It is not a secret that Cleveland is one of the smallest cities in the United States with three major professional sports teams. We are using the traditional four major sports of baseball, football, basketball, and hockey.
If you figure in Green Bay as part of the Milwaukee market, only that area would be smaller than “The Land” in terms of having three major league franchises.
It struck us the other day that if you listen to sports talk radio in the area, it would be hard to discern that indeed, there are other teams here besides the Browns.
Certainly, fans of the Indians and Cavaliers are envious of the attention received by the NFL team, especially now that the Browns appear to be emerging from a decade’s long slumber.
After all, the Cavaliers ended the title drought in Cleveland, winning the area’s first professional sports championship since 1964 when LeBron James and company won the 2016 NBA title.
And the Indians have been one of baseball’s best teams since 2016 when they went to the seventh game of the World Series that season. They’ve been to the post-season four times since Terry Francona was hired as manager in 2013, and since baseball went to the current three division set up in 1994, only the Yankees and Red Sox have made more playoff appearances in the American League.
We understand that northeast Ohio is first and foremost a football area, but how did the sports conversation around here become almost Browns-centric, and how much does it affect the other teams?
First, the Browns were genius in making both sports talk stations in town (WKNR and 92.3 The Fan) broadcast partners. Both stations proudly call themselves “Home of the Browns”, and when the team plays, it is difficult to find a station not broadcasting the game (at least in our car).
WKNR has a daily show called Cleveland Browns Daily, while the other station broadcasts virtually every press conference the head coach has, which during the season is pretty much every day.
We have said in the past that the Tribe should have learned from the Browns and made on of these two stations their flagship station. Instead, they stayed with WTAM and their large 50,000 watt power.
And that’s their right, but would the team generate more conversation, and therefore more interest, if their games were on that station pretty much every night from April through September?
We would bet yes.
As for the Cavs, when they were title contenders, they were the second option, but now that they are at the bottom of the standings, the commentary is “they are terrible, we don’t watch”, which is ludicrous since the hosts are supposed to covering Cleveland sports teams, no?
The poor won/lost record doesn’t hold weight either, because the Browns were 1-31 over a two season span, and they were still the topic for most shows on a daily basis.
Cleveland is a “Brownstown”, no debating that. However, many Browns’ fans are also supporters of the Indians and Cavs, so why not cover those teams more often?
We thought because the Browns were not picking at the top of the NFL Draft that the conversation would subside during the spring, but instead there are other subjects to delve into, like “Are the Browns better than the Steelers, right now?”
The sports talk stations used to send hosts down to spring training to cover the Indians. That rarely happens now.
It’s great that people are excited about the Browns, but as a city, we should feel lucky to have three major professional sports teams. And it’s okay to have conversations about all three as well.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 