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Yes, fans are starting to seriously buy into the Tribe. Consider the following:
1. If the Indians don't sell another ticket, they will already draw slightly more than 1 million fans this season.
2. They didn't have 1 million in ticket sales in 2016 until Memorial Day weekend.
3. They are close to 12,000 season tickets, up from about 8,000 a year ago.
4. Within four weeks of signing free agent Edwin Encarnacion, the Indians sold $3 million worth of tickets.
That's just some of the information I picked up recently after a conversation with Brian Barren, the new Indians president of business operations. Barren has been with the Indians since 2014, and was a vice president of sales & marketing before his recent promotion.
Tribe owner Paul Dolan had been serving as team president after Mark Shapiro left for the Toronto Blue Jays in September 2015. Dolan now has two team presidents with distinct responsibilities -- Chris Antonetti runs the baseball operation, Barren is in charge of business.
The key is for us to work together, and Chris has been great about that," said Barren.
The two men stay out of each other's territory. Antonetti and General Manager Mike Chernoff assemble the roster and handle the baseball matters. But when the Indians were looking at acquiring Andrew Miller in a trade last July, that meant adding $3 million in payroll. The business department was able to supply Dolan and Antonetti with data on how ticket sales were trending, projected income for the rest of the season. It helped ownership decide to bring on Miller and his contract.
That's how the two sides work together -- baseball is a business. It's a combination of dollars and common baseball sense.
Along with the Miller deal, ownership gave the green light to smaller in-season trades for Brandon Guyer and Coco Crisp. That added about another $1 million to the 2016 payroll.
Without the late-season acquisitions, it's doubtful the Tribe would have reached the World Series.
LEAP OF FAITH
That's how Barren characterizes the ownership decision to sign Edwin Encarnacion to a three-year, $60 million contract. Encarnacion averaged 39 HR and 110 RBI in the last five seasons for Toronto. It's the largest contract in franchise history.
The Indians also signed reliever Boone Logan to a contract worth $6.5 million. The payroll will rise from about $95 million to about $130 million this season -- the largest in team history.
"We have 21 of 25 players who were in the World Series expected to be back," said Barren. "We have the Manager of the Year (Terry Francona) and the Executive of the Year (Antonetti). We want to continue to grow the fan interest in the team."
1. The Indians drew 1.6 million fans last season. That ranked 28th out of 30 teams.
2. That was up from 1.4 million fans in 2015, when the Tribe was 81-80 and never in any race for the postseason.
3. While attendance is one number, even more important is revenue -- how much money is coming in? That was up quite a bit from 2015, although it's nearly impossible to come up with those stats. Teams zealously guard their revenue totals.
Here are some facts:
1. The Indians have sold out the lower bowl (about 18,500 seats) for most of the 2017 weekend games during the summer. The bleachers, family deck and club suites are considered part of the lower bowl.
2. Group sales are up 50 percent from a year ago. The Indians believe the group sales are beginning to grow as opening day approaches.
3. Even the total of 8,000 season tickets for 2016 is a bit deceiving. The Indians sold a lot of pro-rated season tickets during the season, especially as the playoffs became a real possibility. That did show fans were starting to embrace the team.
4. "Our partial season tickets (20-to-40 game plans) have tripled," said Barren. "That's a very good sign."
HOME FIELD MATTERS
1. The Indians were 23-11 when they had at least 20,000 fans in the stands in 2016.
2. Their home record of 53-28 was the second best since the team moved into what is now Progressive Field -- trailing the 54-18 mark in the strike-shortened 1995 season.
3. When the ballpark opened in 1994, there were 130 suites. That was when fans wanted suites. It's totally changed. The new ballparks for the Mets have 49 suites, the Yankees have 56. The Indians have cut their total to 72.
4. Many fans (mostly younger adults) love the Corner Bar area down the right and left field lines. The Indians can accommodate about 1,000 fans with a $13 District Ticket that includes a free beverage at the game.
5. As Barren said, "A lot of us grew up with a scorecard and a No. 2 lead pencil. That has changed as many fans now follow the game on their phones."
ABOUT THE MARKET
Cleveland is the smallest big-league market with teams in the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball. It is
ranked as the No. 18 media market.
The Indians are in the same type of market as the following: Tampa Bay (No. 14), Pittsburgh (No. 23), Baltimore (No.27), Kansas City (No. 31), Milwaukee (No. 34) and Cincinnati (No. 35).
Some fans compare Cleveland to Detroit, but the Detroit market (No. 11) is larger and has a wider reach. Tiger games are broadcast in Marquette, about eight hours from Detroit in the Upper Peninsula.
I don't have the numbers, but the Indians business side wants to outperform those other teams in their market size in terms of ticket sales, groups, etc.
THE ROYALS COMPARISON
In 2014, the Royals had about 9,000 season tickets. They surprised baseball by going from a wild-card team to the World Series. The next season, their season ticket total rose to about 13,000. It's possible the Indians could approach that level.
A season ticket number often is a combination of plans. For example, four 20-game plans will equal one season ticket. The team plays 81 home games.
That's why the math is tricky and why baseball doesn't make its season ticket totals public. Teams have different ways of counting them.
Some other things:
1. Monday is the last day to buy a season ticket that includes Opening Day.
2. The deadline for 6-packs on sale is Feb. 24.
3. March 6 is when single game tickets go on sale -- at 10 a.m., online only.
4. The real indication of what the Tribe could draw will come from single-game demand. Obviously, they will draw more than the 1.6 million of last season.
5. In 2014, the Royals drew 1.9 million fans as they reached the World Series. That rose to 2.7 million in 2015 -- and they went back to the World Series. Last season, the Royals had an 81-81 record, and they drew 2.5 million.
6. A good start in 2017 would also add more demand for single game tickets. That's what happened to the Royals in 2015. On May 15, they were 23-13 and on their way to a 95-67 season.
