About the data

Where DugoutIQ’s numbers come from, how much weight each one can bear, and how we handle the ones clubs don’t publish. Terms like tax payroll and AAV are in the glossary.

How we work

• We publish figures and leave the conclusions to readers.
• When two credible sources disagree, we show both and explain the difference where we can.
• If a figure isn’t public and can’t be reasonably estimated, we mark it unknown.
• Where a figure bears on the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), we show how cap and floor supporters read it and how the players’ union reads it.
• Corrections need a source. See Corrections.

Confidence labels

Each figure has a source, a date and one of four labels. The site won’t build if any of those is missing.

Reported figures have no mark. The others have a small mark next to the number. If a whole column or table shares one label, the mark goes on the heading or the note under the table instead.

Sources

Nobody publishes complete finances for all 30 clubs, so we combine several sources.

For day-to-day payroll tracking, Ethan Hullihen’s work is the most detailed public source. DugoutIQ doesn’t use or republish his paid data.

DK Pittsburgh Sports reported that the Pirates lost money in 2024. Forbes estimates a $48M operating profit for 2025. They cover different seasons and use different methods, so both appear on the Pirates’ page.

Operating income

Operating income is the only profit-style figure available for all 30 clubs. Forbes estimates it for one regular season of baseball operations. Keep in mind:

• It’s what’s left after payroll and every other cost of running the club. It isn’t money set aside to run the organization.
• It counts luxury tax payments as a cost. A club that paid a $169.4M tax bill shows $169.4M less operating income.
• It leaves out playoff revenue.
• It leaves out growth in the franchise’s value, often the largest return an owner earns.
• It leaves out businesses owners run alongside the club, such as real estate around the ballpark or a stake in a TV network.

Because tax bills are reported, we also show operating income before luxury tax, labeled modeled:

Before luxury tax = Forbes operating income + Luxury tax paid

A negative figure means the club’s baseball operations cost more than they brought in during the regular season, after any tax bill. It doesn’t mean the owner lost money on the franchise.

The 2010 leaked statements let us test Forbes against audited numbers. Forbes came in higher than the audited figure in most cases:

Organizational costs

Payroll covers major league players. Everything else it takes to run a club, we call organizational costs: minor leagues, scouting, staff, the ballpark, revenue sharing payments and overhead. Only the Braves publish enough to measure them. We take the filing’s baseball costs and overhead and subtract major league payroll as reported by AP:

Organizational costs = Baseball operating costs + Baseball overhead − MLB payroll

The filing reports overhead for the whole company, so we back out the baseball share from revenue, operating costs and the Braves’ own profit measure. Both figures are labeled modeled.

Staff counts

Not yet published. When they are, each staff member will be counted in one category, by what the role does, from a yearly snapshot of each club’s directory.

If a directory is clearly incomplete, the count will be shown as a minimum and labeled modeled.

Proposal simulator

In progress. It will apply each side’s proposals to real payrolls, show which clubs would be over or under each line and by how much, and list every assumption. It won’t predict what clubs would do.

When figures update