Comments on: Sad-sack Indians to sport sub-$50 million payroll in 2011

By: WhenMattStairsIsKing

WhenMattStairsIsKing — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 19:42:56 +0000

Cleveland has a way of blowing up teams, historically speaking. I think we need more patience in owners for sure, but these are also tough times we live in, and as profitable as MLB is and as much as revenue sharing has helped, there is that business reality right now.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 15:41:26 +0000

Lukehart80, I have to disagree with you about the Indians. Could possibly the reason their attendance was down in 2007 even though they made it to the ALCS be because they were coming off a terrible 2006 season where they went 78/84 and finished 4th out of 5 teams in the Central Division. Sure economic conditions have had an effect on Cleveland as it has on all Major League teams. But with the the exception of 2001 when the Indians filled their park to 92% when they went 91-71 through 2006 their attendance has been for the most part pathetic.
There win/loss record with the exception of 2005 coincides with the poor attendance. Factor on top of that, that in the last 10 years the Indians have had only 3 winning seasons. Generally not a receipt for fan loyalty. I don’t know that the economy can be blamed for the drop offs in the early part of this decade. It seems to me all things being equal if teams consistently put a competitive/winning product on the field the fans will come.

By: HBT Weekend Wrapup | HardballTalk

HBT Weekend Wrapup | HardballTalk — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:28:55 +0000

[...] The Indians are cutting payroll for 2011. I enjoyed the couple of visits I made to the Tribe Social Deck last season. I mean, it was great being invited by the team to sit and watch the team for free and be encouraged to blog about it. But I’m probably going to decline if invited next year. Not because it’s not cool, but because I’ll likely be able to get better seats even cheaper by just hanging around the ballpark before games. [...]

By: Lukehart80

Lukehart80 — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 23:19:46 +0000

I don’t think Cleveland’s case can accurately be described as “owners go cheap so fans don’t show.”

3 years ago, the Indians were a win away from the World Series, a World Series they’d have been favorites in. They can reasonably be called the 2nd best team in baseball that season. They ranked just 21st in attendance. They were in 1st place a quarter of the way through the 2008 season, but drawing no better.

Cleveland was the 23rd biggest city in the U.S. twenty years ago. It has dropped to 43rd as of 2009. Only Kansas City and Milwaukee have smaller urban areas among major league markets. Cleveland and its urban area continue to shrink.

I don’t like the idea of contraction, though its merits could at least be debated; the same could be said for the idea of moving teams into open markets. Less debatable: in th current economic climate, with baseball’s current economic structure, consistently competitive baseball is not viable in Cleveland.

By: simon94022

simon94022 — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 22:25:54 +0000

Baseball teams have been following this moronic business model for a century, and it isn’t the fault of the people of Cleveland or KC. The basic pattern is team starts losing, so attendance drops (naturally), so team further cuts payroll, so attendance drops some more, etc. And instead of trying to break the cycle, the owner eventually blames the fans and says his city must not be “a baseball town.”. This is the way even the great Connie Mack destroyed the Philadelphia A’s franchise he had so brilliantly built.

Fans won’t come to a ballpark unless they have hope, along with confidence that their team is at least trying to win. This is true everywhere — New York, Boston, Philly, St. Louis and all the other supposedly great baseball towns. Give folks in those cities the kind of hopelessness that fans in KC, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland and Washington have to put up with, and you’d get the same kind of attendance declines. The only way an owner can help himself is to break the cycle by clearly trying to win. Doesn’t mean you have to spend big bucks on free agents. But it does mean you have to avoid ridiculous stinginess of the Indians.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 20:01:33 +0000

The AL Central Division is a joke. Yesterday the piece about KC and their potential payroll in 2011 and now this piece on Cleveland and their payroll for 2011. No wonder both teams are consistently in the bottom 20% in MLB attendance. There is no excuse for any major league team to have a payroll in the $40 to $50M range in this day and age with revenue sharing, etc…
If teams don’t want to invest in their clubs to make them competitive, MLB should find new owners and/or relocate them to more profitable cities or in the worse case contract them. Several months ago there was a piece about the Marlins ownership diverting money from the team. If Selig and MLB wants to do something to make baseball more competitive get rid of these owners or get rid of the teams. There is nothing magical about 30 teams in the Major Leagues.