$3 Beer at The Jake!

No, I will not call it Progressive Field.

On Thursday night, after Dwyane Wade’s Miami Heat visit the Cavaliers at the Q, the Indians are offering $10 unlimited ice skating and snow tubing at Snow Days. On top of that, there will also be $3 beer(!), $2 soda and $1 hot dogs available. That’s a pretty sweet deal for all involved, but I can’t help but feel a little hosed as a Tribe fan.

Where’s my $3 beer on a hot summer day?

Ticket prices in Cleveland are some of the lowest in baseball, and that’s a good start. However, do you, the reader, think it’s a coincidence that after Arte Moreno bought the Angels in 2003 and dropped their ticket AND beer prices to among the lowest in the league they broke several of their own attendance records? On top of that, they have been near the top of the league in attendance, many years beating the Yankees and Red Sox.

I know, I know. In 2003 the Angels were coming off of a World Series championship. That 2002 team was a low-salary, small market modeled team, though. Since then, revenues have sky rocketed and the Angels have been perennial contenders. What did the Indians do in 2008 when the team was one win away from the World Series the previous season? Well, nothing really.

The Dolans could learn something from the Arte Moreno business model. Moreno knew that, while winning a title was the best possible thing that could happen to the team, the best way to continue greatness was to pack the stadium each and every night. Those fans will, naturally, buy concessions, and concessions are the cash cow for stadiums and theaters and the like. Personally, I am more likely to buy two beers at $5.50 than one for $7.25 (and yes, that is the current price here in Cleveland). Once I get two or three down, $4.25 for a hot dog just doesn’t seem that unreasonable. I think you can see where I’m going with this.

Now, I am not asking them to drop the price of beer to $3 (but, if they want to, I guess i would be ok with that), I am simply saying that if they brought it back down to a more reasonable price, it may deter less people from coming out. Even if they don’t want to do that, maybe have some $3 beer nights or something similar to dollar dog night. I know the history of 10 cent beer night, but this is hardly comparable. At this point, its time for the front office to pull out all the stops to draw people to the stadium. Maybe that way, the players will be more motivated to perform.

Just an idea…