Fed: Saints faring well financially, too

• Advocate business staff
• Published: Oct 26, 2009 - UPDATED: 3:57 p.m.

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With a 6-0 start, the New Orleans Saints also are faring well off the field, according to a Federal Reserve look at how sports teams in the Southeast are doing during the recession.

The Saints’ $213 million in revenue last season compared favorably with the Southeast’s other five teams, with Miami ($232 million), Tampa ($224 million) and Tennessee ($216 million) exceeding the Saints, and Jacksonville ($204 million) and Atlanta ($203 million) trailing, according to the third-quarter issue of EconSouth, a publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

This year, most of the teams sold out their stadiums on season-ticket sales, except for Jacksonville, which considered blacking out local TV broadcasts of home games due to poor sales. Though the league office laid off staff, most franchises in the Southeast have had only glancing blows from the recession, EconSouth reported.

Harder hit, the magazine said, are NASCAR tracks. The International Speedway Corp., which runs 13 tracks including Daytona and Talladega, reported its food, beverage and merchandise sales slid 34 percent to $26.8 million in the first half of 2009. Ticket revenue is down 16 percent to $91.5 million.