Tag: wknr

Cleveland’s A Three Sport Town, No?

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

 

 

Thoughts on Tribe Attendance (Or Lack of It)

The Cleveland Indians continue to hang around the playoff chase, but apparently the team’s proximity to a possible wild card berth hasn’t aroused the ticket buying public.

Last night, in a game against one of the teams they are competing against for a post-season spot, they drew less than 10,000 fans.

Why haven’t the fans responded to this group of Indians?  Many theories have been bandied about all season long, but we wanted to add our perspective.

We would propose that the Indians lower their ticket prices for the 2014 season. 

The ownership will surely tell you that will result in lower revenue for the team, but a baseball team isn’t a set product where the cost of the part results in the selling price.

Getting more people in the park at lower prices will generate more revenue.  The Indians talk about the market conditions in Cleveland all the time, but they haven’t reduced the ticket prices substantially.

Sure, they have a lot of programs for limited season tickets, “loaded” tickets, etc., but a price reduction on a night in, night out basis is needed to get people back in the habit of going to Indians’ games.

Once there, they will see it is a great entertainment experience.  That is, if the ballclub is competitive.  And it will help to sell single game tickets before Christmas.  People like to give them out as gifts.

We have touched on this before, but the Tribe front office made a major miscalculation in staying with WTAM as its flagship station. 

The Browns went the other route and hooked up with both WKNR and 92.3 FM, two all sports talk stations.  Doing that made them the topic of conversation pretty much everyday of the year, making the Indians the proverbial red-headed stepchild.

Moving the Tribe games to either of these two stations would have made those stations talk about the Indians, considering they would be the primary programming at night. 

The more conversation involving the baseball team would generate interest in going to the games. 

The organization dropped the ball on this one.

The other reason for fans not going is the Indians record against the marquis teams in the American League. 

Casual fans know certain teams.  They know of the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Detroit Tigers.  When the Indians beat them, they get credibility with the lukewarm fans. 

Unfortunately, the Tribe is 6-27 against those teams.

Now, we know that beating those teams doesn’t guarantee you a spot in the playoffs, nor it is impossible to make the playoffs unless you beat those teams. 

However, the Indians need to attract fans who aren’t die hards to come to Progressive Field, and the comment you get when you tell a lot of people that Terry Francona’s team has a chance to make the playoffs is that they won’t because they can’t beat the Tigers or Yankees or Red Sox.

Here’s hoping the ownership doesn’t look at the lack of attendance as a reason to cut payroll in 2014.  If they do, the fan base may never recover.  The negative image of the Dolan ownership is based on that idea. 

A recent column by Terry Pluto revealed the reason the Tribe didn’t trade for former Twins’ slugger Justin Morneau was because attendance was down, ownership didn’t want to spend more money.

That comment just confirms fans’ fears of the owner of the Cleveland Indians.

To get the fans back, the front office must build upon the improvement from 2012 to 2013.  Taking a step back because of low attendance won’t help the relationship with the people who buy tickets. 

KM