Riding out the season all the way to the World Series could boost that take to as much as $25 million, Needle said. Those totals include tax revenue - from liquor and ticket sales, parking, ballplayers' wages and hotel stays.
"It's absolutely huge to the local businesses," a breathless Chris Wilkerson, manager of a crowded Chickie's & Pete's Cafe on Packer Avenue, across from Citizens Bank Park, said today about a half-hour before the first pitch of Game 1 between the Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers.
Here's how huge:
"The normal amount of servers I'd have working during the day would be five; I have 18 working today," Wilkerson said, adding that orders for crab fries, beer towers, and other festive fare were on course to total 10 times the business of a typical weekday afternoon.
Similarly enthusiastic spending has been on display in the 24 Philadelphia-area Modell's sporting-goods stores - even in the midst of a national financial crisis. At times of limited disposable income, sales of sports memorabilia endure, particularly of limited-time items such as the hats and T-shirts heralding the Phillies' new status as National League East champs, said Derrick Morgan, regional marketing manager for Modell's.
He could not provide specific sales figures, but he said "we definitely do see a spike in [store] traffic and sales."
Even SEPTA's coffers are in line for a boost from Phillies fanatics. Broad Street-line ridership for the last six Phillies home games - when they were contending for the playoffs - was up 1,000 per game at $1.45 a ride over early-season counts, said spokesman Gary Fairfax. That results in about $1,500 more in fare revenue per game, he said.
