Cleveland Indians: Increased Attendance Would Boost Revenue

Go into any Cleveland Indians forum online and you won’t have to go far to find the “chicken or the egg” conversation about attendance. More people in the seats would mean more revenue, and possibly a better team. But others say put a better product out and they’ll come.

There’s likely to be no end to this conversation. For whatever reason, people are out in droves to watch the Cleveland Browns be terrible at home, but the Cleveland Indians consistently finish towards the bottom in attendance numbers. With back-to-back winning seasons, the claim can’t be that the product on the field is “that bad”. Even more confounding is the fact that their TV ratings were the third-best in the American League, fourth in all of baseball.

So in essence, a lot of people are watching Indians baseball, but not near as many are heading to Progressive Field to catch a game in person. Yet you’ll find a good majority of fans that are upset the team isn’t making any noteworthy moves. Well, that’s because there’s no money…because no one is coming to games. Do you see the conundrum here?

The Indians are opting for “if you build it, they will come” in the form of a huge renovation project. Approximately 7,000 outfield seats are being removed (weren’t really using them anyhow) and 16 luxury suites. In their place will be restaurants, gathering areas and a Kids Clubhouse. Give people something to do instead of watching baseball seems to be the idea here.

The Indians finished behind only the Tampa Bay Rays in attendance in 2015, and the Trop isn’t the greatest place to see a game. The Tribe may have only finished a game over .500–thanks to a make-up game that wasn’t necessary–but it was still a winning season. But on average, 17,806 people saw the Indians play at home. So if they had a winning team, the ticket prices have to be part of the problem, right? That’s why no one goes to see them in person?

Nope. In 2014, the average price of a ticket to an Indians game was $22.38, well below the MLB average of $28.94. Yes, Cleveland is a small market and having exorbitant ticket prices wouldn’t work. But this is an affordable ticket compared to most other franchises. Only five teams had a cheaper average ticket, and just one was a playoff team (Pittsburgh Pirates). 

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The team has dabbled with different start times to draw in more people, but that didn’t work. The overall opinion of fans is they just need to win and people will come. But it’s slightly more complicated than that.

So you want to see the Indians compete? Want to see them sign that power bat they need? Go to a game. Take a friend. Hell, take two. Buy a beer and a hot dog. Maybe even buy yourself a terribly cheesy souvenir. If you do, you can at least in your heart know you have a reason to complain the team isn’t doing anything in the winter.