Red Sox would reportedly lose almost $200 million without fans in stands in 2020
98.5 The Sports Hub staff report
Should it happen as expected, an empty Fenway Park for the 2020 MLB season would cost the Red Sox about $188 million in losses, according to a league memo obtained by the Associated Press.
The memo, titled “Economics of Playing Without Fans in Attendance” and dated last week, outlined an 82-game season that would add up to losses of over $600,000 per fan-less game, and would include $4 billion in total losses.
But Boston’s projected losses, which was totaled by calculating their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, would be one of the league’s more devastating red lines. In fact, it would be the fifth-most, trailing only the Cubs ($199 million), Mets ($214 million), Dodgers ($232 million), and Yankees ($312 million).
Speaking with the Boston Globe on Friday, Mayor Marty Walsh said that he was open to the idea of opening Fenway Park for games, but noted that they would absolutely be played without fans in the stands at all this summer.
“There will be no fans in Fenway Park in July, there will be no fans in Fenway Park in August,” said Walsh. “We won’t even be near a situation where there’s herd immunity, and there certainly won’t be a vaccine.”
The Red Sox, who dumped a ton of cash with the offseason trade of Mookie Betts and David Price, were valued as the third-most valuable franchise in baseball in Forbes’ annual rankings (released last month), at $3.3 billion.
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