Cleveland

[GoPedro99]

How is it that Cleveland was in the WS but their fan interest is only 52?!

[eck.nicholas]

Fickle fans?

[buckeye22]

Seems a little high if anything. Cubs fans completely took over Progressive Field throughout the World Series. The Indians drew fewer than 20,000 fans for most of September despite being not only in a division race but well in control.

They drew 19,650 fans per game last year. 28th in the league. Behind Miami, only ahead of Oakland and Tampa Bay. The last time they drew at least 20,000 a game was 2011.

Cleveland doesn't have baseball fans. They have Browns and Cavs fans who remember the Indians exist for the playoffs and Opening Day. The days of the sellout streak (much of which happened when the Browns were gone) are LONG gone.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by GoPedro99

How is it that Cleveland was in the WS but their fan interest is only 52?!

Because it's well known that they don't draw much during the season. Check the last few seasons.

[Coltrane]

Originally Posted by GoPedro99

How is it that Cleveland was in the WS but their fan interest is only 52?!

Cavs fans maybe? Wait until basketball season is over and watch interest rise?

[r0nster]

would call that fairweather fans .... Do you really think Cleveland is a baseball city ??? It used to be back in the 50s and 60s strongly but has dwindled quite a bit unfortunately Just so you know Cleveland isn't the only one going through this

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by r0nster

would call that fairweather fans .... Do you really think Cleveland is a baseball city ??? It used to be back in the 50s and 60s strongly but has dwindled quite a bit unfortunately Just so you know Cleveland isn't the only one going through this

They were a baseball city in the nineties when Jacobs Field was brand spanking new and the team was a monster. I suppose that could be fairweatherish, but every market has that to some degree. When you don't win for a long time, fans stop showing up. One marked exception would be the Cubs since 1945, but they look like a juggernaut now.

[buckeye22]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

They were a baseball city in the nineties when Jacobs Field was brand spanking new and the team was a monster. I suppose that could be fairweatherish, but every market has that to some degree. When you don't win for a long time, fans stop showing up. One marked exception would be the Cubs since 1945, but they look like a juggernaut now.

No Browns in town from 95-99, a great, young team, Cavs weren't great, new park....perfect storm.

Not saying the sellout streak and everything they did back then wasn't great, because it was. But yeah all in all it was a blip on the radar screen.

It'll be interesting to see what happens this year IRL. Despite being a Tiger fan, I'd love to see the fans in Cleveland show up and the Indians get some support. The park is STILL nice, the team obviously deserves it. We'll see. I honestly suspect they'll have to keep this run up for multiple years to truly bring them in though. And that's a shame.


Edit: Also not going to act like Cleveland is the only market that does this. Again, I'm a Tiger fan. I remember the days when you could buy an 8 dollar bleacher seat (those go from $20+ these days), and by the middle of the game could sneak to almost any seat in the park you wanted because no one wanted to come watch a 100 loss team. Then 06 happened, then the stars came in, and BOOM. 43,000 fans on a random Tuesday night in June. Now that they've missed the playoffs a couple of years, we're seeing the attendance fall back a bit again. It's the natural ebb and flow....you'd just think a team in 1st in September could draw more than 19,000 into a 35,000 seat park.

[NoOne]

That happens when you live in fear that your river will catch fire. good thing we have a regulatory agency that... oh, @#$.

before 2006, a banner year in detroit was 2M. i am a detroit fan, too. it's very unlikely they continue to draw so many people... but it's not impossible for a certain fanatical culture to develop and persist longer than normal, too.

cleveland had some ups and downs lately, so, it may just be delayed... and if so they'll adjust that, or it makes sense for you to up it for any reason you can rationalize, for that matter. but, as of last year, they didn't draw many fans relative to success.

regardless of that potential fanatical cult following culture... a known WS-caliber team should draw crowds this year, and they are not just a talking-heads "contender" anymore. but, if they start of horrendously and have injurie, that tenuous position of leverage can easily revert with so little recent history.

[ohiodevil]

They already sold something like 5,000 more season tickets for the 2017 season than they did for all last season. Problem with Cleveland is the fans got tired of the ownership making promises and then do the opposite. Yes I know that we are not the only city with professional sports that can say that, but people would rather stay home and watch the games on TV instead of paying to go to the game.

There are baseball fans here, they just were tried of the mess the Dolan's would throw out there each year. I was here in the 90s when they sold out the stadium every night, yes that had a lot to do with the Browns being gone and the Cavs were just an average NBA team, but this town (like most) has shown that if you have a winning product, the fans will come out. Downtown is starting to have that same feeling that we had here in the 90s and early 2000s, so I fully expect them to be at worst in the middle of the league in attendance this season.

[cheo25]

Usually, you don't see a huge attendance bump in the season in which you rise to power, unless you get just a ton of walk-up traffic and that usually doesn't happen. It's the year after your first big year where attendance usually rises in the form of season-ticket sales.

Other thing to consider is people plan vacations or activities on certain dates months in advance, especially when it involves family and kids. If you think in March your team isn't that good, you might not plan a ballpark trip for the summer because you'd rather spend your disposable income on another big trip or outing.

[JollyRoger90]

Originally Posted by ohiodevil

They already sold something like 5,000 more season tickets for the 2017 season than they did for all last season. Problem with Cleveland is the fans got tired of the ownership making promises and then do the opposite. Yes I know that we are not the only city with professional sports that can say that, but people would rather stay home and watch the games on TV instead of paying to go to the game.

There are baseball fans here, they just were tried of the mess the Dolan's would throw out there each year. I was here in the 90s when they sold out the stadium every night, yes that had a lot to do with the Browns being gone and the Cavs were just an average NBA team, but this town (like most) has shown that if you have a winning product, the fans will come out. Downtown is starting to have that same feeling that we had here in the 90s and early 2000s, so I fully expect them to be at worst in the middle of the league in attendance this season.

To add to this, a lot of Cleveland fans live in Columbus, a 2hr+ drive away. The Indians had really good TV ratings last season if I remember right.

[thirdsaint]

Blame the lack of faith in ownership for years in spending any sort of money. I bet their attendance will be up this season after that deep run, signing Encarnacion and if they make the playoffs again it will continue to rise.

[DustinthePOWERHOUSE]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

They were a baseball city in the nineties when Jacobs Field was brand spanking new and the team was a monster. I suppose that could be fairweatherish, but every market has that to some degree. When you don't win for a long time, fans stop showing up. One marked exception would be the Cubs since 1945, but they look like a juggernaut now.

That stadium, when it was brand new, looked absolutely beautiful. As a Sox fan I have fond memories of that stadium, or at least a lot of memories of it.

[ohiodevil]

Originally Posted by DustinthePOWERHOUSE

That stadium, when it was brand new, looked absolutely beautiful. As a Sox fan I have fond memories of that stadium, or at least a lot of memories of it.

You should see what it looks like now after they renovated it.....looks like a brand new stadium, I think it is even better than it was back when it opened.