Tim Tebow has been a big draw everywhere he played football, from Florida to the Broncos and even in his latter NFL stops as a bit player and camp arm. But to get an idea of just how many people love Tim Tebow, take a look at the attendance at his minor league games.
According to Baseball America, both of the minor league teams Tebow has played for this year have set attendance records, even though Tebow has split his time between the two teams, and even though the season isn’t over yet.
And Tebow may have had an even bigger impact in road games. Tebow’s St. Lucie Mets play in the Florida State League, where teams typically draw about 1,500 fans a game. When Tebow is in town, he’s been responsible for, on average, an additional 2,788 fans per game over the home teams’ normal attendance. For example, take the Florida Fire Frogs, who averaged 881 fans a game over 40 home games -- until Tebow came to town for a four-game series, in which the Fire Frogs averaged 4,507 fans a game.
Baseball America estimates that Tebow, in 19 home games, has brought in about $300,000 in additional revenue for his team, and about $1.36 million in additional revenue for the opponents in road games. The Mets were criticized for making a publicity stunt when they signed Tebow, but if that’s all it was, it was a profitable stunt.