Attendance and interest up for the Cleveland Guardians from 2021

Despite some bad faith arguments, the Cleveland Guardians’ attendance is actually up from 2021.

You’d think with inflation, high gas prices, unpredictable weather, and a whole host of day games, you’d be able to see why attendance has been slow to rebound for the Cleveland Guardians. People are still feeling the effects of the pandemic financially, coupled with the war in Ukraine and the decline of interest in baseball as a whole, and yeah, attendance is down from 2019.

Lots of things happened in the three years since then, and they all factor into the lack of interest in the game. Do you know what hasn’t? The name. The Guardians’ first season is actually out-pacing the Indians last season. Now, this isn’t meant to say the Guardian’s name is more popular. No, it’s more to say that the name change hasn’t affected things nearly as much as some bad faith commentators will have you believe.

The Guardians are averaging 2,000 more fans per game this year than last year, and this year has been the season of day games. The team has been flooded, sometimes literally, with double headers due to bad weather. You’re talking of 100,000+ missing fans, which would put this year at a much higher clip than last.

It turns out that playing day games isn’t that conducive to making money. Who knew?

Also, factor in who the team plays. The team averaged nearly twice as many fans against the Red Sox in June than they did just days later against the Twins. Why, because the AL Central doesn’t have the same name value as other teams in the league. So of course a team like the Guardians, who were in the bottom 10 in attendance too many times to count before 2022, is having issues garnering fans.

This isn’t new.

Yes, the Guardians ranked 26th in baseball with 464,848 total fans as of the end of June. Yet, what should be noted is the nine home games that were postponed. You factor in all of the upheavals that the war in Ukraine has caused, and yeah, this wasn’t unexpected.

Plus the MLB is poorly run, and attendance is dropping across the board. For context, the Guardians lost about 600,000 yearly fans from 2019 to 2022. The Red Sox have lost 1.3 million.

This isn’t the name change, this is the real world with real issues.

Why are television ratings down slightly for the Cleveland Guardians?

If you’re reading a politically motivated sports rag, you’re going to get a politically motivated explanation for why the television ratings are down for the Guardians. The problem with following that kind of rag is that they often leave out facts that actually explain the reality.

The Guardians are down an alleged 30% from 2021. Why? Is it because of the name change? No, as we mentioned before, attendance is up. So why are ratings down? Well, considering just about every home game is at 7:00 PM ET locally, it’s easy to prepare your day to watch the game.

Yet, the Guardians have had a shockingly high number of rain delays and doubleheaders. They currently have 11 games that were postponed, nine of which were home games, and eight of them were made up in double-headers. Five of which happened on weekdays. You don’t think all of those game-shuffling, postponements, and weekday games don’t hurt ratings?

Of course, they do, that’s why the league hates postponing games.

For proof of this, from April to June, the ratings increased 17.5% overall, and still carry a 3.66 local rating. That factors in Bally Sports viewers but not internet viewers, which more and more fans are turning to. Another point that others outside of baseball don’t seem to grasp.

Not only that, but according to CrainsCleveland, jersey sales have jumped 20% from 2019. That was the year that fans could start buying All-Star game jerseys and was one of the most profitable for merch in some time. This year’s team is outpacing that year’s team considerably.

Yet, there’s even more proof that the Guardians are not suffering due to the name change; the official release of the merchandise was greeted pretty strongly and exceeded the team’s expectations.

So all in all, anyone who thinks the Guardians are losing fans due to the name change is going to be sorely mistaken.