All 30 Major League Baseball teams host 81 home games every season. At those home games, they entertain a wide range of paying patrons, from the seven or so Cubs fans in PNC Park for Pittsburgh vs. Chicago in late October to the routine 56,000 strong Los Angeles welcomes to Dodger Stadium pretty much every time they don their home whites.
Not this year, of course. There were no 81 home affairs, and no fans at all in the stands for the ones that were played. No concessions, no parking fees, none of it. And while the brand reputation, TV broadcasts, ad sales, and partial ownership of regional sports networks still maintained a filthy rich money stream to these franchises this year, it’s undeniable that the year-in, year-out business model on which baseball has existed for years took a massive uppercut to the chin this year.