Who’da thunk it?

Baseball (barely a sport) is one of the biggest success stories on the internet.

In 2000, a few visionary executives saw the potential for baseball on the Internet …

Baseball’s 30 teams agreed to each kick in $1-million (U.S.) a season over four years to jump-start the venture at a time when streaming media was in its infancy.

Yet the gamble worked, and much sooner than anticipated.

In just its second year of operation, the site had paid for itself. Users were logging on by the millions, first for audio play-by-play and extensive stats, then for video, and today for the massive amount of content, such as the live pitch tracker.

Revenue from the site, which is divided equally between the 30 teams, soared to $195-million last year, from $36-million in 2001. Visitors have climbed to 1.7 billion from 190 million during that time, while subscribers — who shell out anywhere from $10 a season to $100 for access to video, audio and statistical breakdowns of games — hit 1.3 million last year, up from 125,000 in 2001.

When baseball considered taking MLB Advanced Media public in late 2004, four U.S. investment banks valued the company at between $2-billion and $2.5-billion. Thanks to the rapidly rising popularity of Internet video, that valuation has risen to between $4-billion and $5-billion since, the league says.

… The league’s next leap will come in 2007 when it attempts to offer video content for mobile phones, keeping it well ahead of professional football, hockey and basketball, which are still in the process of getting their games on-line.

globeandmail.com: Baseball’s (on-line) field of dreams

Thanks Rocco. And GO TIGERS!