Do Shorter Games Lead To Lower Concessions Sales?

So I asked MiLB front offices: with their average game time dropping by nearly half an hour in 2022, did they see a drop in concessions revenue?

The answer I got back universally from more than a dozen MiLB operators was no. MiLB teams did not see a loss in concessions sales because games were shorter.

“We didn’t see concession sales suffer due to shorter games as fans were staying the same amount of time as they normally would, but were now just staying until the end of the game instead of the end of the seventh inning,” said one MiLB GM.

“We did not see a negative effect on concession sales.  People still eat and drink as much as they used to.  The 7th-9th innings of a 3 hour 30 minute game are not high concession sales,” said another.

“From a concessions perspective, we have not seen a drop off in per caps whatsoever. A game lasting an hour longer than normal on a Thursday night doesn’t benefit us on the concessions side, because 90% of the fans have already gone home to get to bed,” said a third.

A fourth operator said their concession revenue actually went up. He also noted that their post-game promotions where kids run the bases were better attended because families were much more willing to stick around for the entire game, which he took as a positive sign for developing young fans.

Multiple operators also noted that the gameday employees have said how happy they are with the change since they are getting home half an hour earlier than they were before.