Moneymaking Ideas for MLB

This is one time of the year baseball teams are more willing to take on salary in order to improve their chances. Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, for one, has mentioned that the team will likely lose money this year after making a recent move to increase payroll:

This is going to push the payroll this year up to around $90 million. I'm confident in saying that four years ago I never had that number in mind. We'll probably generate some measurable loss this year, but we'd never have anywhere near that kind of money to spend unless we have the fans coming out to support the team.

The Brewers aren't alone in baseball history in taking on salary in the middle of the season in order to better their chances of winning. Unfortunately, spending above your means can only go on for so long before it comes back to bite you. So it's imperative to find ways to increase the money coming in. Obviously, having a winning team helps sell tickets, so that's a sort of positive coming from increasing salary to win. With the increase in tickets and exposure (be it through winning highlights, playoffs, etc.) comes increased merchandise sales and more money through advertising and, barring a long TV contract signed when the team was bad, broadcasting.

It sounds like there's a lot of money out there to be made just by winning, but if there's one thing Major League Baseball has focused on throughout recent history, it's finding new ways to get money from its fans. That's cool and all, if people want to pay for giant replica tickets of events or pictures or bobbleheads, more power to them. I think it's time to expand beyond the regular old weird-stuff-in-the-store novelties though. I have a few ideas for money-making activities during actual games. Feel free to add your ideas to the list.

1. Have you noticed how two outfielders toss a ball back and forth between innings while the third guy has to play catch with the ballperson down the foul line (or someone from the bullpen, etc.)? For a fee, you could be the one warming up with a major league outfielder between every inning!
2. Speaking of ballfolks down the line, there's no reason a paying fan couldn't fill that role, too! You could share the field with your favorite players and misplay caroms with the best.
3. Bullpen catcher is a pretty neat job, especially if you're a nice guy. Now, being the official bullpen catcher involves more than just squatting down and letting relievers throw at you, but that doesn't mean money can't be made off their job. Ever see more than one reliever warming up at the same time? Why should a team use their backup catcher in the bullpen when a paying fan could catch the ball just as well?
4. Batting practice is fun to watch from the stands, but imagine shagging balls hit into the outfield by your favorite hitters. Sure, players like Gabe Kapler might not appreciate non-baseball folks intruding on their practice time but, consarnit, who pays their salaries anyway!?
5. Ever wonder what your favorite beat columnists, television commentators, radio guys, and other credentialed press folks do during the game? Fork over enough money and you can sit in the press box during the game! We'll even give you a scorecard on the house!
6. Batboys have enough to do, picking up broken bats, thrown bats, bats dropped at the plate, bats that wind up everywhere except kindly tossed back to them. Why not pay to ease their burden by volunteering to pick up foul balls behind the plate and return them to the umpires?

This is just a starting point. While you or I may not fork over large sums of money to do these things, is it hard to imagine someone somewhere willing to do so? Let's get ownership groups or, heck, even the MLB head offices, on the phone!