The New York Yankees rewarded Aaron Judge for his historic 2022 campaign with a massive nine-year, $360 million contract in December — and with good reason, according to recent bond-market disclosures.
The superstar’s American League record-setting 62-homer season provided a huge economic boost for the Bronx Bombers, who sold $344.7 million in tickets and suite licenses — a jump of more than $100 million from 2021, per Sportico.
Of that total figure, $100 million was collected in 2021 for the 2022 season, while $61 million was sold in the fourth quarter of 2022, likely as deposits for the 2023 season.
It also includes almost $73 million in postseason ticket sales — an undisclosed portion of which would have been refunded or credited for 2023 after the Yankees fell to the eventual World Series champion Houston Astros in the ALCS.
The team — worth $6 billion as of March 2022, per Forbes — was required to disclose the data as part of the financing agreement with the state of New York for the new Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009.
The ballpark attracted 3.16 million fans in 2022, per a report from Baseball Almanac, representing a big bounceback from pandemic-affected 2021, when partially restricted attendance limited ticket revenue to $230 million.
But 2022 was even an improvement from the last non-pandemic affected season: In 2019, the Yankees sold $336 million in tickets.
