Jim Ingraham: Fans have their say on Indians' attendance

So this is it.
Starting Thursday, the Indians will begin their last homestand of the regular season. Six games that will establish the Indians' final attendance figure for 2013.
Six games for an alleged major-league city to salvage some self respect by acknowledging that not only is the local American League Baseball Club involved in a frenetic race for one of the two wild-card tickets to the postseason, but that an alleged victory-starved fan base actually cares.
Six games.
It's gotten so bad, so embarrassing, really — two of the team's last five home games have drawn “crowds” of 9,962 and 9,794 — that players are now trying to bribe fans into coming to games. Nick Swisher is personally paying for a fireworks promotion following Saturday's game. That should help the attendance that night, and the attendance could use some help. Lots of help.
The Indians will go into their final homestand with a season attendance figure of 1,438,205, which ranks 28th out of 30 major-league teams, as does the Indians' per-game average of 19,435.
The per-game average for the last homestand was 13,525. So not only is the season attendance bad, it's trending worse than bad. The Indians will finish the season with an attendance of about 1.5 million, which will be the second smallest in the 20-year history of Progressive Field, and the franchise's second smallest since 1992.
They drew 1.3 million in the 93-loss train wreck of 2010.
My last column, which suggested some possible reasons for the Indians' stunning attendance anemia drew numerous responses.
Rich Weybrecht wrote: “I was a season ticket holder for years. When the Lake County Captains became an option, we gladly switched to them.
“The Captains create a very customer friendly environment. They are humble and fan friendly. They respond to customer concerns. Progressive Field is none of the above.
“... The Indians are not the only one to have pricing based on opponent or time of the year. The parking lots play musical pricing also. If you are handicapped or bringing one who is and the garage is full, you'll have a long walk and pay $25 to park.
“The sports teams must compete for the entertainment dollars. As a consumer, I have many choices. I owe the Indians nothing.”
There was this from Frank Shaniuk: “I feel the Indians philosophy echoes (Mark) Shapiro's that winning isn't so important. This whole organization has made mistakes and misjudgments since it took over from the Jacobs. Their ticket problems and game presentation just indicate some of their incompetence. They have taken the fans for granted from the start and if you win you can get away with it, but if not, it's a “cry wolf” situation that destroys your credibility and it will take a long time to recover.”
There was this from Greg Young: “I too am angered by the variable pricing of the tickets. I was given tickets to a game earlier in the season where tickets to the outfield were $42 on a weeknight. Those are not $42 seats.
“... I have a friend who was downtown and decided to take in an afternoon game, only to be told at the ticket window that the cheapest seats were $38. So the group of them walked the block to a downtown establishment and watched the game there.
“I'm a fan, and have spent more money than I should have this year on apparel to support the team. Sadly, I'm going to attend only my second game of the year (this) weekend. With family and work and everything else, it's just easier to watch from home.”
From A.J. Mellen: “After sitting (through) the 5 1/2 hour, 14-inning game last month, I realized my ears were ringing the next day. I was subject to at least 150 bits of loud hard rock, rap, country, Latino music. Why can't there be just a little quiet between innings just to talk to the guy next to you? ... The attendance is sad and embarrassing. It's a constant beatdown. I'm all for some entertainment at the game I just think they ... need to curb it down 50 percent.”
Rick Rossman blames the poor attendance on the ticket prices: “I'm a huge sports fan. Middle class. Not rich, not poor. Will not pay those prices. Many, many of my friends feel the same way.
“I broke down in August. My daughter was coming in from out of town. Loves sports, I said OK, let's go. They are playing the Twins, a Saturday night. I said we don't go often let's get good seats. Went to Ticketmaster. Asked for four, I think reserved box. Left-field line. Came to $345. I said no, let's go farther out way down right-field line: $225.
“I told my daughter sorry, babe, I can't do it. Can't justify it. You add on eight drinks and four foods. It's a $400-plus night. Not worth it. So we went out and spent probably $150 on dinner and such and had a great time.”
It's your choice on how much validity you put into any or all of these explanations for the attendance decline. The bottom line is that winning teams usually draw big crowds, especially in Cleveland. The Indians this year have fielded a winning team and they are drawing astonishingly small crowds.
There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear.

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