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The $40 Million Amateur Baseball Tournament

August 16, 2022

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Hey Friends,

The Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) kicks off later this week, bringing tens of millions of dollars in economic impact to a small Pennsylvania town.

For those that don’t already know, the LLBWS is an annual baseball tournament for the world’s best youth baseball teams (age 10-12). The tournament is held in South Williamsport, Pennslyvania, at Volunteer Stadium & Howard J. Lamade Stadium, and it is broadcast across ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, ESPN+, and FuboTV for viewing.

Notable Little League World Series Alumni

  • Gary Sheffield (1980) 

  • Jason Varitek (1984) 

  • Jason Bay (1990) 

  • Todd Frazier (1998) 

  • Lance Lynn (1999) 

  • Michael Conforto (2004) 

  • Cody Bellinger (2007)

In total, there have been 64 LLBWS players that have made it to Major League Baseball. And fun fact, there are only three players that have competed in the Little League World Series, College World Series, and Major League World Series:

  • Ed Vosberg

  • Jason Varitek

  • Michael Conforto

But here’s how the tournament works: This is the first year they have expanded from 16 to 20 teams, but they still follow a double-elimination format.

  • Each team will play at least three games.

  • Winning teams go in the winner’s bracket; losing teams go in the loser’s bracket.

  • The teams are separated into two groups (United States and International), and the winner of each tournament faces off to be crowned world champion.

This is the 75th anniversary of the tournament, and Taiwan (17 titles) has won the most championships — followed by Japan (11 titles) and California (7 titles).

The economic and viewership numbers behind the LLBWS are also fascinating.

More than 70,000 people travel to Williamsport, Pennslyvania, for the LLBWS during a typical year. That brings an estimated $40 million in economic value to the region, and the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce says many businesses within a 60-mile radius around Williamsport benefit from the influx of visitors.

Howard J. Lamade Stadium Fast Facts

  • Seats 10,000 people

  • It can hold 40,000 spectators

  • It cost $6.5 million to build in 1998 ($12 million inflation-adjusted)

And while the 2020 LLBWS was canceled due to COVID-19, the viewership numbers in 2021 were extremely impressive. For example, the 2021 LLBWS Final averaged 2.77 million viewers on ABC, which is more than 2x the Yankees-Athletics Sunday Night Baseball game that aired on ESPN the same day last year (1.34 million viewers).

The game also drew 571,000 viewers in the coveted 18-49 audience demographic.

So it’s no surprise that ESPN & ABC have broadcasted the tournament for nearly 60 years straight—the second-longest sports broadcasting relationship behind The Masters and CBS (1956)—and reportedly pay $10 million annually for the rights.

I hope everyone has a great day. We’ll talk tomorrow.

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