Clevelinks: Cleveland Indians TV Ratings Drop 36%; Minority Owner Search

Cleveland Indians TV Ratings Return to pre-2013 Levels

The Cleveland Indians saw their TV ratings drop 36% last year, according to a report by the Sports Business Journal. In 2014, the team averaged a 6.17 household rating, but this rate plummeted to 3.93 this past season. 2015’s figure is quite close to 2012’s 3.9 rating. The Post Season-bound 2013 team led ratings to increase to the 5.5 mark.

More from Cleveland Guardians News

• Cleveland Guardians tantalizingly close to locking up AL Central tiebreakers
• Cleveland Guardians: Terry Francona becomes meme in profanity-laced ejection
• Say goodbye to defensive shifts and hello to bigger bases, pitch clock in 2023
• Cleveland Guardians: Shane Bieber second-fastest to 800 strikeouts in major-league history
• The next week will make or break the Cleveland Guardians’ season

That ratings dropped may not be incredibly surprising given the Tribe’s 81-80 finish to the season, but this drop was the second-lowest in the major leagues. Only the Atlanta Braves experienced a larger fall from grace. Even the Philadelphia Phillies, who “won” the race for the last place, did not see their ratings drop by this much.

In other news, the Cleveland Indians are getting closer to picking a minority investor, according to MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian. About a year or so ago, team owner and chairman Paul Dolan began a search for a minority owner. Before fans get excited, the new investor would most likely not help to increase the team payroll, but instead help to foot the bill for a season to runs in the red.

Finally, the Tribe may have out-performed their 81-win season. According to FanGraphs, an 89-72 record better reflects the team’s statistics, when using the BaseRuns method. BaseRuns estimates the number of runs a team “should have” scored or allowed given context-neutral statistics. For comparison, BaseRuns suggests that the Indians should have won the division with 89 wins against Kansas City’s 84 wins. Clearly, this did not happen, but it should not degrade BaseRuns’ reputation.

More from around the AL Central:

Cleveland Indians: Antonetti Assumes New Role; Chernoff Promoted to GM – Wahoo’s on First

Cleveland Indians: Who’s on Their Way Out? – Wahoo’s on First

Cleveland Indians Don’t Need a Right-Handed Power Bat for 2016 – Wahoo’s on First

Next: Chris Antonetti, Mike Chernoff Promoted