Sinking Cavs severely straining fan loyalty

The longer the season drags on for the Cavaliers, the emptier Quicken Loans Arena will become.

Never believe the announced attendance; the eye test tells the real story. So does the website Stubhub.com, where you can buy tickets for the game at The Q against the Kings for $6 on Dec. 7 or the Wizards for $7 a night later.

To be fair, tickets for the home game against the Warriors on Dec. 5 are going for $25 on Stubhub. com, but that’s because the opponent is the Warriors. The Cavaliers are not the attraction.

The saying goes a team can sell winning or it can sell hope. In this first year with LeBron James gone and playing for the Lakers the Cavaliers, 4-18 after a 106-95 loss to the Raptors, certainly can’t sell winning.

The only hope fans can have is the Cavaliers will be bad enough to find a franchise saver in the 2019 draft, and the Cavs cannot sell that because that’s called tanking.

Cleveland resident Eric Skeans and his girlfriend Darlene Krupp were at The Q on Dec. 1 because they couldn’t get fair return for the tickets they already paid for as season ticket holders. Skeans said the top offer he got for his seats on the upper level was $3 each. Skeans might have been speaking for many season-ticket holders when he talked about why he renewed after the 201718 season.

“I took a chance,” said Skeans, in his second year as a season-ticket holder after holding a partial season ticket for two years. “I don’t want to lose my seniority because tickets are less expensive the more seniority you have. If I (cancel and) want to get back in, I’m going to have to pay a lot more.”

Skeans is not happy with the product he is paying to watch.

“I’m pissed,” he said. “They’re tanking it. The front office says they aren’t tanking it. They didn’t do anything in free agency because they’re landlocked with their salaries. They did it to themselves by thinking LeBron was staying so they signed J.R. (Smith) and they signed Tristan Thompson (to big contracts).”

The hold the Cavs have on their approximately 12,500 season-ticket holders is a well-schemed marketing ploy that benefits fans in the good times and turns them into paying hostages in the bad.

Those who were season-ticket holders during James’ first seven years with the Cavaliers and continued to renew their tickets during the lean four years (201011 through 2013-14) LeBron was in Miami were rewarded with four NBA Finals appearances and a 2016 championship when James returned. Now the lean times are back.

Some season-ticket holders accept the situation. One of them is Stew Buchanan, an accountant from Akron who has been a season-ticket holder since 1971.

“I’m trying to get to 50 years,” he said before tipoff. “I’ve been a big fan since 1971. I keep coming whether it’s good or bad. I miss one or two games a year. I went through the good days and bad days of Richfield, too. I understand it’s part of the ballgame. There are always ups and downs.”

Another family, Pat Gaughan along with his son Pat and wife, Ellen, knew exactly what they were getting into. They bought tickets on Flashseats.com for $15 apiece despite the Cavs’ dismal record. They were content to sit high in The Q and hope for the best.

“We wanted to check out the Cavs on a Saturday night,” Pat Gaughan Sr. said. “The Toronto Raptors are in town and in first place.

“The Cavs have been playing really well, but they’ve been playing well for only three of four quarters. Let’s see if they can close out tonight.”

The Cavaliers failed to close it again, but maybe the Cavs can sell hope after all. RAPTORS >>

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