Yankees Turn Rain into Money

The Yankees had their game versus the Orioles on Tuesday rained out at Yankee Stadium. This scenario sounds like a loss to fans, players, and all involved.

But I'll tell you why the Yankees won off the field.

The Yankees have had much success from their team by running their team's daily operations as a big business. The Yankees were the first team to create their own regional channel, the YES Network, and have come up with numerous partnerships and other strategic moves to generate revenue for their team and business.

All of this came into play on Tuesday. The forecast all day called for 70% chance or more of rain starting from late afternoon and throughout the entire evening in the Bronx and entire New York City Metro area. The Yankees of course kept a close eye on the weather even though the probability of playing baseball was very slim. So being the smart overall business gurus they are, they STILL open the gates to Yankee stadium and entertain hundreds of people from 5:00PM and on.

Of course Yankee Stadium features two prime restaurants at the stadium, the Hard Rock Cafe and their own restaurant, NYY Steak. In addition they have all of their merchandise stands and team stores open for fans to purchase Yankee apparel. This all adds up to more revenue for the New York Yankees. At around 6:55PM or so, the PA announcer officially announces the rain out. While this was disappointing, the Yankees STILL brought in all of that revenue for the 2 hours from all of its assets within the stadium, as well as all of the parking, which cannot be refunded.

While this seems unfair to the consumer, it is a smart business practice and decision to bring consumers into the selling environment even if the scheduled event may not take place. You are still able to entertain them and offer them other goods and services while within the facility of the main event.

To be fair, the Mets during the EXACT same time period were doing the EXACT same thing! They opened their gates and let fans into Citi Field, and around 7:00PM or so is when they called their game off. Of course the Mets are in a financial crisis so they REALLY could have used the extra revenue.

So while we all love our national past time and to attend other sporting events, we sometimes forget that it is all a business and that we are stepping into a huge store essentially that provides entertainment, goods, and services! So there is a business prospective for you all!