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February 13, 2014The Diff: Looking at extension examples for the Indians and Jason Kipnis
February 13, 2014Cleveland, Ohio and its fans may need to start taking a good look in the mirror when it comes to this “best sports fans in the world” rhetoric that continues to wear increasingly thin with every additional half-full stadium and arena that gets Twitpic’d. In their annual report for 2013, Nielsen took an in-depth look into who consumed sports in 2013, where they were, who they were watching, and how they did so.
Within their data, Nielsen looked at the top five local fan bases for each of the major sports and Cleveland, Ohio was given nary a line item for the Browns, Cavs nor Indians.
And lest anyone get all huffy about buying tickets and not paying to watch “crap product,” you should know that they took into account the percent of population that watched, attended, or listened to their respective teams in the past 12 months. Also helping Cleveland is the fact that smaller markets were given a bump— it’s easier for small market teams to “reach” a larger portion of the local population, especially in terms of attendance.
Variables that may be playing a role in Cleveland not being among the top five in any of the three teams (outside of general abysmal play of their teams) include age demographics and how fans are taking in their sports. Web-based and mobile viewing continue to grow in terms of its share of the viewership pie, The average amount of time spent visiting sports sites and accessing sports content on mobile phones in April 2013 increased by double digits compared to 2012—52.2 million people over 18 years old used their mobile device/smartphone to take in sports, a 47 percent increase year-over-year. Also, In 2013, sports events accounted for only 1.2 percent of all TV programming, yet conversation about sports made up nearly half of all Tweets about TV (49.7%), an increase of 7 percent from 2012.
As younger fans (a demographic that has largely vanished when it comes to the Browns, for instance) take in sports in a variety of ways, including those pesky smartphones, graying towns are being left behind.
For what it’s worth, Nielsen is only providing the top five in each sport; Cleveland could very well be sixth in everything—even the NHL, because best fans ever. The Indians did 45 percent jump in their local television viewership in 2013, so there’s that.
34 Comments
Not surprising. It becomes harder every year for a parent to convince their kids that cheering for losing efforts year after year is “fun” and a good use of their time.
SO SAYS YOU, TRADER
Nielsen did a good job with this report. Unlike Forbes who would factor in how many championships were won to see who has the best fans.
Anyways, with the current state of the teams and the general feeling towards the Indians (and MLB in general), I don’t think anyone is surprised.
I AIN’T NO JOE.
Wow, Scott. Bad day? WHO HURT YOU?!
But no, not surprising. Disappointing, but not surprising. Fans can only be asked to stomach so much before they seek their enjoyment elsewhere. That and the exodus of folks from the local area to warmer/jobbier locales (I want to come back–I’ve tried for 11 years now. Job market statewide is just, well, terrible) means more fans are no longer local. If this is just taking into account local numbers, then us expats are being overlooked. Regardless, if our various teams would manage anything beyond brief flashes of success, maybe folks would come back.
m e d i a i s b i a s t r u s t n o o n e
I aspire to wish that I could care about this.
we lead every league in DGAF
When it comes to Top 5 lists of anything, I truly DGAF.
IS ELI MANNING A TOP 5 QB???? Really DGAF.
IS LEBRON JAMES A TOP 5 ALL-TIME NBA’ER???? Really, really DGAF.
IS CLEVELAND A TOP 5 FANBASE???? Really, really, truly DGAF.
Maybe I’ll make a Top 5 list of the Top 5 lists I DGAF.
That, Alanis, would actually be ironic.
*ahem* “D” alone indicates “Do” in this particular acronym.
DNGAF or DnGAF are the proper terms for what I believe you are trying to convey here as conjunctions have no place in acronymic terms 😉
also, since we are family friendly, I am assuming F for Fudge (relying on Christmas Story here).
The Cincinnati Reds?
Trust me, i’m in Cincinnati. And no.
If I’m willing to say “fudge,” I’m definitely using a contraction (c’mon, bode – “conjunction”? Really? Don’t sharpshoot an expert marksman! And don’t make me post a link to School House Rock.).
Having said all of that, I just assumed I was saying “Digs Good Apple Fondue.” I have no idea what you’re talking about!
I don’t think a single person on earth believes that Cleveland has the best fans in the world. Some owners, flacks, and broadcast lightweights may SAY that, but that’s just ear-wash and hype. They couldn’t possibly believe that.
So there’s no need for us fans to look in any mirrors.
blaming the phone. yep, definitely blaming the phone. oh, and my lack of attention to detail to pay attention to what the auto-correct did 🙂
Per usual, the term “best” is obviously contextual. For instance, I, for one, don’t believe there is such a thing as a Miami Heat “fan.” Socialite looking to be seen? Sure. Bandwagon “I’VE ALWAYS LOVED LEBRON” tween? Absolutely. But actual fan of the Heat? I’ll believe that when my [crap] turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbet.
Yeah Pittsburgh, where 40,000 showed up to watch the Steelers last season?
And since we’re hammering Cleveland fans, here’s who else doesn’t have the top five fan bases:
Dallas Cowboys
Seattle Seahawks
Denver Broncos
New York Giants
New York Jets
Oakland Raiders
San Francisco Forty-Niners
Chicago Bears
New England Patriots
Washington Redskins among others
Chicago Cubs
New York Yankees
New York Mets
Los Angeles Dodgers
Atlanta Braves . . . you get the idea.
You seem to quickly discard the most obvious reason “(outside of general abysmal play of their teams)”, All we need is a consistently decent product and people will come. I think a better measure would be the same stats compared to winning percentage of the teams over the last 5 years. I believe it would show we have more fans watching a crappy product than anybody else.
QED, b**ches.
conjunction junction what’s your function?
try getting that out of your heads, everyone
Fellow Clevelander-turned-Cincinnatian here. Reds and Bengals fans are some of the most fairweather I’ve ever seen. Here at the U of Cincinnati I swear there was much more excitement from the Cleveland transplants over the Indians than local Reds love during the Wild Card.
Excluding the NHL which I know nothing about, by my count 14 of the top 15 are consistent competitors or playoff teams. I love piling on Cleveland sports fans, but I don’t see much here beyond “people like to watch winning teams”. Well, that and Brewers fans are apparently pretty die-hard. Who knew?
Excluding the NHL which I know nothing about, by my count 14 of the top 15 are consistent competitors or playoff teams. I love piling on Cleveland sports fans, but I don’t see much here beyond “people like to watch winning teams”. Well, that and Brewers fans are apparently pretty die-hard. Who knew?
Oh, and a pox on Nielsen for demanding all of my personal data to download the report.
Oh, and a pox on Nielsen for demanding all of my personal data to download the report.
If you can only enjoy sports if your team wins the last game, you probably should find another hobby.
If you can only enjoy sports if your team wins the last game, you probably should find another hobby.
It isn’t just the individual winning and losing. Losing is fine as long as their is a legitimate sense that progress is being made and better days are on the horizon. Winning is ultimately the point, after all. If winning wasn’t important, why would anyone try?
you have to give some big props to KC Chiefs fans, who have been as bad as us for years (last year exception), and especially the Buffalo Sabres fans. That team blows every year.
I disagree, even when winning isn’t that important, say your rec or intramural league, players frequently try their hardest. To a lot of athletes, there’s more than just winning or losing. To the couch potatoes taking in and complaining about the games, I’m not exactly sure what they’re trying at. It’s a form of entertainment to them. If you aren’t entertained, find something else that does. And if you are entertained by complaining at people who will never hear you, maybe some counseling is in order.
Sorry, I’m calling shenanigans. No chance that Miami is in top 5 NBA fan bases.
Put another way, here’s a list of other cities with at least three franchises who didn’t place a single team on a single list:
New York
Philadelphia
Washington
Atlanta
Minneapolis
Denver
Houston
San Francisco
Los Angeles
That’s right, all these cities suck just as much as Cleveland. They’re all pathetic and apathetic backwaters whose fans don’t deserve to have a team.
snapshot in time, sure. just like the late-90s Yankees, mid-90s Cowboys, and full-90s Seminoles.
hmmm, I wonder who was a fan of all those teams in the 90s? 🙂
Next…
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