Sports is big business. So much so that even the Rolling Stones are getting in on it.
The Stones’ just-released “Hackney Diamonds” album has a special-order, baseball-themed vinyl edition. The record itself will be not black but what the publicists are calling “baseball white.” The dust cover will include an image that blends the Stones’ famous tongue with the logo of your favorite baseball team. The Rolling Stones website says it will cost $38 and is a collaboration with Major League Baseball.
Why baseball? The Stones said they have a long history with baseball, or at least baseball stadiums. For example, about half of the Stones’ 1989 “Steel Wheels Tour” concerts were staged in baseball stadiums or former baseball stadiums such as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. And their “Bridges to Babylon” tour in 1997 was performed at Dodger Stadium, among others.
The new album is the Stones’ first studio album of original material by the band since “A Bigger Bang” in 2005.
Big business
As if to underscore how big a business sports has become in Los Angeles, a report last week said local sports teams have not only fully rebounded from the pandemic, but their numbers are also well up from pre-pandemic times.
Wages and other income in Los Angles from professional sports jobs, both direct and indirect, will be $5.7 billion this year, up more than 80% from $3.1 billion in the pre-pandemic year of 2018.
Likewise, total economic output from professional sports will be $7.4 billion, up about 40% from $5.3 billion in 2018.
Th economy around college teams that play in Los Angeles saw similarly big increases, although the numbers are lower. Labor income, for example, is expected to be $1.2 billion this year, more than double the $500 million in 2018.
The report was prepared by the Institute for Applied Economics of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. for the Los Angeles Sports Council.
The report pointed out that the Los Angeles region is one of America’s two largest markets for both professional and college sports. Not only that, Los Angeles hosted the Super Bowl last year and the college football playoff championship and WrestleMania 39 earlier this year and will host the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics in 2026 and 2028, respectively. All those have big economic benefits for the city.
And sports is growing. The Angel City Football Club of the National Women’s Soccer League had its debut season last year, and the Intuit Dome, the future home of the L.A. Clippers, is under construction in Inglewood.
“From 2018 through 2023, the economic impact of the professional sports industry in Los Angeles and Orange counties has been growing, providing more in output, employment, labor income and taxes to the local economy,” the report said.
