The 2026 World Baseball Classic was a massive hit. (Photo by Rob Tringali/WBCI/MLB Photos via Getty Images)MLB Photos via Getty ImagesThe 2026 World Baseball Classic hit a massive home run by nearly every measure. It smashed attendance, viewership, sponsorship, and expanded business opportunities. Here’s how the numbers show a massive jump in revenues, now, and certainly in the future when the tournament returns.Rob Manfred and Bruce Meyer couldn’t be happier about the WBC. The MLB commissioner and the interim executive director of the MLB Players Association are the partners in the tournament that feels like a cross between the Olympics and MLB playoff baseball. As the numbers show, at a time when MLB is just starting to feel the warmth of upcoming Opening Day games, baseball was more than relevant. It owned the sports landscape in March – a feat it rarely sees. From a new streaming deal with Netflix, an increase in sponsors, the broadcast deal with FOX, and an increase in attendance, the drama-filled tournament smashed the previous revenue figures from 2023.While final numbers are not yet in, one early estimate placed revenues in the $225-$230 million range, an increase of approximately 130% from the $100 million in 2023 WBC. And it’s possible that the figure will be larger once fully calculated. Major League Baseball declined to comment.MORE FOR YOUGrowth In AttendanceTo start, the World Baseball Classic set a new attendance record with a total of 1,619,839, topping the previous record of 1,306,414 in 2023, an increase of +24%. The 2026 tournament recorded the most-attended pool in history, with games in Tokyo accounting for 365,272 in attendance. This year’s WBC also saw the most-attended U.S. pool in history, with games in Houston drawing 350,365.Through a detailed analysis of flight bookings made by business travel company Corporate Traveler, there was a 136% year-over-year increase in total flights booked by corporate travelers into Miami during the World Baseball Classic, compared to the same dates last year. The top cities flying into Miami during the tournament were Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco.WBC A Home Run On TelevisionFor television, the 2026 WBC crushed it.The 2026 WBC averaged 1,294,000 viewers across FOX, FS1, and FS2, making it the most-watched WBC in its 20-year history across English-language networks. The 2026 average viewership across the FOX Sports family of networks was up +156% from the 2023 tournament average (506,000).Compared to other sports, the WBC performed +1% better than NBC’s Primetime coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics (10,133,000 viewers, which includes the opening and closing ceremonies) and +52% better than the 2026 NBA All-Star Game (6.734,000 viewers). It stood up well against deciding games, as well.The 2026 World Baseball Classic was a massive hit. (Photo by Rob Tringali/WBCI/MLB Photos via Getty Images)MLB Photos via Getty ImagesCompared to top series play, the 2025 World Series averaged 10.8 million viewers in the U.S. The NBA Finals averaged 10.2 million in 2022.Four of the top five and six of the top nine most-viewed games in the U.S. in the history of the World Baseball Classic were set during the 2026 tournament. 10,784,000 viewers watched on FOX & FOX Deportes as Venezuela won the 2026 World Baseball Classic 3-2 over Team USA on Tuesday night, making it the most-watched WBC telecast ever on any network. The championship game was up +128% vs. 2023’s USA-Japan WBC Final on FS1 (4,480,000). To place the championship game in perspective, it was the most-watched Tuesday on FOX since Game 4 of the 2025 World Series.And the WBC dominated ratings. While the week has not finished to show where the championship game landed (most assuredly at #1), for Nielsen's Top 25 sporting event telecasts for the week of March 9 - March 15, the WBC on FOX and FS1 secured 6 spots.Overall, the #1-ranked live sports event for that week was FS1’s coverage of USA vs Dominican Republic with 6.86 million viewers on Sunday, March 15. The additional 5 include:#2 - USA vs. Mexico - 4.7 million viewers (FOX)#5 - USA vs. Canada - 4.2 million viewers (FOX)#10 - Venezuela vs. Japan - 2.8 million viewers (FOX)#20 - USA vs. Italy - 1.9 million viewers (FS1)#24 - Italy vs. Mexico - 1.67 million viewers (FS1)As far as international viewing is concerned, this year setup a new $100 million streaming deal with Netflix to exclusively stream games in Japan.