Orioles' Merchandise Sales Spike With Playoff Push; Postseason Tickets Sell Out

Nationwide sales of Orioles merchandise “increased 278 percent year-over-year for a period of four weeks spanning late August and early September,” according to SportsOneSource data cited by Chris Korman of the Baltimore SUN. Orioles' gear only accounts for only 2.2% of the MLB market, but that is a “big increase over last year, when that number sagged" to 0.5%. The Nationals also made “significant gains,” up from 0.8% to 3.2% "thanks to their playoff chase." SportsOneSource analyst Matt Powell said, “This is probably what everybody always worried about with the Nationals moving to D.C. They're probably stealing customers from each other, but both are clearly better off." Korman notes the Orioles “do see some direct benefit from the uptick," as the club owns a store in York, Pa., and splits revenue from Camden Yards shops with concessionaire Delaware North.” Sales of Orioles gear on Fanatics.com have “increased 565 percent during the first 18 days of September, with 67 percent of sales coming from outside Maryland.” Orioles merchandise “sold at a higher clip" than all MLB clubs except the Yankees and Giants (Baltimore SUN, 9/25).

GOING WILD: Orioles Communications Dir Greg Bader said tickets are “sold out for possible Orioles home games" in the Wild Card and ALDS. Bader said that tickets for the Wild Card and Games 1 and 2 of the ALDS were “gone within an hour after they went on sale to the public Saturday morning.” He added that tickets for a third ALDS game “sold out by early afternoon Saturday” (BALTIMORESUN.com, 9/24).

RATINGS GAME: MASN has “seen a 48 percent increase in overall ratings” for Orioles' games on the net. The 4.75 local rating in Baltimore this season to date is up from a 3.2 rating in ’11. In Baltimore, Jack Lambert notes the Orioles are averaging a 1.94 rating among adults 18-34, "a 100 percent jump over last year’s 0.97 mark.” The team's games are also averaging a 2.56 rating among adults 25-54, "a 112 percent increase over the network’s 1.21 rating last year” (BALTIMORE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 9/21 issue).