The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Bad sign: Indians’ home opener still not a sellout
Two days in the year are anticipated more than all others on the Cleveland professional sports scene: The Indians’ home opener and the first day of the three-day NFL draft.
It used to be like that, anyway.
The fire for the NFL draft still burns brightly and will gain in intensity as April 23 draws near. But as for the Indians’ opener …
Upper-deck tickets for opening day March 26 against the Tigers at Progressive Field are still available, and not just on secondary market sites. They can be purchased by going to Indians. com/tickets, calling the Indians’ ticket office or walking up to the ticket windows.
This is the first time in memory tickets for the Indians’ home opener are still available with the game barely two weeks away. It is certainly not what the Indians expected.
The Indians on Feb. 11 announced a plan whereby fans could register early for “the chance to be randomly selected for early access to 2020 opening day tickets.” The stampede for tickets never materialized.
Maybe fans just assumed the game sold out and didn’t bother trying to buy tickets. Maybe they’re worried about the potential for bad weather on such an early opening date, or maybe they’re conflicted with LeBron James and the Lakers playing the Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse for the only time this season on the same night.
Tickets to the cheap seats still available for the opener are $57. The same tickets for the next game — March 28 also against the Tigers — are $26.
It would be a stretch to connect the dots and conclude fear of the novel coronavirus is scaring would-be ticket buyers, but anything is possible.
Indians spokesman Bart Swain said there are no plans to restrict fans from the home opener.
March 10, Governor Mike DeWine tweeted, “For indoor events, we are asking for no events with spectators other than the athletes, parents, and others essential to the game.”
The other explanation is a poison word for the Indians — apathy, despite the Indians winning 93 games last year, finishing above .500 each of the last seven season and winning three straight American League Central Division titles until the Twins dethroned them in 2019.
The Indians cut payroll or the second straight winter. According to baseballprospectus.com, the Indians’ opening day payroll in 2017 — the season after the Tribe lost the World Series to the Cubs in seven games — jumped to $124.1 million, an increase of nearly $28 million from 2016. It increased to an alltime high of nearly $135 million in 2018. It was chopped to roughly $119.5 million in 2019 and sliced again to $90.6 million this season.
And that’s not all. Fans are frustrated because the Indians haven’t signed AllStar shortstop Francisco Lindor to a long-term contract.
Lindor has done an excellent job of getting the fans on his side by saying he loves Cleveland and he loves those fans. He loves his teammates, Manager Terry Francona and the Indians’ coaches.
“I’m not money driven,” Lindor said at Tribe Fest. “I’m championship driven.”
But March 9, Lindor reportedly ended talks about a contract extension so he could concentrate on the 2020 season.
Lindor doesn’t have a bad word to say about anybody, but he makes Indians owner Paul Dolan look like the bad guy while wearing a wide smile and never mentioning Dolan by name.
“There’s money out there,” Lindor said at Tribe Fest. “Our (Indians) payroll last year was $123 million (40-man roster payroll by the end of the season).”
Lindor’s math is simple to understand. He is making $17.5 million this year. The Indians’ payroll for the rest of the team is around $73 million. Dolan could pay Lindor $30-35 million a year for the next 10 years, spend a total of $90 million on everybody else and keep the payroll around $120 million.
Lindor’s perspective doesn’t take into account huge bumps starting pitchers Mike Clevinger
and Shane Bieber will be getting in the next couple years. It would also restrict the Indians from ever being big-game hunters in free agency as they were when they signed Edwin Encarnacion to $20 million a year in 2017.
Dolan did not endear himself to regular fans when he pandered to his rich associates while accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cleveland Sports Awards dinner in January.
“I want to thank our fans,” Dolan said. “They are the most passionate fans around. They’re loyal. They pass every affinity test. They’re at the top.
“I’m particularly appreciative of a particular type of fan, many of whom are in this room tonight, and that is the fan who buys the tickets in the suites and sponsorships. One, because they’re fans. Two, because it’s good for business. And three, because they understand it’s an investment in our community. That by supporting the teams, you’re supporting the community.”
Fans who sit in the bleachers or scrape together enough money to buy box seats for a couple games a year had a right to feel slighted by Dolan’s remarks, even if that wasn’t the intent.
Now fans are slighting the Indians by ending the tradition of being all-in on the home opener.