When Twin Cities cut a check for $154,111,112 payable to one....Blair Peyton last offseason, there was a collective gulp followed by a , "Wow" heard around the league. The River Monsters pushed a giant stack of chips in the middle that no other team could match. While there is no doubt going to be some negative consequences of the deal down the road, the River Monsters laid out a gameplan to minimize the long term damage.
Perhaps the biggest key note of this plan is to simply... make more money. The early results seem to be overwhelmingly positive. Twin Cities is making more money than any other BBA team. And it's not even close. The River Monsters have made almost $8 million dollars more in gate revenue than second place Nashville. And per home game, the River Monsters are making $205,000 more than number 2 Sacramento, almost double the league average of $436k and $500k per game more than San Antonio, Madison, Yellow Springs, Brook Park and Bikini. That is a whole league minimum player per home game paid for.
| Rank | Team | Home Games | Gate Revenue | Per Home Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Twin Cities River Monsters (TWC) | 39 | $32,311,692 | $828,506 |
| 2 | Sacramento Mad Popes (SAC) | 37 | $23,062,493 | $623,175 |
| 3 | Montreal Blazers (MTL) | 39 | $23,465,790 | $601,687 |
| 4 | Rosenblatt Bombers (ROS) | 36 | $21,293,640 | $591,490 |
| 5 | Des Moines Kernels (DM) | 31 | $18,283,292 | $589,781 |
| 6 | Vancouver Mounties (VAN) | 37 | $21,804,894 | $589,321 |
| 7 | Nashville Bluebirds (NSH) | 43 | $24,546,090 | $570,839 |
| 8 | Charm City Jimmies (CCJ) | 43 | $24,390,281 | $567,211 |
| 9 | Phoenix Talons (PHX) | 37 | $19,113,970 | $516,594 |
| 10 | Charlotte Flyers (CHA) | 35 | $17,312,346 | $494,638 |
| 11 | Portland Lumberjacks (POR) | 37 | $18,146,985 | $490,459 |
| 12 | Las Vegas Hustlers (LV) | 37 | $17,578,137 | $475,098 |
| 13 | Chicago Black Sox (CHI) | 35 | $16,587,720 | $474,507 |
| 14 | Mexico City Aztecs (MEX) | 41 | $18,950,600 | $462,207 |
| 15 | Calgary Pioneers (CLG) | 41 | $18,120,495 | $441,963 |
| 16 | Boise Spuds (BOI) | 37 | $16,524,711 | $446,612 |
| 17 | Atlantic City Gamblers (ATC) | 35 | $15,139,807 | $432,566 |
| 18 | Hawaii Tropics (HAW) | 41 | $17,089,659 | $416,821 |
| 19 | Cape Fear Swamp Foxes (CPF) | 43 | $16,959,285 | $394,406 |
| 20 | Louisville Sluggers (LOU) | 43 | $15,891,305 | $369,567 |
| 21 | Cobble Hill Robins (CBH) | 31 | $11,300,269 | $364,524 |
| 22 | San Fernando Bears (SFB) | 37 | $12,745,096 | $344,463 |
| 23 | New Orleans Crawdads (NO) | 39 | $13,381,594 | $343,118 |
| 24 | Valencia Stars (VAL) | 37 | $12,601,093 | $340,569 |
| 25 | Long Beach Surfers (LBC) | 41 | $14,326,333 | $349,422 |
| 26 | Jacksonville Zombies (JAX) | 39 | $13,050,182 | $334,620 |
| 27 | Austin Shredders (AUS) | 37 | $12,113,120 | $327,379 |
| 28 | Bikini Krill (BIK) | 37 | $10,472,842 | $283,050 |
| 29 | Brook Park Brownies (BPK) | 35 | $9,589,314 | $274,552 |
| 30 | Yellow Springs Nine (YS9) | 39 | $10,559,899 | $270,765 |
| 31 | Madison Wolves (MAD) | 39 | $9,553,231 | $244,953 |
| 32 | San Antonio Outlaws (SA) | 37 | $4,301,710 | $116,268 |
| ----- | ------ | ------------ | -------------- | --------------- |
| AVG | League Average | -- | -- | $436,566 |
So what has been the key to this success? A dedication to winning, putting players on the field that fans want to come see and some analytics. The River Monsters still have $32 million in bonus funds space to fill up and will likely be buyers at the deadline. So they will not be throwing any money away this season, no matter how much they make.
