“If the infidels are gonna be there anyhow, you might as well make money off them in your official team store.” So mused a half serious Dan Steinberg of DC Sports Bog upon noticing the Nationals took it upon themselves to flog Red Sox merchandise in their team shop during this week’s influx of Massholes. Said initiative comes shortly on the heels of Steinberg calling Nats president Stan Kasten out for his crass attempts at target marketing — to Phillies phans.
All of the above issues pale in comparison to the franchise’s on-field woes, but can you possibly imagine, for instance, the Red Sox returning the favor? Or the Phillies openly inviting fans of a division rival to fill their ballpark? I’m sure every penny counts in DC, but even a 20-48 team deserves some smidgeon of a home field advantage.
The Mariners’ Merch shop at Safeco sells Yankees and Redsox caps regardless of which team is visiting.
This Just in: Baseball is all about money!
Was just going to say that.
About half of the merch at Keyspan Park is old Brooklyn Dodgers memorabilia. Does LA get a cut of that? We know that the entire Mets franchise has a fixation with the Dodgers.
I believe all of the licensed merch royalties goes into one central pot that all MLB clubs share in. As such, the Twins and Royals benefit just as much from the booming trade in pink Red Sox hats as anyone else. The exception being whatever merch the teams flog themselves, either at the ballparks or their team stores. That’s additional retail margin they don’t share.