Atlanta Braves and the possible economics of Bryce Harper

Bryce Harper is going to cost somebody a lot of money – wherever he ends up getting signed.  But is there a hidden benefit that his new team could reap?

I want to say up front that this is an academic exercise and I do not expect the Atlanta Braves to suddenly stun the world and offer Bryce Harper a pile of gold along with the receipts from the Tollercoaster for the next few years.

But I did get curious about an aspect of his free agency that nobody is really discussing:  is there an economic burst from fans that would accrue to his new team that could actually help to offset his costs – in part or perhaps even in whole?

The economic impact of Bryce Harper’s free agency and his eventual signing – somewhere – will vary wildly depending on which team is able to land him. Oddly enough, I actually believe that the Braves might be one of those that could benefit.

Where does this come from?

A large part of this is wrapped around ballpark attendance. You’d think it would be in merchandise – Harper jerseys, shirtseys and the like, but since the MLB teams share revenue on the sales of licensed merchandise, the impact of putting him on any club would be the same in St. Petersburg as it would be in Philadelphia or New York or any other MLB city.

In fact, there’s probably 29 clubs rooting for him to sign anywhere except Washington so that an influx of new jerseys would hit the streets.

Now with that being said, the Braves do own and operate all of their Clubhouse retail stores, so it’s very likely that they do get a partial bump from their own sales… but that only applies if he’s a Brave.

But there is a a gate impact to consider – and this has multiple layers to it.