FastCompany has a story about the huge commercial success of the US Major League Baseball video website. I nearly skipped reading it as I am not a baseball fan and also did not think that video distribution on the web is such a great story to read about. But we had recently the pleasure to look into sports video online distribution as well for a new assignment, so I was primed to read this article. I am glad I did as it unveiled some very interesting news for me. While the US Baseball association is not supposed to be one that by nature links itself to high-tech due to the game itself and also the fact that more middle age and older people like the sport, with this video site they are at the cutting edge. Now here the story in numbers:

• started the project in 2000 with $75 million investment from 30 clubs (each club
  put in the equivalent of a yearly salary of one middle infield player)
• 2005 revenue: $236 million, 2007 revenue: $450 million
• they now also run the video sites (provide hosting and services) for other US sports organizations such as U.S. Figure Skating Association, Major League Soccer. The videos of an NCCA basketball tournament were shown online through them as well, which drew 17million viewers
• the money comes from a yearly subscription fee of $89, which is cheaper than the yearly cable TV subscription