Houston Astros owner Jim Crane argues the team needs fans at the ballpark to make money. Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Houston Astros owner: Fans at games only way to 'counter' lost revenue

By Blake Harper | Last updated 6/25/20

With the MLB season finally happening, one of the biggest questions is whether or not games will be played in front of fans. At least one team seems firmly in favor of having fans in seats, as Houston Astros owner Jim Crane explained that having fans at games was the only way to make up for the revenue lost due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to The Houston Chronicle's Chandler Rome, Crane is extremely concerned about teams losing billions of dollars this season and said that the "only thing we have to do that can counter" revenue losses "is get some people in the building and sell some tickets, some merchandise, some cold beer, whatever they'd like to have."

"I'm pretty good at numbers. I've run a lot of businesses," Crane said. "The impact on the teams, losses on the teams, are accurate. The numbers out there, north of $3 billion in losses for the teams, is accurate. Our losses will be significant, tens of millions."

Astros owner Jim Crane said the "only thing we have to do that can counter" the team's revenue losses "is get some people in the building and sell some tickets, some merchandise, some cold beer, whatever they'd like to have."
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) June 24, 2020

The idea of losing tens of millions of dollars is a scary one but not as scary as losing lives, which some fear is the risk of letting fans attend games. Texas specifically has seen a spike in cases over the past few weeks, including a record-high 5,489 new cases reported on Wednesday.

For this reason, the NBA and NHL have opted for "bubble" strategies that won't involve fans but the NFL and MLB still seem determined to involve fans if at all possible.

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