Cleveland Indians: 455 straight sellouts turned to nothing...

As a lifelong yankee fan who grew up in manhattan, i always thought that the chief wahoo logo was one of the coolest logos in not just the MLB but in pro sports as a whole.

Using the scary music with this is hilarious

The reason for the huge difference is the fact that in the mid 90s we got a really good young baseball team assembled just as Art Modell stole our football team. All the attention of the Browns was directed at the Indians, and with a brand new stadium. Those numbers were seriously elevated and likely will never be matched.

A Midwest sports franchise changes their near 100 year old branding to appease coastal leftists. Brilliant strategy.

'Go woke, get broke'... Indian fans left after the name change. 😂

Two reasons: 1. Heart broken almost winning it all jaded the fans 2. The dumb name change caving to the far left minority when the fans did not want it.

I remember growing up during the sellout streak. My dad had season tickets at Jacobs Field throughout the 90s. That was the most fun I ever had watching baseball. The ballpark has regressed significantly since the streak ended.

Changing the team's name didn't help. A lot of people quit.

I think the new name change will do a lot of damage in the future regardless if you agree with it or not

Until the team is called the “Indians” again, nobody should give this absolute garbage ownership a penny.

Two problems caused this: - Changing the stadium name from Jacobs Field to Progressive Corporation (headquartered in the Cleveland suburb of Mayfield Village, Ohio) Field - Changing the team name from the Indians to the Guardians 🤦‍♂️

Changing the name and signing a contract with Bally Sports were two of the dumbest decisions ever. I grew up watching the Indians on our local channels pretending to be the players I could name in their batting order.

Other than Jose Ramirez, what other players on the Indians or Guardians has the team actually invested in? It became a bargain team and people stopped coming to see games.

Makes me wanna watch "Major League"

Maybe the DEI name changed hurt the attendance?

I grew up a Jim Thome fan in the mid-late 90s from New York. I so fondly recall these days. The stadium was wild every night. Loved the dark infield dirt seasons at the Jake.

The Guardians that name say no more. Cleveland you really dropped the ball.

Absolutely perfect timing. That is what resulted in the Indians' 455 game sellout streak. 1.) Browns left town. The Indians filled some of the attendance void they left behind. 2.) Brand new (at the time) state of the art stadium. 3.) A team with historically significant offense just reaching its potential. It was quite literally a perfect storm, in a good way, for the Indians. It's not a bad baseball town, but it's not on par with a similar sized market like St. Louis.

Thank the woke mob

Havent been since they changed the name.

Sellouts are no more with the Cleveland Guardians.

Couple of thoughts from a season ticket holder... - You have to remember the sell out streak was for a superior on field product, yes, but also coincided with the years the Browns were gone and some of the worst Cavs teams to date. What else was there to do? - Yes the shipping containers were ugly - The downtown and the surrounding areas (Ohio City, Tremont, Gordon Square, etc.) are experiencing a revival of population that hasn't been seen in Cleveland since the mid 20th century. No one (figure of speech) actually lived downtown in the 90's, so I wouldn't really go as far as saying that the overall city population declining had much to do with the attendance problem. - A lot of these people moving (back) downtown are younger people who grew up in the suburbs as Cleveland sports fans. This younger population may lack the interest in baseball that the fans of the 90's had, but enjoys a cheap dog and a beer as much as the next guy. The new renovations are aimed at getting this casual fan into the ball park as much as possible with food/drink deals and monthly standing room only passes (hence expanded standing room only areas). - Getting as close as you can to the bullpens as the stadium allows is actually pretty cool and creates an intimacy and ability to interact with the players you don't get many other places. Watching Clase warm up for a save at eye level, only 10 feet away, is something any baseball fan could appreciate. - People are just generally upset with what the Dolans have done with the team and have lost interest. Whether it's right or wrong, we Clevelanders are a stubborn species.

Here's what these teams can do to bring fans in. A. Make is affordable for a family of 4 to go to the ballpark. 1. Tickets $80 a piece minimum for bad seats. 2. Parking $50 3. Food $100 At the end of the day your dropping at least $500 for 1 game.

Boy do i really miss that 90's era. I was in my early 20's and would hang out downtown in the flats. ( A group of bars). A lot of the Indians players would go down there and hang out with everyone. And going to the games was just so insane. Never experienced anything like it before or ever since. Was truly an amazing time in my life. So sad to see the stadium vacant, especially since the Indians/Guardians are doing well. I feel bad for the players, they deserve better.

The worst stadium tho? Cmon man. Obviously it isn’t the sell out Jacobs field. But to call it the worst is pretty wild. Still a beautiful ballpark with a great team. The owners just don’t spend money. Still gorgeous tho in person when you’re there

You need to look at how tickets were sold during the 455 game run. I remember being out in the street looking for a ticket and dealt with scalpers holding stacks of brand new 7:08 tickets for the upper decks that were 3 inches thick. Somehow large amounts of tickets were distributed to ticket brokers at a deep discount and then accounted for as sold in order to chase that record. Once the team went down then that practice wasn’t worth the effort nor were the fans interested in sitting in the nose bleeds to watch a poo team.

Same thing happened to the Blue Jays. Crazy attendance for the first few years after the Dome opened... you couldn't get a ticket. The dome was brand new... a technological marvel... we were "world class" after years of suffering in Exhibition Stadium. Then after 1994 attendance fell off a cliff... poorer record after the World Series wins... the 1994 strike... and the opening of Camden Yards that made the dome suddenly feel outdated.

Baseball was at its peak in the 90s

Yeah what happens when you go from an ICONIC NAME TO A GENERIC AHHH NAME

As a White Sox fan it still bothers me that the Indians didn't win in 2016. Not because I dislike the Cubs but because Cleveland had the better team. Injuries really hampered them in the WS. Not having their best hitter and 2 starting pitchers. And I have no idea how the legendary 90s team never won 🤷🏻

You might not like how the renovations in the upper deck look but to say it isn’t an improvement is silly. It gives fans that buy tickets in those sections food beverage and dans shop options which make upper deck tickets, which are more affordable, more enticing. It makes the experience better for fans and the hope is they sell more tickets bc of that

Music makes it seem like you’re a horror channel

Taking out the seats and renovating it cost money. Empty seats waiting for an exciting on field product doesn’t cost anything. Should have left a good design alone. Baseball shouldn’t be about a “circus environment”. It should be about a great team and good marketing. Jacob’s Field was great the way it was.

New name, cheap ownership, cheap team payroll, and subpar season after season.... Pretty sure those are reasons for attendance shitting the bed before the stadium issues come to mind. People are moving back into downtown with all of the construction of high rise residential buildings. Take a look at the Pirates. Top rated stadium... Shit owner, shit team, both equal horrid attendance.

Thank you for your work.

Man being an Indians fan my whole life it’s been hard to watch the decline with poor ownership a horrible name change and an unwillingness to spend money not just on free agents but to keep talent has been a 20yr kick in the dick. Hopefully when the Dolans sell to the minority owner in a few years that changes things. I still get pissed when I think about Paul Dolan telling reporters they would spend money when people come and support the team. That was such an opposite backwards way of running a baseball team. They are douches.

A ticket and concession price comparison may show us. When winning raise prices but when they lose.....not worth the price.

They have like a monument park in centerfield that I think they did a great job on. This stadium very much still holds up in todays mlb. It’s one of my favorites honestly

Weren’t the Browns gone during this time and the Cavs were awful

Because the tickets are too expensive, back in the day they weren’t anymore than five dollars if they make the tickets cheap people may sellout the ball park again 😮

Jacobs field was the envy of the league when it first opened. I believe players ranked it as the best stadum in baseball as late as 2008. You couldnt buy a ticket in cleveland for years. Had to be on a waiting list. Still looks good to me after 30 years.

Indians are gone, the reds are Ohio’s baseball team.

“They’re throwing warmup pitches. Is it really that interesting?” 😂😂😂😂

There WAS nothing wrong with the park. It was one of the best parks in baseball before they started hacking it up

I went to many Indians games in the mid to late 90’s. After the 2001 season, it was like the magic left and never really returned. There were some good years along the way to be sure, but that fevered feeling we had for our Indians from 1994-2001 never returned.

What's the scary music called ? Dome Doom?

Just like the movie major league ,stick up advertising bill boards to cover empty seats who was the Einstein idiot that decided this 🤯 The organization took a beautiful stadium and turned it into a dumpster fire 😮😢

New to the channel, do all your baseball park videos have horror movie music lol?

The Shipping Containers are absolutely disgusting. When I first saw them, I was like, What the Hell...?

Perfect example of how to turn off a fan base. Issue continues to be competitive balance. When you have teams like the Yankees and Dodgers spending three times as much and landing all the players people want to see, people lose interest. In the 80s and 90s even early 2020s it was still somewhat plausible for teams like Indians to compete, now it just is not unless they get a really fluke year. They have also had bad management which does not help.

The biggest issue is the ownership, they wanted to make money and were unwilling to pay to put a consistent winner on the field, then the name change did not help matters either

Just imagine the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium that had like 80k seats and you had like a couple thousand people in the stadium. 😂

The team died when they changed the name. Anyone who still is a fan is a total and complete jackahhhhs

Crazy what happens when you insult your fans calling them racists for liking a teams name, and then putting a bad product on the field because ownership is cheap. Poor botched stadium renovations, and an overall disappointing team since they lost the WS in 2016 has led to this. Their success so far this year is pretty much blind luck.

They traded Rick Vaughn is what happened... Wild Thang! BoomBoomBoom You make my heart sang!

Tribe still has the legitimate sellout streak.

I use to love to show up early and heckle the opponents starting pitcher while he warmed up.

Must not be watching the team this year.. Last Saturday was sold out for the first May sell out since 2011.. Seems to me they are doing a lot better on attendance than most think.. Can't blame pricing either with 49$ monthly pass to all home games.

Can you do a video of a possible relocation of the tribe?

Why do I hate those toothbrush lights?

Changing the name was a disasterous move.. Gooo YANKEES!

we used to drive down from Toronto when the Blue Jays were in town - I remember enthusiastic fans and lots of full seats. Shame it has apparently changed.

Music gives me creepy pasta vibes 😆

I'm gonna add to what I'm pretty sure are many comments pointing out the obvious.. Things are not gonna get any better after they took down chief wahoo and then eventually the name IT DOES MATTER. It is a big deal and there's no conversation to be had about it. The Cleveland Indians were a storied franchise and made up the face of mlb having an entire movie series showcase their Franchise brand. This team should relocate somewhere else If the current fans of Cleveland did not do enough to step up and protest the BS.

WOW! What a contrast!

Wish they were still the Indians. I loved that Chief Wahoo logo

It seems like the upper decks in most ball parks are obsolete now. Stadiums should only seat about 25,000 - 35,000 max now.

The focus is all on drinking and standing around talking or phones instead of watching a game as the main event. Oh and the Cleveland restaurants inside the stadium that cost more than the same business would in its original location.

People talk about baseball’s financial system being the cause when that is not really true. If we look back Cleveland’s attendance began to crater shortly after the highs of 1954, the Indians were a terrible draw after Trader Lane gave up their star attraction. Than you had the Browns take over as Cleveland’s main sports attraction while the Indians went into the cellar, combine that with Cleveland’s population decline after that you have the ingredients for Cleveland’s initial attendance woes. Now when did the Indians see an attendance rebound? When the Browns left, the sellout streak began the year the Browns left and ended in 2001 when people thought the Browns were in the rebound. Cleveland is a market which will favor a good Browns team over middling Indians teams and that was shown, combine that with population decline etc, that’s what caused it. I’ll argue that the lack of inclusion in MLB’s postseason system between 1969 and really 2021 is one of the main reasons small markets failed and loss ground to other sports, every other league had postseasons in which more than only 4 teams had the opportunity to make the postseason, you’re going to take losses in the markets you share with the NBA, NFL and NHL, but MLB maintained that rigid structure for decades and took the losses, after 1981 a Wild Cars should’ve been instituted, that would have saved interest in cities, by at least adding more postseason teams. Fans are quick to blame high spending owners who are doing what they should to maintain a team when that’s not the cause of disinterested fans, it’s decades of frankly meaningless seasons caused by a rigid postseason system, terrible owners, over-embracing the RSN model etc.

6:24 That game is from July 12, 1998.

5:21 Remember, the final product *never* looks as good as the rendering.

Those 90’s Indians were a spectacle to behold. Home Run Derby. I don’t think that this name-change was a good-thing for them.

There was an ownership change. There was a massive shift in the economy of NE Ohio, and the Browns came back. Couple that with the Indians being a bad team for several years and that explains the attendance drop.

Hmmmm, how about not caving in to PC??? The Cleveland Indians were a lasting baseball ⚾️ team for decades... call it Karma??

I think part of this is them changing to the name. A lot of Clevelanders are upset with the change.

They are actually seeing an increase in downtown population that will continue over the next decade with all the buildings being converted to apartmens....a major issue is the consistent downtown workforce is dropping with more people able to work from home.

The sellout streak was a confluence of a perfect storm of events. The Browns moved away, the team got good for the first time in 40 years, a brand new stadium that was arguably the best in baseball when it opened, Cavs weren’t good, etc. Outside of the 40-50s and mid 90s-early 00’s, Cleveland has never had good attendance. It’s not a baseball town. I think the latest round of renovations will be a good upgrade.

I feel like we gotta out into consideration at least for this year that the nba team right across the street that is literally in the playoffs takes most of the fans and also this isn’t the prime weather for Cleveland

problem is you dont' need many seats anymore. 10K-20K seems good.. nothing more. plus with how cost has gone up not everyone can afford to even go to games anymore. i rather go to a minor league AAA to partner leagues. its cheeper and get some nice games.

What many people forget is the majority of those 455 sellouts came when there was no football team in town. Then by 2004 LeBron was in town. Cleveland is the poorest city in the US, there just isn’t enough money to consistently go to everything.

The Dolans suck. If they just spent mid level MLB money on the club who knows how good they could have been since 2010.

Way too many drinking rails. No one uses the drinking rails. I have no idea why the Indians/Guardians think people want this. The new renovation is hideous and the blue seats are awful.

Baseball is just not what it used to be. Some cities built very expensive stadiums and they can't sell tickets.

Everything woke turns to dollar hotdog night buns...

Ruined one of the better stadiums. It is now rock bottom in thesame tier as the Trop. It looks like a junker now. So sad.

I suppose they're in danger of reloKAYtion now huh ?

to sum it all up for everyone: Dolans...

the current team looks pretty good

Whats with the Halloween music?

Clevelanders claim the (temporary) loss of the Browns was what drove the sellout streak........

It is a little coincidental that the Browns - who were and now again the city's biggest sports passion, were in abstentia during that sellout. Plus, the national economy was great. The Browns returned, the economy keeps tailing off for the past quarter century, fans became cynical about the salary disparities we now see, and the Browns returned to steal back its fan affection.

The Indians could have recovered the attendance numbers I feel. But the woke caving Guardians will not.

You must be from Reminderville

They had a super team. Then stopped signing or resigning top players. They (pretty successfully) replicated the Rays model, and just like the Rays, the fans aren't invested in players they know are just gonna get traded

To me, the biggest factor in the sellout streak was the absence of the Browns. Cleveland has always been a football-first city regardless of how the team was performing which is disappointing. The Indians/Guardians have put far more competitive teams on the field than the Browns during the last 25 years and yet, the Browns always get the support no matter what.

Shocking how high prices have risen. Also shocking Cleveland had 1 million people in 1970, now 360,000. Sure, burbs have grown, but jobs haven't. Stats list 1980's Northern Ohio as having a depression worse than the 1930's. 1990's Cleveland govt stopped some of the bleeding of jobs, and I think some felt CLE was on a comeback (never happened) so they wanted to have fun again. Future - looks like Browns will change their name to Brookpark Browns. Guardians and Cavs might move to a larger city...like Aurora, Wichita or Tulsa. (ha, ha)

But if you removed the ENTIRE upper deck - then the stadium won't look so empty. EASY PEASY.

Two words went wrong with the Indians……The Dolans

It this another case of....'Go Woke, Go Broke'?

Baseball is a dying sport. Add to that the lack of identity the Guardians have with the community because of the name change. Finally years or this ownership lack of commitment to winning. It all adds up to fans not caring about this team.