THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF A MAJOR LEAGUE SOFTBALL CLUB
ON THE LOCAL ECONOMY *

The impact of a Major League Softball Club on the local economy depends on the amount of “new money” that it brings into the region. That is, it depends on the amount of spending in the region that would not have occurred if not for the Major League Softball Club. In this case, money brought into the region includes that money spent locally by the MLSA Club in its day-to-day operation, including salaries of personnel. This spending represents an increase in the demand for the goods and services that local businesses provide. It is considered new money because it is assumed that this spending would not occur locally in any other form if the MLSA Club did not exist in the city.

New money is also injected into the local economy by softball fans that come from outside of a Major League Softball city in order to see games. In this case, visiting fans include local Club fans that do not live in the city and visiting Club fans that travel to the city to watch their Clubs play. These visitors spend money at hotels, restaurants, clubs, retail stores, and other businesses. Money spent by city residents is not included because it is assumed that this money would have been spent elsewhere in the city on some alternate activity if the professional softball Club did not exist. The economic impact estimation does not count the money that softball fans spend on tickets for games. It is assumed that this revenue pays for Club operations and has therefore been counted already in the impact estimation. Total spending on Club operations plus money spent by visitors to the city represents the direct economic impact of the softball Club on the local economy – it is spending that can be directly attributed to hosting Major League Softball games. Local businesses that have received this new money will re-spend some of these receipts locally in order to meet expenses and pay employees. Thus, there are successive rounds of re-spending in the region by those businesses that have supplied goods and services to the Club and fans. These successive rounds of re-spending are called the indirect impact. Only money that is spent within the local area is included in the indirect impact. Money received by businesses outside the area is not considered in this part of the analysis.

Money earned by employees of those businesses generating output in both the direct and indirect phases of the impact is also counted because much of this income is spent locally. Purchases by households that have experienced increased earnings due to the injection of new money into the region are known as induced impacts. In the context of the economic impact estimation methodology, direct, indirect and induced impacts are combined into a single figure representing the total multiplier effects of business-to-business and household-to-business spending within the local area.

This economic impact estimation uses the RIMS II (1) System developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The BEA has estimated a set of multipliers based on purchaser-supplier (or input-output) relationships among businesses of different industry classes within a specific County. These multipliers are used to estimate the total economic impact of a change in local spending associated with a given business. They are also used to estimate the number of new jobs that are created when business sales increase. This employment impact is stated in full-time job year equivalents. New workers must be paid wages, or existing workers must be paid higher wages in order to produce the increased output. The impact on household earnings represents the change in the amount of wages and salaries that must be paid to workers in the area in order to generate the additional output.

1 RIMS is an acronym for Regional Input-Output Modeling System.

* This is based on various sources of existing data in addition to our own independent research, evaluations and subsequent conclusions related specifically to the Major League Softball Association

                SPECIFIC ECONOMIC IMPACT OF A MLSA CLUB *

• Overall, MLSA fans will generate $3.2 million in direct spending, adding more than $2  million in value (direct, indirect and induced impact) to the State's economy

• MLSA Clubs pay or induce over $1.3 million dollars in wages

• MLSA Clubs will generate over $500,000 in state and local sales tax revenue

• A minimum of 780 hotel room nights by the visiting MLSA Clubs

• Approximately $117,000 spent in your city by visiting MLSA Clubs’ Players and Staff

• Depending on the location of the stadium and its close proximity to other attractions, MLSA Clubs will have a positive economic impact on other businesses in the surrounding area, such as restaurants, bars, movie theaters and other family-oriented types of businesses that will result in an increase in visitors, both before and after MLSA games

• Additional dates for your stadium will result in increased wages for your stadium employees and vendors and increased sales from outside vendors supplying the stadium with food, beverages, merchandise and other support services.  This will increase both local wage and sales tax revenue.

* This is based on both actual figures and estimates. Includes averages compiled from existing data from the Major League Softball Association and our own independent research, evaluations and conclusions. 

Accepted, proven formulas were used in this analysis.


            MLSA.... A GREAT NEW GAME !