Want any more evidence about the importance of Stephen Strasburg's major league debut on Tuesday? According to CNBC's Darren Rovell, the Nationals themselves will make a lot of money because of it.
What we do know is that we're projecting that Strasburg's debut game tonight in Washington is worth more than $1.5 million to the Nationals. And that's likely more than any one player has ever been worth to an organization for a single game.
Rovell gets that figure by adding up the revenue the Nationals will gain from ticket sales for Tuesday's game, people buying tickets for other games as they tried to guess Strasburg's debut date, people buying four-game ticket packages for the price of three, concession sales and parking.
All in all, even if Rovell's figure is overly optimistic, it shows you the effect a potential dominating starting pitcher has on team revenue. Who knows? If Strasburg is as good as advertised, the Nationals could easily become the next big team in this city.