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League Gate Down in 1898

Bad timing to extend during bad economic times has cost the Baseball League and their constituent clubs a lot of money this past season. Unemployment is running high among the working and lower middle classes, who make up the bulk of spectators for baseball games, especially during the week. One might think that such people would have more time to spend at baseball matches during the week, but then lack of steady wages puts a crimp in a man’s leisure budget, even when the price of admission is a paltry 6d. That’s a sum that can feed a man's family for the whole day, and that’s clearly what our man is choosing to do.

In the First Division, attendance is down by some 225,000, even though there were some 200 more home matches played by teams during the season. Average number of spectators decreased by exactly one thousand per match, from 3,479 to 2,479. Ten clubs anticipated the drop and cut wages accordingly, and yet the balance sheets of thirteen of the eighteen clubs suffered. Aston Villa took the brunt of the force as sources within their office maintain that the club lost some £3,000 this season alone.

The outlook is even grimmer in the Second Division. Overall gate dropped by 400,000, average gate was down by thirty-nine per cent to 1,700 per match, and no fewer than eight clubs are well into the red. Two such clubs, Darwen and Lincoln City, have been dispatched from the League, at least for 1899. Others, such as Derby County and Woolwich Arsenal, appear to be in mortal straits, playing for their very survival. Interestingly, all four of the new League clubs on the second level are quite solvent, and the champion Doncaster Rovers are said to be the financially healthiest entity not only in the Division, but indeed in the entire league.

The economic forecast for Britain is for improvement, which one can only hope accrues to the League’s fortunes as well. The situation might get direr before it improves, but the essence of the League is to reflect the strongest clubs on the Island both financially and competitively. We are confident the League will eventually be the stronger for it.