Four Ways Making the Playoffs Can Lift a Sports Franchise

Sports fans love a playoff run—and so do the cash registers at those playoff games.

Some of the reasons are obvious enough: More games mean not only added time on TV, but more money spent on tickets, popcorn, beer, T-shirts, pennants, water bottles and all sorts of take-home swag.

But the cha-ching doesn’t end there. During a conference call Tuesday, executives at Madison Square Garden Sports (MSGS)– the owner of teams including New York’s Knicks and Rangers -announced fiscal fourth-quarter financial results detailing even more playoff effects after both big-league teams extended their seasons into May and June, respectively. Here are four ways playoff teams are seeing green:

• Playoff tickets cost more. And not only do they come with higher prices, according to MSGS CFO Victoria Mink, but those prices rise with each successive round as fans fork over bigger bucks for the chance of being eyewitnesses to history. 
• Fans come ready to spend. Per capita, playoff food, beverage and merchandise spending is “typically above regular season averages,” according to Mink. 
• Playoff campaigns don’t just sell playoff tickets. They also help lift season-ticket renewals and attract new season-ticket buyers, according to COO Jamaal Lesane. 
• They generate tangible excitement. Of the company’s 830,000 new social media followers during the last fiscal year, some 35% arrived during the playoffs, said Lesane.