Tim Tebow helped minor league baseball teams to a surge in attendance not seen since 1994, when NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan played Double-A baseball during his year-long sabbatical from basketball.
This season – Tebow’s first full summer of minor league baseball – the 30-year-old outfielder and former football star helped two New York Mets Single-A affiliates record new records in ticket sales. First, the Columbia Fireflies saw a 21 percent increase in ticket sales, which translates to an additional 54,000 fans over the previous season, according to ESPN. Then, after being promoted to the Florida State League on June 28, Tebow’s presence pushed the St. Lucie Mets’ attendance up by 35,803 fans, a 37 percent improvement from last year.
A former Heisman Trophy winner and two-time national champion quarterback at the University of Florida, Tebow’s NFL career ended unceremoniously in 2015, leading him to try his hand at baseball in 2016.
The Mets’ two Single-A affiliates enjoyed nearly 90,000 additional combined ticket sales with Tim Tebow in 2017
Jordan did have the advantage of playing in larger stadiums and at a higher level of the minors than Tebow.
The Chicago Bulls legend pushed the Birmingham Barons’ attendance to 467,686 fans in 1994, according to ESPN. In fact, the 6,884 fans per game the Barons drew that season remains a franchise and Southern League record.
For Tebow, the sales spike made him one of the best values in baseball. Despite making only $10,000 for the year, Tebow was worth nearly $1.6 million in additional ticket, parking, and concession sales, according to an early-season valuation by Baseball America.
And when Tebow was on the road, opposing home teams saw an a increase of 2,591 more fans a game than they averaged against other foes, according to ESPN.
Tebow hit a modest .226 with eight home runs over 126 games in Columbia and St. Lucie. And considering his age and mediocre numbers at professional baseball’s lower rungs, he isn’t considered the major prospect that NFL teams once viewed him as.
For now, Tebow plans on continuing to play baseball.
There is a chance he could see some time in the Arizona Fall League, where aspiring baseball players can gain valuable experience before reporting for spring training in February.
Michael Jordan (left) took a sabbatical from basketball in 1994 to play a season with the Double-A Birmingham Barons. Tebow (right) began playing professional baseball in 2016
‘It’s still something we’re figuring out, but for me it’ll be a lot of training,’ he told the AP. ‘For me it’ll be about working on training and building the muscle-memory where I can do it for two, five, seven days and continue to build a couple of weeks at a time.’
As a quarterback, Tebow famously helped the Denver Broncos reach the playoffs in 2011 and even threw a dramatic game-winning touchdown pass to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round. But, after losing to the New England Patriots the following week, Tebow would go on to appear in only 12 more NFL games.
Tebow might have more of a future in television.
He already serves as a college football analyst for ESPN, having signed a multi-year extension back in May. Since 2014, Tebow’s primary role at the network has been covering the Southeastern Conference, where he starred for four seasons beginning in 2006.
Tebow has also made appearances on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America.’
Tebow (left) won two national titles and a Heisman Trophy while playing quarterback at the University of Florida before becoming a first-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft