Ryan Comer ’15 Jake Shurr ’15

As the Tribe approach the end of the regular season, with the playoffs in sight, Progressive Field is still not full of fans. The average attendance for the Tribe in the year 2013 is 19,518, third worst attendance in all of baseball, right above Miami and Tampa Bay(ESPN). Another team that is in the race for the wild card as we are is Texas Rangers. The Texas Rangers have an average attendance rate of 38,816, nearly double our average rate(ESPN). While most people would these statistics and say that we should have high attendance as do the Texas Rangers, I agree with why fans are not going to tribe games. Tickets for all MLB teams are expensive along with Cleveland’s unemployment rate of 7.1% it is understandable for most families to not be able to afford the prices at Progressive Field. Along with this, minimum wage in Cleveland is $7.80, so if a family of four(with one working parent)wanted to go to a game twice a month the parent would need to work for around 11 hours just to afford the tickets. While that is in a very extreme case it still applies to most middle class-lower class people in Cleveland. While ticket prices in other cities with baseball teams are around the same as Progressive Fields, other cities do not have the same ‘Sports History’ as we do. Cleveland Sports fans over the past 20 years have been tormented by the failure of our teams. The Cleveland Browns left Cleveland in 1995 when they were moved to Maryland by the General Manager, Art Model, they did not return until 1999 and since then few playoff appearances and failed first round draft pics have turned out to be busts. LeBron James is another example of a let down for Cleveland Cavaliers fans, LeBron is now known as one of the best players in the NBA and has lead the Miami Heat to 2 consecutive NBA championships soon after leaving Cleveland. Along with this, The Cleveland Indians have not won the World Series since 1948. So Cleveland Sports fans seem to be tired and disappointed with the failure of their respective sports teams, including the Tribe.

Due to the lack of success, two words have been frequently omitted from Northeast Ohio. Those two words are PLAYOFF BASEBALL. October and playoff baseball are nearly synonymous. However, Cleveland fans do not seem to be very excited. Our team, THE CLEVELAND INDANS, are in the wild card spot and very near making the playoffs. The stands should be packed for every game in this time of intensity and magic. The Indians have not made the Major League Baseball Playoffs since 2007, and still, very few people seem to be excited about how close the Windians are to making the playoffs. Cleveland currently holds the fourth best record in the American League, however, the Indians’ attendance for the year is second to last in the American League and third to last in all of Major League Baseball (espn.com). Progressive Field has a capacity of 43,441 people. Sadly, fans have only filled more than half of those seats twice in the last fifteen games (sportsnetwork.com)! Cleveland is notorious for failure in the playoffs, but we are also notorious for being some of the best, most diehard fans in all of professional sports. We are not living up to that reputation to say the least! Cleveland sports fans are not only letting down the Indians but themselves as well! We need to get into the stands for these next couple of home games and root our team into the playoffs. We live in a city called BELIEVELAND and we need to start doing just that. Our team has potential this year, and in order for them to fulfill that potential, we need to be in the stands for the next couple of home games and all the way through the playoffs. ROLL TRIBE.