Study: Lack of In-Person Attendance Didn't Hurt the Marlins Much in 2020

We all lost something because of COVID-19 in 2020. Some of us more than others.

According to a new study, MLB teams weren't exempt. But when it comes to lost revenue from ticket sales, the Miami Marlins, unsurprisingly, escaped least scathed.

OK, OK — everyone go ahead and get that super hilarious Marlins attendance joke off your chest so we can move on.

Are you good, now? Feel better? Fine, let's proceed.

The research comes courtesy of the sports-betting site Penn Bets, which recently released a study that found no MLB team lost less revenue than the Marlins in 2020.

According to the study, MLB lost a combined estimated $2.4 billion during the 2020 season because there was no live attendance during games. But the Marlins accounted for less than $19 million of that number, with an estimated average loss per game of $226,061.

Those of you who have been to a Marlins game can probably guess why: If your team isn't known for selling many tickets, it's less likely to lose money than the teams that sell out every game when a pandemic makes in-person attendance impossible.

The study found that no asses in seats during games for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, and New York Yankees translated to those teams losing the most revenue in 2020. That makes perfect sense, because those are the teams one would expect to sell the most tickets during the course of a season.

Penn Bets used MLB live-attendance revenue loss estimates for the 2020 season that were based on the average ticket price for each MLB team. Its numbers are based on a calculation factoring in the total 2019 home-game attendance, as well as the average 2019 home-game attendance. The site makes sure to point out that the study does not factor in estimated food, beverage, merchandise, or souvenir revenue and only includes estimated gate revenue.
All in all, most Marlins fans could have likely predicted the results of this study before the data-crunching ever began. Tampa Bay and Miami are perennial losers in the attendance department. For the Marlins, though, change seems to be in the air now that players like rookies Jazz Chisholm and Sixto Sanchez are here to provide more reason than ever to head out to loanDepot Park.

Until more wallets open and more asses find seats at Marlins games, studies like this will continue to place Miami's baseball team last. The biggest cure to the disease of sports fan apathy is winning games — and in Miami, if you win them, fans will come.