The New York Yankees collected $411.7 million in ticket and suite revenue in 2024, a new record amount for the club, according to a disclosure made in the bond market Friday.
The club sold nearly $310 million in tickets for the regular season and another $101.9 million for the postseason, according to the disclosure. The total for 2024 bests the previous high of $397 million reached in 2009, which was the first season in the new Yankee Stadium and is the last time the Bronx Bombers won the World Series. The Yankees also reached the World Series last year, losing in five games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. In both the 2009 and 2024 World Series, New York hosted three home games.
“The significant costs associated with the postseason (e.g., players share, visiting teams share, stadium operation, etc.) need to be considered in assessing the financial results of the postseason,” the team noted in its disclosure—postseason revenue is divvied among the players and playoff opponents, unlike the regular season. “As an enhancement to the credit, Yankee Stadium LLC includes all cash collections from the postseason in its assignment of revenue.”
The Yankees report these sales because Bronx ticket revenue backstops the bonds used to construct the current facility. About 30% of the $102 million playoff ticket revenue collected will be refunded to fans, because only seven of a possible 10 postseason games were played—the Yankees defeated the Royals and Guardians in the first two rounds of playoffs without needing to play all their home games.
Postseason baseball is both part of the Yankee identity and likely a significant part of its financial strategy. Since the current stadium opened, the Yankees haven’t collected less than $194.1 million in a season since 2021, when the pandemic restricted capacity at the arena. (While 2020 had no fan attendance due to the pandemic, ticket receipts were higher ahead of the abbreviated season and most of payments were rolled over by fans into 2021.) In 2023, when the Yankees missed the playoffs, total ticket and suite revenue was $294.4 million, a 15% drop from 2023.
By comparison, the peak of ticket revenue at the former Yankees Stadium was $266.6 million in 2008, the last year at that park. Ticket and suite data is disclosed back to 1997 through various bond documents.
The Yankees are baseball’s most valuable team at $7.93 billion, according to Sportico. The figures disclosed to bondholders excludes team revenue sources that don’t guarantee the bonds, including media rights, parking and concessions and other sources of income.
An email to a Yankees representative didn’t get an immediate response.