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December 15, 2010
Remember the days when the stadium looked like the photo? Full each and every night? I miss those days.
Its no secret that the Indians are struggling on the field. The sharp drop in the team’s play and payroll has caused a sharp drop in attendance. Last year, with the Tribe winning just 69 games, only 1.39 million fans entered Progressive Field to see the Wahoo Warriors. That figure was the worst in all of Major League Baseball.
With a struggling economy and a young developing product on the field, the Indians have to figure out ways to entice the fans to come through the turnstiles. So for 2011, the organization has come up with some new plans:
- Bleacher seats for all games, not including the home opener, will cost just $10.
I’m down with this. The bleachers are a good time and an underrated seat at Progressive Field. As Mike Mulhall, the Indians senior director of ticket sales and premium seating said yesterday, “We just feel like when the bleachers are full in this ballpark, there’s a different buzz, there’s a different feel in Progressive Field.”
- Season tickets in the lower deck will cost anywhere between 20 and 60 percent less than any single game seat would cost.
Rewarding the season tickets holders while enticing people to get season ticket plans is a smart move. That said, people know that with the team headed towards another fourth place finish most likely, they can buy tickets on game day with no problem and probably don’t want to lock themselves into a full season. There are plenty of plans though – 10 and 20 games – to look into.
- Upper box tickets will cost between $12-$16 a game, down $8 from last year.
Again, another positive. The Indians have made it affordable again to attend a baseball game. Go to a game, buy yourself an upper deck seat behind home plate for $16 bucks and enjoy yourself.
- For the second year in a row, the Indians will continue their season ticket holder matching system, which attempts to put together people who want to split season tickets with others but cannot find them on their own. They also have a draft set up so people can select the games they want.
This is a very smart move. I for one am having a hard time finding an extra person or two to fill out my season ticket group for this year (two people have asked to drop out). I have already gotten involved with the Indians and have had inquiries to get involved with my group.
All of this said, the easiest way to bring fans back to Progressive Field is for this team to contend. “Winning is certainly the simplest way to solve our ills,” Team President Mark Shapiro said. “It will improve attendance and increase revenues, and we are working hard to put a winner on the field.”
To me, someone with two young kids, there is still no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than down at the ballpark watching baseball and teaching them the game. But I am also a die-hard baseball guy.
I give the Indians credit for at least being smart enough to make some changes, but the reality is that until they win on the field, its gonna be hard to raise attendance significantly.
14 Comments
Solution: Minor League pricing for Minor League product.
Want a great way to get people back in the seats?
Stop doing this: [Cleveland.com]
I’d still love (mostly from a curious standpoint) to see them go full out with the pricing by demand approach, where the ticket prices constantly fluctuate based on the seat, opponent, etc. But this is nice – now I’d feel comfortable taking my family if we’re in Cleveland during the summer to a Tribe game or two.
@2 – I agree – if we had held on to Victor we could have TWO overpriced, no-power DH’s on this team!
Do like the Aeros do. $10.00 no matter where you sit.
I find it interesting that they are also offering season ticket holders the use of loges and club seating. In the glory days of the Jake those were always filled and now they are basically giving them away. The loss of corporate partners has hurt the Dolans more than the fans staying away. Sure it looked bad if the loges were empty but it’s doubtful they cared as long as the Tribe had the money from ’em in their pocket. Discounted tickets are a nice way to get people back into the stadium…now discount concessions and parking and put a better product on the field.
@4 – says the guy who isn’t even a Cleveland fan… [closet Miami fan]
http://www.whitecollarredneck.com/
Won’t pay two cents to watch this team play at home. And I watch 130-150 games a year.
Until Crapiro and Dolan are gone, this team is a joke and always will be.
birthday and father’s day presents just got cheaper. awesome.
i might throw in 2 games instead of 1 this year per present. good times 🙂
@7 Busted. Only in football. Huge Tribe / Cavs fan.
The lowered pricing is all well and good to watch the awfulness that is the Tribe. But what happens when (if) they are playing decent to good baseball again? Ticket prices go right back up.
How about getting rid of the ridiculous mid-week afternoon game and make Saturday games in the afternoon again. I know the Wed/Thurs afternoon game allows teams to travel easier, but the attendance has to be very poor. I there were many Saturday afternoons these past couple years where I wish I could have gone down to the Jake to catch a game.
@11 – HOW DARE THE TRIBE PLAY THE RULES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND!!!
@12 – Like you said, Wed and Thurs are travel days. And a few years ago the Indians did a lot of polling on Saturday games. They found out that more people would attend night games on Saturday than afternoon games.