Baseball is swinging for the financial fences

As Major League Baseball's Rob Manfred, now chief operating officer, succeeds retiring Commissioner Bud Selig on Sunday, MLB is heading into a new season in its best financial shape in years. In fact, some sports economists argue the sport is gaining ground financially on the National Football Leauge, the most lucrative and popular professional sport.

Revenue from MLB's 32 teams hit a record $9 billion in 2014, a 12.5 percent increase from 2013, thanks to increases in broadcast fees and gate receipts along with gains from the league's digital media business, Major League Baseball Advanced Media (BAM).

Play Video

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks will open Major League Baseball's 2014 season in Sydney, Australia. CBS News' Lee Cowan reports ...

The service lets fans stream out-of-market games over their devices. Some experts consider BAM, which also has nonbaseball customers, to be among the most effective digital media business models and is MLB's fastest growing business. Indeed, MLB executives are optimistic about the league's growth prospects, although they declined to provide specifics.

"We believe we have the most valuable assets of any live sport, and we are looking to grow our top line significantly," MLB senior executive Bob Bowman recently told Sports Business Journal.

University of Michigan sports economist Rodney Fort argued that baseball will catch the NFL in the next two to three seasons because of BAM and the growth of regional sports networks. "They have been closing in on football for the past five or six years," Fort told CBS MoneyWatch. "Baseball is definitely going to catch football in the next few years."

Other sports economists aren't so sure. The NFL generates about $10 billion in revenue now and may hit $25 billion by 2027. And pro football's dominance of TV ratings isn't in danger from baseball or any other sport.

Play Video

Budweiser launched a campaign to have Major League Baseball's opening day declared as an official national holiday. Historian Kenneth Davis joins...

Read the original:
Baseball is swinging for the financial fences