I put the warning of editorial on this piece as it is a rare one that isn’t about statistical analysis, history, potential trades, extensions or free agent signings. It’s purely my opinion and memories of an age very recently gone by.
With all the consternation at the recent sale of tickets for Tribe Fest (particularly the VIP season ticket holders portion), it had me thinking of the old days (mid-2000’s) when the Indians would do a Winter Caravan all around North East Ohio, rather than one big event in Cleveland. Honestly, when the team is good, as it is now and has been since 2013, it makes sense to hold the event in one place. The team doesn’t have to build a fan base, they are already excited for the season and this event is just one more bonus to convince people to become season ticket holders. If anything, limiting the access to the VIP event (which sold out before most season ticket holders had access) may make some who have had season tickets for years try to increase the value of their plan so they have access to this top tier of benefits.
All the same, it makes me miss the days of that Tribe tour, that would feature the manager, a coach or two, members of the front office and a few players going town to town to drum up interest in the upcoming season. I remember going to all three that happened while I was living in Ashtabula and it was a gigantic event for the big city players to come to our small town.
Each year, my dad would take me out of school early for the lunch time gathering and we would eat, listen to the Q&A portion of the show and get autographs from everyone at the event. Rather than a ticket to get in and a separate payment to guarantee autographs, as far as I remember the whole event cost about $15 per person and everyone attending got signatures from whoever they wanted. One particular year I remember CC Sabathia and Brian Anderson being the big names (Anderson because he was from Geneva), but I still have a hat completely full of autographs that I got during the Eric Wedge years.
Yes, these teams were often terrible (this was, more precisely, from about 2002 through 2004), but for me it was the period of the greatest increase in my baseball IQ as I was introduced to Baseball Perspectus and through them, a whole new world of Sabermetrics. In addition to that, the fact that you could actually get tickets at Jacobs Field for the first time allowed me to watch games in person and the Winter Caravan allowed me to interact with the athletes as people for the first time.
It was this trifecta, the change of how I watched the game, the ability to see games in person regularly and the access to players that had a lot to do with me changing from a die hard fan, to someone who has essentially devoted their life to the team. Most importantly, it had absolutely nothing to do with winning. It had to do with how the team related to their fans.
I use Ashtabula as the example, because that was the stop I lived at, but I’m sure it was the same all around the state. Nothing ever happens in Ashtabula. It’s a dreadful place and if you disagree, I have to wonder if you’ve ever been anywhere else. Yet, for a few hours, one day a year, it was important enough to bring the most important people in Indians baseball to town. Mark Shapiro, then one of my greatest heroes, came to my home town and cared enough about the people there to discuss the upcoming season with them. He didn’t have to do that and Sabathia and the rest who showed didn’t have to either. I can’t imagine it sold very many more tickets than they would have without it, but it certainly meant a lot emotionally.
I don’t know the cost of this tour, although they were almost certainly losing money, even if the players were doing it pro bono (which they shouldn’t have been) and I can’t remember the exact reason it was ended, but what it has turned into makes much more sense for the team and is nearly meaningless for the fans. Yes, the select few get the access that nearly anyone could have had for a few dollars a decade ago, but for the vast majority, it might as well not even be happening.
There should be benefits for being a season ticket holder, but the vast majority of fans can’t afford to be even partial season ticket holders and if things continue the way they are now, it could be very hard to find a (decent) seat in Progressive Field in the near future. This is the kind of thing that will build the fan base, but fill it with the fair weather type as the real die hard fans the 10,000 who were going to games even when they lost to the Twins, the White Sox, then the Tigers for years. and those who watched every game at home because they couldn’t afford to be there. The way to build up that fan base, the one that will stick with the team in the future even if things go sour, is to acknowledge them.
Don’t push out the fans that have stuck with you for years just because some corporation bought more expensive seats and moved to a higher tier than those who have been buying cheap seats for decades just to get in the building. Don’t make them come to you just because you can. Go to Ashtabula. Go to Youngstown and Sandusky. Heck, even go back to Erie and see if you can steal some young, impressionable Pirates fans while they’re selling and you’re winning. Just don’t forget about the larger market, those areas outside of downtown Cleveland, where the majority of your fan base lies. Do you think that giant crowd of people that filled nearly all of Cleveland when the Cavaliers won the NBA Finals all lived in downtown? They came from all over North East Ohio and even further to celebrate the championship that they had been waiting for for most or all of their lives.
It’s been awhile since I lived in Ashtabula myself (I moved out in 2004) and as far as I can tell, the last Winter Caravan was in 2007 and went to Youngstown, Sandusky, Canton, Akron, Elyria, Mansfield, Columbus, Dover, Fostoria, Toledo, Ashtabula and Erie. It makes sense they stopped after this. Why would the reigning AL Central champions have to go on a good will tour? Despite all the reasons it made sense to stop, I think it makes more sense to start it up again. Build that good will. Don’t shut out the fans, bring them in. Go to them where they live and make them feel important, like their fandom is integral to the franchise’s existence, even if it isn’t. That is how you create die hard fans, not by winning or signing expensive free agents. You get the real fans that you want, the ones that will stick around forever, by treating them like human beings.
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