Taking Guardians fans for granted is not the way to build on attendance success
Opinion: Bob Paulson
Bob Paulson, the former Republican mayor of Solon, writes an occasional column from the middle..
Published: Jan. 19, 2025, 5:26 a.m.
CLEVELAND -- In January 2023, I wrote a column stating that Cleveland will always be a football town, looking at how hard the Cavs work to keep their customer base engaged and some steps the Guardians should take to achieve the same. For weeks, I received reader feedback agreeing with me.
Two years later, it’s still a Browns Town, albeit wobbly. The Cavs look like an elite NBA team. The reigning American League Central Division Champion Guardians drew over two million fans for only the third time since 2008.
One reason they touted for breaking the two-million mark in attendance was their rollout of the $49 monthly standing-room-only Ballpark Pass. I often suggested a promotion like this was needed. The front office always pushed back, stating they don’t devalue their product with deep discounts.
What a great opportunity they had to carry over this excitement into the offseason. Then last month, they traded three-time Gold Glove winner Andrés Giménez, sidestepping paying him $96 million over next five years. Though surprising, this move gets a pass because the team’s baseball operations staff has been more right than wrong with personnel decisions.
Then, their business office followed it up with a press release stating the popular January Guards Fest would not be held. I am dating myself, but that screeching sound was like a phonograph needle being dragged across a vinyl record.
The club claimed the decision was made after “conducting fan outreach from the past several events” and it would return after the 2026 season as a “tri-annual event,” although they actually meant triennial, or every three years. The team is privately held and is not obligated to release the results of any customer surveys.
The outcry on social media was swift and angry. Disappointed fans claimed it was calculated move to further minimize player interaction with them. Season ticketholders said it was yet another perk that was being taken away.
My hunch is that the event was canceled for a combination of reasons. The second year of Progressive Field renovations are in progress and most of the staff has been working remotely. Fan interaction events are labor-intensive. Season ticketholder meet-and-greets with current players have also been scaled back in recent years.
Many players are already working out informally in Goodyear, Arizona ahead of the formal start of spring training next month. Flying a near-full squad across the country for that winter fan event can be disruptive. The Guardians front office was not going to admit that, so they used fan feedback as the excuse.
During the pandemic, the team closed their spring training practice fields to fans. Previously, fans could sit in bleachers near the main field to watch practice and interact with the players and coaches as they walked by.
Post-pandemic visitors to Goodyear can now only view workouts in remote locations in screened or fenced-off areas. They also may be lucky to obtain a couple autographs if players are willing to stop their cars as they exit the gated parking lot.
The excuse the club has used for limiting fan interaction is “for the safety and security of our staff and players.” Yet at the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers facility in nearby Glendale, Arizona, fans can watch batting practice and simulated games right behind all the backstops.
In 2008, the then-Indians opened Heritage Park behind the center field wall. The two-tiered monument park was billed to “honor the greatest names in club history and celebrate the team’s most memorable moments.”
To help underwrite the cost, fans were invited to purchase commemorative brick pavers “to pay tribute to that special person who passed on their love of the national pastime to you” or to “secure your place in Indians History.” The cost ranged from $150 to $375.
Just over 16 years later, many paver inscriptions are now illegible even though there has never been inordinately heavy foot traffic in the lower tier of Heritage Park, nor is the area exposed to road salt or severe conditions from Cleveland’s winters other than snow.
Before Jacobs Field opened in 1994. excited fans also purchased commemorative pavers around the original location of the Bob Feller statue. They were relocated once during the first ballpark upgrade in 2015 and then dug up in 2023 when that plaza was repaved with concrete.
The current multimillion-dollar Progressive Field renovation is again being paid for by a combination of county and city funding, special taxes and the team. In addition to the necessary infrastructure upgrades, even more revenue-producing venues throughout the park are being created. When Progressive Field reopens this spring, it will have perhaps the largest, most expensive beer garden in Greater Cleveland. The taxpayers are also kicking in $300,000 for a renovated team shop.
When asked a year ago about the Heritage Park pavers, Guardians Senior Vice President/Public Affairs Bob DiBiasio replied that they were “certainly part of the renovations punch list.” Earlier this month, he responded that replacing these pavers is different from the current ballpark makeover and stated that once Progressive Field is “reimagined,” other areas of the ballpark that need attention would be identified.
Even though Heritage Park is not a revenue generator, it still is important to generations of Cleveland baseball fans who paid to be part of this legacy project.
Cumulative decisions like these are the reason fans are “in-like” but not in-love with this team. This too often tone-deaf front office has a curious knack of burning through any goodwill it occasionally generates.
