Disney will buy 15% of BAMTech from Major League Baseball for $900 million and distribute it to 30 baseball teams for $30 million each, reports Eric Fisher of SportBusiness Group.
If it sounds familiar, it’s because Disney has purchased parts of BAMTech from MLB over the years, and this was the last 15%. Disney is now buying everything from Major League Baseball on a huge payday for each team.
BAM Technologies, a software development company with roots in digital streaming, was originally Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), though the NHL held a minority stake. As mentioned in the tweet above, Disney said he first got involved in a $1 billion investment in 2016 and has continued to cash in to take over since then. MLB got a windfall thanks to his MLBAM folks, but now Disney owns everything.
A quick short-term takeaway here is that each team won $30 million. Clearly, we shouldn’t be so naive as to believe that the team has turned around and the players’ salaries he intends or needs to increase by $30 million per person. Of course, there are many other costs involved in running a team besides personnel costs.
Likewise, this should be a further reminder that it shouldn’t be as simple as believing the owner when they talk about how much money they lose or make very little money. The team has a somewhat hidden revenue stream, and the poor never open the book for scrutiny. Please count me about
Here’s the gist: Today is a great day for the overall bottom line of Major League Baseball. File it in a memory bank for future use.