CHICAGO (AP) — Some Major League Baseball teams lost money in 2009, league commissioner Bud Selig said after the final owners meeting of the year on Thursday.
Selig said final figures for this year are still being calculated and everyone was living in the most difficult economic times since the Great Depression. He declined to identify the teams.
"I think of all the heartache that's in the world," Selig said. "We live in this environment. We don't live in a bubble. And so, I think the clubs in some areas have been hit a lot harder than others."
MLB's average attendance dropped 6.7 percent last season from an average of 32,528 per game in 2008 to an average of 30,350. Total attendance of 73.4 million was MLB's fifth-highest.
"Given the economy, the fact that we drew 73.5 million people is a testament to this sport's popularity and everything that has been done is remarkable," Selig said.
With the free-agent market set to open on Friday, teams and agents are uncertain whether the economy will impact salaries.
"Revenues as a whole were flat at best and I think there's still a lot of people, and obviously we're still focused on our fans, that are still struggling," Angels owner Arturo Moreno said.
