By Larry Durstin
You can tell that the issue of low attendance at Cleveland Indians games has bottomed out when the Plain Dealer’s hanging-on-for-dear-life Brent Larkin pens a doomsday column — as he recently did — hinting that the franchise itself may be at risk for relocating because of sagging gate numbers.
Larkin “reports” that “prominent” local government officials and business leaders are becoming “extremely worried” about the attendance numbers and believe the very viability of baseball in our town is in jeopardy. Larkin likens this situation to the 1960s, when a number of cities were circling around Cleveland like vultures trying to lure the Tribe to greener pastures.
Now, I’m unaware of how much Larkin knows about baseball since, as I recall, his most notable association with the National Pastime occurred when he was yukking it up at a Ku Klux Klan-related routine performed on Dick Jacobs private plane while they returned from the 1999 baseball All-Star game. However, I can certainly assert that his wet-brained declaration regarding the possible end of the Indians in Cleveland is ridiculous. The Tribe isn’t going anywhere and the attendance will begin to grow next season. You can take that to the bank.
The reason that the Cleveland attendance figures are abysmal is primarily due to the fact that the national economic downturn which first struck baseball in the 2009 season was coupled with the grim reality that the Indians have lost 90 or more games in three of the four years from 2009 through 2012. This isn’t rocket science. The team has been terrible, finishing each of those seasons with some of the worst baseball this town has ever seen – and that’s saying something, indeed.
What are the fans supposed to do? Show up in droves? This season a number of positive steps have been taken and the Tribe has a solid team with a real shot at the postseason. Baseball fans know this, but the effect of the current team’s good play on attendance isn’t going to be realized until next season – after the fans have seen a serious improvement and can muster an element of trust that the Indians can genuinely contest for the playoffs on a regular basis.
Alarmists, nervous Nellies, smug cynics, insufferable radio talkers, long-time ledge-walkers and professional sourpusses may not believe me about what’s ahead for the Tribe starting next season. But whether or not the Indians make it to the post-season this year, the team’s excellent 2013 performance (around a 20-game improvement and playoff contention through September) will convince enough fans to invest in season-ticket packages to the tune of perhaps as much as a 33% improvement in that area, which will get the franchise moving in a positive direction.
Based on their roster’s quality and depth and with presumed further investment by the Dolans (after handing out some hefty contracts this past off-season, it makes no sense for ownership to retreat to its pecuniary ways), I predict the Tribe will play contending baseball throughout 2014 and post attendance figures around 1.8 million, maybe a little more. That’s not great but will prove to be a good first step.
What I’m saying is that Cleveland is ready to fall in love with the Indians again – and that next year will begin the love affair. Remember where you heard it first. I know, I know, everyone will say that the Browns have a vice grip on this town and always will. Well, the Berlin Wall came down and so will the Browns. The inimitable local sports talker and sage Delvis Valentine has long called the Browns “the Kings on Comedy,” and most would agree that it’s about time they’ve been given the hook by their devoted followers.
Let’s be honest, the “new” Browns (post-1999) are an absolute disgrace and don’t deserve one iota of the support that is unconditionally lavished upon them in this town. And it starts at the top. Money grubbing Al Lerner bought the team after driving his buddy Art Modell’s getaway car to Baltimore; his son Randy inherited the Browns only to function as a reclusive punch line for local wags; and the silver-haired sleazeball who currently owns the team belongs in jail.
Karma can be delayed only for so long. I predict that this football season – in which the new regime has experienced the shortest honeymoon in history – will prove to be the last “blind devotion” one for the Browns fans. This can’t go on, for God’s sakes. Simple human decency prohibits it.
Of course, the obsession with the Browns will linger for a while before mercifully grinding to a halt. In the meantime, with a great manager, a great venue, reasonable ticket prices and a talented roster, the Indians are poised to bask in the glow of fan affection.
Like the slogan says, “This is a Tribe Town.” Start getting used to it, people.
[Photo via EurekaLott (Flickr)]
Larry Durstin is an independent journalist who has covered politics and sports for a variety of publications and websites over the past 20 years. He was the founding editor of the Cleveland Tab and an associate editor at the Cleveland Free Times. Durstin has won 12 Ohio Excellence in Journalism awards, including six first places in six different writing categories. LarryDurstinATyahoo.com
4 Responses to “Don’t Sweat Tribe Attendance. Just Wait Until Next Year.”
snarky
What flavor of cool aid you been sippin’ Larry?
I always thought you knew a bit about sports , though banking on the likes of Swisher , the new Hafner , and an offense that looks like the Judy segment of the Punch and Judy show that it is does not speak to me of a great future on the field or at the turnstile.
This franchise has so many ” maybes ‘ that it could be and likely is an episode of Arrested Development.
Jimanez in a contract year , Cabrera barely batting his weight.
Currently pitching is the bright spot , though baseball history has taught me that pitching is easily the most tenuous aspect of the game at a professional level.
Larkin is right about the attendance issue.
Other cities will take a stab at this club , and move it along to greener pastures , ka-ching , and Dolan who is into the franchise at a very high water mark would be a fool not to sell.
Post season is possible this October , though more likely than not one and out or three and out the ultimate outcome.
Unless Dolan cracks open his turgid piggy bank and spends in the off season , the attendance will remain moribund at best.
Yo are entitled to your 33 % increase hallucination , though you heard it here second that they might at best pick up an odd thousand new season packages if and only if they make the playoffs 2013 , due to their heinous marketing of 2014 season packages tied into this years outcome.
If not , we will all have a good laugh at the fact that if the Cleveland team could have played fifty percent against the Detroit club they would be sitting pretty.
As for all those empty seats at the prog- jake , those pretties are perched with their hooves slung on their comfy cassock somewhere in the suburbs watching the game on television , and happy to not be going anywhere near downtown Cleveland to watch the game.
Larry Durstin
I stand on my prediction. 1.8 million next year and then gradually increasing to top out at about 2.4 The Indians have been leaving town since the 1960s. Oh yeah, they haven’t gone anywhere yet and they are not going anywhere. Larkin led the clandestine, dirty movement against Mary Rose Oakar that ended up with the PD losing (er, settling) a libel case – a near-impossibllity with a public figure. So much for responsible journalism.
Snarky
Sounds like you still have unresolved issues with Larkin.
I still believe that the Cleveland MLB team will remain in the bottom few teams in attendance in 2014.
If you are a sporting mAn , I would be happy to bet one long on that 1 .8 figure.
Indy
About 10 years ago I gave up paying any attention whatsoever to the Indians or the Browns. Who cares? The only effect this has had on my life is to give me lots of spare time for more rewarding activities.