Tag Archives: Indians

As Indians Win, Attendance Stays flat, Why?

JbSmooth84.com Indians v Tigers

Cleveland Indians Host the Detroit Tigers on May 4th, 2016

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The Indians are currently in first place in the American league Central with a 71 wins to 51 losses, and barring a complete collapse, are a lock to make the playoffs. This is looking like one of those years where they won’t fade come September and they’ve been good since opening day. However, as the Indians keep winning, attendance numbers at the stadium hold steady to the ballpark being half full. Why so? Well the answer is neither simple nor complex, but takes some nuance.

 

First let’s look at baseball and what has changed about the game; everything! The game has changed, less steroids, fewer home runs. Baseball’s inherent problem is it’s slow, and in a day and age where getting everything as fast as you can is at a premium, waiting through 3 pitching changes, 3 meetings between the catcher and pitcher, a pinch hitter and pinch runner isn’t exactly the most exciting thing to watch anymore. So the Indians lack of interest at the stadium isn’t surprising to me. There’s a plenty things to do on a Wednesday night than sit in the sun or battle mosquitos and watch a .260 hitter go for the fences (to be fair Napoli is having a career year in home runs). The Indians lack a few things that would improve attendance; I’ll lay them out here.

 

The Indians have no recognizable star to the world. In the 90’s they had guys with multiple all-star and home run derby appearances and commercials. Parents viewed them as role models, kids saw them as heroes. The 00’s they had guys that were budding with potential that just never panned out, but there was at least a vision of guys that would be around for a while. Now, even without a salary cap, and only as recently had the farm system groomed guys to be every day contributors. But until those guys become household names, it’ll be hard to sell the fan base on a team of ‘Who’s that guy again?’

 

Indians and Clear Channel Announce 5 Year Deal to Broadcast Games

chief wahoo batting

The Cleveland Indians and Clear Channel announce a 5 year extension to broadcast the all regular season games on WTAM 1100 as the flagship station and to simulcast 144 games on sister station WMMS 100.7. Below is a statement from the Indians on the agreement.

The Cleveland Indians will continue their 15-year relationship with WTAM 1100 AM through 2017 with a new five-year deal announced today.

As part of the new agreement, WTAM 1100 AM will air all regular season games and WMMS 100.7 FM will simulcast the majority of Cleveland Indians games. Tribe games will continue to be distributed to the entire Indians Radio Network, which consists of 26 stations across Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.

The Indians also reached a multi-year deal with Jim Rosenhausto continue partnering with “Voice of the Indians” Tom Hamilton in the Indians radio booth.

All Indians games will also be available for online and mobile streaming with MLB Gameday Audio, MLB.TV and the top-selling sports mobile application of all-time, MLB At Bat.

Source Cleveland Indians

Indians Officially Sign Nick Swisher

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The Cleveland Indians will officially announce the signing of free agent outfielder Nick Swisher.

Below is a statement released by the Tribe on the signing;

The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has signed free agent OF NICK SWISHER to a four-year contract with a vesting option for the 2017 season.

The 2010 American League All-Star is one of just three American Leaguers to hit at least 20 home runs in each of the last eight seasons (2005-12).

The Parkersburg, West Virginia native recently completed his fourth season with the New York Yankees in 2012, hitting .272 (146-537) with 36 doubles, 24HR and 93 RBI in 148 games.

Swisher, 32, was born in Columbus and played his college ball at The Ohio State University from 2000-02 where the baseball field was recently dedicated in his honor.

Swisher will be officially introduced as a member of the Cleveland Indians during a 4:00 p.m. ET press conference

Fox Sports Buys SportsTime Ohio for $230 Mil. and $400 Mil. for Rights Fees

sports time ohio

It was announced today that Paul Dolan, owner of the Cleveland Indians, sold their television network SportsTime Ohio to Fox Sports for a reported $230 million. The sales also sells the the rights to broadcast Indians games on Fox for 10 years at $40 million a year. The new rights will start with the 2013 season. The Indians earned $30 millions in rights free from SportsTime Ohio in 2012.

Belo is a statement from the Indians in regards to the sale.

FOX Sports secures exclusive long-term local telecast rights to the Cleveland Indians.

FOX Sports Media Group and SportsTime Ohio today announced an agreement that calls for FOX Sports to acquire SportsTime Ohio, the Cleveland-based regional sports network that has been offering local telecasts of Cleveland Indians games for the past seven seasons.

In addition, FOX Sports Media Group announced that it has secured the exclusive long-term local telecast rights for Indians baseball, ensuring that the Indians will once again be part of the FOX Sports portfolio of regionally televised hometown teams. Prior to the 2006 season, Indians games were locally televised by FOX Sports Ohio.

Cleveland Indians Chief Executive Officer Paul Dolan said: “We look forward to a long-term partnership with FOX that will continue to bring state-of-the-art broadcasts of Indians games to the fans while strengthening the franchise and enhancing our ability to build competitive teams.”