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I think the attendance decline may be easier to explain than you think. When the team got the new stadium and was good for the first time in forever, fans had to strike early for tickets and did that. I would bet that many fans were consuming 25-30 tickets as a family for each season. As the novelty of winning wore off and the stadium became less of an attraction, those same fans were now consuming 10-15 tickets a year. Combine that with the people that went from season ticket holders to likely 1/4 season ticket holders for the same reason and you can easily reduce the attendance by well over a million. Finally, HD TV makes it cheaper and easier to watch everything from home. So I think the interest in the team is still there, people just show it differently but that difference certainly impacts the financial bottom line for the owners.
 
CalBuckeyeRob said:
I think the attendance decline may be easier to explain than you think. When the team got the new stadium and was good for the first time in forever, fans had to strike early for tickets and did that. I would bet that many fans were consuming 25-30 tickets as a family for each season. As the novelty of winning wore off and the stadium became less of an attraction, those same fans were now consuming 10-15 tickets a year. Combine that with the people that went from season ticket holders to likely 1/4 season ticket holders for the same reason and you can easily reduce the attendance by well over a million. Finally, HD TV makes it cheaper and easier to watch everything from home. So I think the interest in the team is still there, people just show it differently but that difference certainly impacts the financial bottom line for the owners.
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We have high TV ratings so some of it is the people who left with the major companies leaving Northeast Ohio as well... There is a lot of factors on why the fans have left the area.
 
Ahhhh...my mistake. I totally get that. I've actually been a little surprised the Indians (or any team) hasn't found a way to lock people into games from a further distance. Sell exclusive 5 game packs that include loaded $ on the ticket & transportation to and from.
sportscoach said:
I was thinking too bad there isn't like a place in Canton/Akron or something like that where you can essentially park your car in a lot with police watching and get on a passenger train to Cleveland to watch the game... Then get a train back etc... I think that would be kind of neat and probably would help draw in more customers from the south.

Convenience is a huge factor for some customers and coming from Canton or more south and trying to get up to Cleveland after 5 is just horrendous... It makes it hard for someone who gets off at 5 to make a game...
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Beanie4Heisman said:
I think this may be a significant piece to the attendance issues. Pitching may win but chicks dig the long ball. As do children & casuals....

When the team does not score with any regularity we give up every right to gripe about how few asses are in those stands.

A team with a multitude of hitters right around .200 is the current reality. A name change, potential new blood in ownership & youthful productive players on the diamond is what the city is in need of.

#ItsTribeTimeNow:cha (40):
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Oh hey, I get to re-use a post. Nice!

Out of the Rafters at the Q said:
Cleveland showed its true colors in 2017.

We were coming off the 2016 World Series, had two MVP-caliber position players in Jose and Lindor. We made a big-spending, flashy free agent signing in Edwin Encarnacion. We had one of the greatest pitching staffs in the history of baseball, the best record in the American League, and we went on the longest win streak in the history of baseball, in the middle of summer with beautiful weather... and we still weren't selling out every game.

You had the absolute perfect storm and fans didn't show up.

It's clear that nothing the team does will change that--but some people continue to point at anything they don't like and say "See! That's why I'm not going!"

The truth is, no matter what the team does, you were never going to begin with.
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CDAV45 said:
Cleveland is also shrinking. In fact, it was rated the 5th fastest shrinking population in the country. Few jobs and violence have folks fleeing. My brother lives in Hinkley and it seems to be doing well as is many of the other suburbs. I know that myself and several others would make more games if it weren't downtown. Hell, driving from Hinkley to the ballpark takes damn near 30 minutes and the exit to the stadium off of 77 is a clusterfuck. I'd rather watch the Indians from home and go to a Clippers game.
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You are taking the Cleveland metro area and making it out to be Cleveland itself.

DT Cleveland has had tremendous growth, and not just in population, but in people staying downtown instead of just heading home after work.

Of course it takes you 30 minutes to go from Hinkley to Cleveland, it's a 30 mile distance, what are you expecting? You should be happy a 30 mile drive takes 30 minutes, that's traveling at 60MPH.

Whoever was saying the same thing about Canton to Cleveland taking an hour? What are you expecting? It's a 60 mile distance.
 
sportscoach said:
I was thinking too bad there isn't like a place in Canton/Akron or something like that where you can essentially park your car in a lot with police watching and get on a passenger train to Cleveland to watch the game... Then get a train back etc... I think that would be kind of neat and probably would help draw in more customers from the south.

Convenience is a huge factor for some customers and coming from Canton or more south and trying to get up to Cleveland after 5 is just horrendous... It makes it hard for someone who gets off at 5 to make a game...
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When you live 60 miles away, weekday games just aren't a great option. This isn't a problem of where the stadium is located, it's where you have chosen to live.
 
Derek said:
This isn’t it. The team scored among the best in the league for a couple years (2016-2019) and people weren’t coming out.

Regardless of the offense. If people can’t bring themselves to come out and watch a winning team, then they’re either struggling financially, or they just aren’t baseball fans. You can’t blame the club for the lack of baseball fans in the area.

We just need to accept that this isn’t a baseball town, and just enjoy what we enjoy without worrying about pleasing people who really don’t care.
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I take issue with the notion that if someone can afford to go to games but chooses to watch at home they "aren't baseball fans." Personally, I don't really like crowds and, having driven from the southeast side on 480 to 77 into downtown Cleveland to work daily for more than 30 years I don't care to take that drive anymore. Add the fact that watching a game in my living room takes 3 hours out of my day while going to the game at the stadium takes 4-5 hours, including wasted driving/walking time, and I can easily talk myself into staying home. I know I'm not the target audience for ticket sales so it's no big deal.
 
ajz20 said:
Having a stadium in the suburbs is not healthy for the city at all. The problem is not the location. As people have written several times in here over the last decade a ton on people who grew up in northeast Ohio who are now in their 30s and 40s have moved out of the area who would be regularly attending games.
This is due to more than one reason, but the Main reason has been the lack of jobs the last 20 plus years.
Some who had season tickets when the park first opened are now too old go to on a regular basis too.
81 home dates is a ton of dates to fill, plus there is bad weather the first two months of the year. If you don't have a solid season ticket base, it's going to lead to poor attendance. Plain and simple.

Also there are a lot more entertainment options now then 25 or 30 years ago. Spending 3 or more hours at a baseball game in poor weather and paying a lot of money ( for some people they just don't have a ton of despicable income) is just not appealing.
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I agree with all of this, especially the bolded. Before recently receiving a promotion, I had been looking at other opportunities for awhile and the lack of technology jobs in Cleveland was mindblowing. Columbus has a ton, even Cincinnati has a bunch, but Cleveland is severely lacking there. That's just one example, but it's an industry that is already huge (and still growing) and has the interest of young people...I'd be happy to live in Cleveland, and would absolutely have season tickets if I did, but it's not realistic right now given their lack of jobs in software development.

I do remain hopeful that an ownership change will help attendance, as there is a segment of our fanbase that has an attitude about the Dolan's. If a new owner comes in and invests more in the team, and manages to retain star talent, I hope that would bring more people to the park.
 
Obscured By Clouds said:
You are taking the Cleveland metro area and making it out to be Cleveland itself.

DT Cleveland has had tremendous growth, and not just in population, but in people staying downtown instead of just heading home after work.

Of course it takes you 30 minutes to go from Hinkley to Cleveland, it's a 30 mile distance, what are you expecting? You should be happy a 30 mile drive takes 30 minutes, that's traveling at 60MPH.

Whoever was saying the same thing about Canton to Cleveland taking an hour? What are you expecting? It's a 60 mile distance.
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Oh yeah? What about my Drive from Phoenix into to Progressive taking 2 days?
 
Obscured By Clouds said:
When you live 60 miles away, weekday games just aren't a great option. This isn't a problem of where the stadium is located, it's where you have chosen to live.
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MadThinker88 said:
And with that in mind (Canton area) the Akron RubberDucks are a great option to catch a game...
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It's not just the 60 miles, the traffic is shit so it makes it very hard to hit games...

And it's not the same between a Ducks game and An Indians game.... Don't say it's the same since it isn't. I go to both but I wanna hit more Indians games but it's a bitch to get there from Canton, which Stark County has 375,000 people in and because of traffic and other factors, most of the Indians fans would rather stay at home and watch the game... Increasing a way from Canton to Cleveland for rides in a fairly cheap manner (20 or less per person), would actually greatly increase attendance from the area...

I mean how many people would be okay with a 15-20 dollar bus shuttle system that gets you from a central location in Canton area, then takes you up to the ball game? Even a train system with snacks would be sweet as well!
 
The Cavs use to be in Richfield. The venue was great but the location was not going to work long term. The baseball team is not going to be building a stadium in Akron, nor should they!
 
sportscoach said:
It's not just the 60 miles, the traffic is shit so it makes it very hard to hit games...

And it's not the same between a Ducks game and An Indians game.... Don't say it's the same since it isn't. I go to both but I wanna hit more Indians games but it's a bitch to get there from Canton, which Stark County has 375,000 people in and because of traffic and other factors, most of the Indians fans would rather stay at home and watch the game... Increasing a way from Canton to Cleveland for rides in a fairly cheap manner (20 or less per person), would actually greatly increase attendance...

I mean how many people would be okay with a 15-20 dollar bus shuttle system that gets you from a central location in Canton area, then takes you up to the ball game? Even a train system with snacks would be sweet as well!
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The Miami heat actually do offer transportation as a package for one of the counties close by. It's not a bad idea. Not sure there are that many people in Canton that would go on a regular basis to make it work though. Worth a try I guess!
 
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