The 2023 baseball season just wrapped up and the Texas Rangers and their fans celebrated their first world series championship after 63 years.

However, they were not the only winners — 2023 was a great year for Major League Baseball and its economic ecosystem. New rule changes resulted in increased fan engagement and that meant wins for fans, for teams as well as their promotional partners.

Sponsor United recently created a report that provides data insights on the 2023 MLB marketing partnership industry.

Market Growth Highlights

Out of this fabulous 32-page report, we picked out the top ten highlights, so you can read them in just two minutes.

1. In 2023, games averaged 24 minutes less than last year–and their shortest length since 1984.

2. MLB attendance increased 9.6% to 70.75 million, the highest level since 2017.

Photo by Jimmy Conover on Unsplash

3. Team sponsorship revenue surged 23% on average across the league.

4. In 25 core markets, MLB viewership surpassed the top primetime shows by a significant 125%.

5. MLB Digital Platforms saw a 26% increase in users over 2022.

6. A whopping 500 new brands became sponsors in 2023.

Our Partner Teams

7. The Philadelphia Phillies and our partners, the Houston Astros tied for #1 among playoff teams with 144 sponsorship deals.

8. The Baltimore Orioles saw an increase in TV ratings for locally produced telecasts by a whopping 65% over 2022. And even so, our partners the Pittsburgh Pirates edged them with a 72% increase in local ratings.

9. And that’s not all for Pittsburgh. Eight (8) of the team’s top 30 sponsors were newly added partners.

Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash

10. And last but not least, the Pirates’ recent stadium enhancements like state-of-the-art digital signage helped with a 60% growth in their sponsorship business!

It was a great year for baseball and it’s surrounding economy, and that was just the start. Things are looking up for 2024!

About Pointsville

Pointsville offers a full-service gamified loyalty and fan engagement platform that enriches fan and visitor experiences through its immersive loyalty wallet, augmented reality (AR) experiences, exclusive rewards, and an easy-to-navigate loyalty management system.

We covered the 2023 baseball regular season weekly on X (formerly Twitter) Spaces. You can listen to Episode 10 here.

How To Partner With Us

Pointsville is a leading loyalty and rewards platform and a proud loyalty partner with MLB franchises.

It’s simple and easy to partner with us:

• Fill out the form & upload your logo at: partners.pointsville.com/signup.
• Create fun Augmented Reality (AR) quests, video-incentives, quizzes & collectibles in minutes.
• Grow your community/business.
• And we even have point-grant programs — contact us at media@pointsville.com to find out more.