter in the group. As popular Twitch streamers flocked to play — hours played of Among Us increased by 650% from July to August — it became the top-downloaded game in the Apple App Store and Google Play in the third quarter.

The growing popularity of both the game and Twitch is helping draw politicians to the platform. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York joined Twitch yesterday and played Among Us with popular streamers Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker and Imane “Pokimane” Anys in an effort to encourage more people to vote. The stream peaked at 439,000 viewers, making it the third-highest individual stream by viewership in Twitch history.

Notable Politicians on Twitch:

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
• Rep. Ilhan Omar
• President Donald Trump
• Sen. Bernie Sanders