1. GENERAL
Stadium: Minute Maid Park
Capacity: 40,976
Built: 2000 / $265M USD
Head office: P.O. Box 288, Houston, TX 77001
Phone: (713) 259-8000
Fax: (713) 259-8326
Website: Houston Astros
E-Mail:
Radio flagship: 740 KTRH-AM
Local television: FSN Southwest
Corporate partners/sponsors: AT & T, Minute Maid, Anheuser-Busch, Citgo, Coca-Cola, Continental Airlines, Methodist Hospital.
Mascot: Junction Jack (rabbit)
2. HISTORY
Established: 1962
Franchise ancestry: Houston Colt 45s 1962-1964
Notes: First Major League Baseball franchise to play indoors (Houston Astrodome 1965-1999)
3. BUSINESS OF WINNING
World Series titles: 0
National League pennants: 1 (2005)
NL Central Division titles: 4 (2001, 1999, 1998, 1997)
NL West Division titles: 2 (1986, 1980)
Wild cards: 0
4. OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Owner: Robert Drayton McLane, Jr.
Acquisition date/price: 1992 / $103M USD
General Manager: Ed Wade
Manager: Cecil Cooper
Stadium: Public-private partnership (Houston Astros, Houston Sports-Harrison County)
Concessions: Aramark
5. PLAYER PAYROLL
Player costs: $112M USD (2007)
6. FRANCHISE FINANCIALS
2008 Franchise value: $463 M USD
2008 Franchise value ranking: #8 in National League / #12 in Major League Baseball
2008 Franchise value increase: 5%
2008 Debt/Value ratio: 12%
2007 Revenues: $193M USD
2007 Operating Income: $20.4 M USD
Source: Forbes.com
7. CONSUMER PRICING
2008
Average ticket price / ranking: $28.73 USD / #5 in NL and #9 in MLB
Fan Cost Index*/ranking: $215.43 USD / #5 in NL and #8 in MLB
Source: Team Marketing Report
* FCI refers to the price of four average tickets, two small beers, four small sodas, four hot dogs, parking for one car, two game programs and two adult-sized caps.
8. ATTENDANCE
2008
Home Dates: 80
Home Attendance Average: 34,741
Home Attendance Drawing Capacity: 84.8%
Home Attendance Total: 2,779,287
Home Attendance Rank: #8 in National League/#12 in Major League Baseball
Road Dates: 81
Road Attendance Average: 32,197
Road Attendance Drawing Capacity: 77.8%
Road Attendance Total: 2,607,957
Road Attendance Rank: #15 in NL / #17 in MLB
Regular Season Dates: 161 dates
Regular Season Average: 33,461
Regular Season Drawing Capacity: 78.3%
Regular Season Total: 5,387,244
Total Attendance Rank: #8 in NL / #12 in MLB
Source: ESPN.com and TheSportMarket.biz
Estimated Gate Receipts: $80M USD
Source: Forbes.com
9. TELEVISION RATINGS
Average # of households: 63,000 (FSN Southwest)
Decrease: 19.2%
Rating: 3.08
Decrease: 21.8%
Source: Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness JOURNAL
Estimated revenues from television¹: USD (2007)
10. CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP
Estimated revenues from sponsorship²: $ M USD (2007)
11. MERCHANDISE SALES
Estimated revenues from merchandising and licensing³: $ M USD (2007)
12. CONCESSION AND ANCILLARY SALES
Estimated revenues from concession sales: $ M USD (2007)
13. MARKET SIZE
City Population: 2,117,937
Metropolitan Area Population: 4,669,571 (Houston-Galveston-Brazoria CMA)
Greater Metro Area Population: 5,628,101 (Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown)
City size ranking: #4 in US / #4 in NL / #8 in MLB
Metro area size ranking: #10 in US / #7 in NL / #16 in MLB
Greater Metro area size ranking: #6 in US / #5 in NL / #9 in MLB
Source: US Census Bureau 2005 and 2007
Designated Market Area (DMA): 2,106,210 TV homes / 1.84% of US
DMA ranking: #10 in US / #11 in North America / #8 in NL / #15 in MLB
Source: Nielsen 2008
14. MARKET ECONOMICS
Economic Description: Seaport and Gamma world city; Broad industrial base in energy (oil and natural gas), manufacturing, aeronautics, transportation, health care, oil field equipment, tourism, biomedical, mining and engineering services.
Major companies: Second only to New York City in the number of Fortune 500 companies resident in the city and metropolitan area; Conoco Phillips, Shell Oil, BP, ExxonMobil US Operations, Apache Corporation, Citgo, Marathon Oil.
City per capita income (ranking): City of Houston - $20,101 USD (#10 NL / #23 MLB)
Metro area per capita income (ranking): $46,235 (#22 US / #5 NL / #10 MLB)
State per capita income (ranking): $35,166 (#22 US / #11 NL / tied #20 MLB)
15. MARKET DEMOGRAPHICS
Ethnicity: Race – White 49.29%, Black 25.31%, Asian-American 5.31%, Other 20%; Hispanic of any race: 37%.
Language: Approximately 65% English.
Median Age: 30.9 years.
Political Leadership: Mayor of Houston – Bill White (Democrat); Governor of Texas – Rick Perry (R); U.S. Senators – Kay Bailey Hutchison (R), John Cornyn (R); U.S. Representatives – 20 Republican, 12 Democrat: Louie Gohmert (R), Ted Poe (R), Sam Johnson (R), Ralph Hall (R), Jeb Hensarling (R), John Culberson (R), Kevin Brady (R), Al Green (D), Michael McCaul (R), Mike Conaway (R), Kay Granger (R), Ron Paul (R), Mac Thornberry (R), Ruben Hinojosa (D), Silvestre Reyes (D), Chet Edwards (D), Sheila Jackson Lee (D), Randy Neugebauer (R), Charles A. Gonzalez (D), Lamar S. Smith (R ), Ciro Rodriguez (D), Kerry Marchant (R), Lloyd Doggett (D), Michael C. Burgess (R), Solomon P. Ortiz (D), Henry Cuellar (D), Gene Green (D), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D), John Carter (R), Pete Sessions (R). |
