Factors of Production: Land

In looking into how each of the factors of production relate to the industry of Major League Baseball, land is one of the most important.  Without land you can't have ball parks. Without ball parks you can't play games, and without games you don't have a league.  The amount of land each team needs depends on many different things.  Each team exists in a unique market and has to make choices based on their particular situation.
In the last couple of seasons much has been said about  he need of the Florida Marlins to build a new stadium and they are finally doing so.  By building a new stadium with a retractable roof the hope is that it will increase the number of fans that attend their home games thus increasing revenue.  Before they finally got approval and funding sorted out to build their new park they had to ask themselves a lot of different questions.  First where to build the stadium.  The Marlins, like all Major League teams, are located within a large city.  Property in cities like Miami, FL. doesn't come cheap and just because you have the money doesn't always mean that the land is available.  For this reason they are building their new park further away from the downtown and tourist heavy areas in Miami.  They are gambling that enough people will be willing to drive away from the tourist heavy areas to come watch a baseball game.
After finding the space with which to build the park they have to ask themselves how many people do they think will be willing to come to games.  They have to make certain to put enough seats in the stadium to accommodate all the fans willing to pay for tickets but not so many that they can't sell seats.  Cleveland faced the later problem with their Cleveland Municipal Stadium.  They had room to seat more fans than any other park in MLB but couldn't sell enough seats to pay for upkeep.  Each team has to look at their situation and decide not just how many seats to put in but how much to sell them for in order to pay for upkeep and make a profit.  This prediction is a matter of guessing how much the demand will be for those seats based on how many seats are being supplied. If you have more seats then you can sell each ticket for less money but with less seats you can increase the price a bit and make more per seat.  Establishing where the perfect balance lies is an ongoing process that each team faces year to year and game to game.
Parking lots, practice areas and office spaces all have to be accounted for as well.  With out gaining access to large amounts of land in highly urbanized areas no team would be able to get their product to their customers, the fans.  The main source of revenue for most every team is based on attendance and without not just the park to play the games in but the land needed to grant access to the games making any profit would be impossible. So when thinking about buying ticket to a game keep in mind that each ticket you buy is in part helping to pay for the land needed to put that game on.

Introduction

I am an economics major in college currently and a huge baseball fan.  I have used baseball to help teach me many of the details and concepts covered in my economics courses thus far and have managed to gain a much better understanding of the game because of this.  Looking at economic theory presents many questions about why industries and businesses choose to do things the way they do.  I have looked to baseball often to try and find some of these answers.
I have found it to be an excellent resource for further understanding because of the fact that so much of it is made public.  From stadium expenses to payroll and revenue nearly everything done on the business side of the game is made available with a little searching.  If your are compelled you can find information about all of it. Through the amount of information that can be gained so easily you can begin to explore and further understand many of the choices that are made by different teams and the league itself.
I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, just a student.  However I have found it fascinating how easily the basic principals of economics can be seen and explained by simply looking at the game and how it is run. 
My intention is beginning this blog is multi-purposed.  I hope to perhaps help others gain a better understanding of economic theory and laws by explaining how they apply to baseball.  Second I hope that perhaps publishing some of my thoughts and opinions on these matters will put me in touch with others who can help me learn from their experience or shed more light on issues that I am still learning.
I also realize that there are other webpages available that offer tons of information about the various aspects of business topics in professional sports.  I hope only to contribute to what is already available and offer my opinions.
I hope that people enjoy what I have to say.  I will be working on a series of articles on the factors of production and their relationship to the game and hopefully getting them posted quickly. Thanks.