Please discuss: reasons. thoughts, concerns, gripes.....

 

The 12 major league teams running out of fans

By Michael B. Sauter, 247wallstreet.com

Sep 15, 6:20 pm EDT

 

Sports teams often go through sharp swings in popularity. Attendance rises and falls. This frequently has to do with how well a team performs. When teams do well, people outside of their primary fan base become interested and start going to games. An example of this is the Florida Marlins, who won the world series in 2003 and saw attendance rise 60 percent in a single year. Alternatively, teams who do poorly also win new fans.

 

Attendance for the four major league sports – NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL – remained relatively flat from 2001 to 2010. The total fan increase for all NHL teams – the best performer of the four – was only 2.59 percent. The weakest, the NFL, only grew .49 percent.

 

 

11. Columbus Blue Jackets

• Decrease in attendance: 21.76 percent

• 2001 W-L record: 28–39–9–6 (finished 5th in Central Division)

• 2010 W-L record: 32-35-15 (finished 5th in Central Division)

• League championships last decade: none

 

 

1. Cleveland Indians

• Decrease in attendance: 56.08 percent

• 2000 W-L record: 91-71 (finished 1st in AL Central)

• 2010 W-L record: 69-93 (finished 4th in AL Central)

• League championships last decade: none

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ys-247wallstreet-pro_teams_losing_fans_091511

Nothing will compare to the pathetic scene at Municpal Stadium in the 80's that "Major League" parodied.  Nor do I think we will ever see another sellout streak like they had going at Jacobs' Field during the 90's.  The current state of attendance has more to do with frustration with MLB than the team itself.  Parity is at an all time low and you can pretty much guarantee one of the two evil empires will end up on top of the AL year in and year out.  Of course, it doesn't help when you are forced to trade two of the best pitchers in baseball in back to back years.

The reason. It COSTS TOO MUCH. People would even attend a loser if the prices were not so out of whack. ALL of these sports teams will be in trouble once the networks drop them. The internet entertainment is killing the networks.

This list is so off base.  The indians are not "running out of fans".  The indians are just not selling as many tickets, because of the poor product the past few years (not speaking of this year).  If you go around town when they are playing well, there is a buzz AND if you look at their road trips west and south, you can hear the masses of indian fans every time they score a run.

 

Not filling up a stadium does not equate to losing fans.

Yay, another list!

 

The Indians average attendance in 1990 was about 15K, in 1980 it was 13K, compared to 22K in 2010.  So the average attendance has actually gone up over a long period of time, with the temporary spike for about 7-8 years in the late 90's when ownership made a concerted effort to put a winner on the field.

 

Again, the fans of Cleveland will support a team and owner if they feel they're supporting them by at least trying to compete in their perspective sport.  Lerner may not know the difference between Offense & Defense in American football, but at least he's spent $$ and tried different GM's & HC's, so the people support his team.  Gilbert's CAVS may end up being the worst team in basketball again, but I'll bet they end up in the top 1/3 in attendance in the NBA, because people believe that he's trying to win and that he genuinely cares.

 

If and when the Dolan's invest at the level of other AL Central team's, and keep and sign a few good players, the fans will be there.

The problem with that list is that it compares us to when we were selling out everygame. Thats definitely not an average occurrence(besides for us those several years). But when you compare constant sellouts to the attendance for a horrible team in 2010, of course the difference will be huge. Our attendance is actually up from last year if I remember correctly.

Gotta love these ESPN advertorials....and the folks here in Cleveland bit!  LAME!