Indians president Mark Shapiro: If you only care about winning, don’t renew your season tickets

Cleveland Indians president Mark Shapiro has been facing some criticism over comments he made on a local TV station recently in response to an angry season ticket holder’s email. The fan asked Shapiro to give him a reason to renew his tickets for 2013, and Shapiro told the fan “don’t come” if his only reason for going to games is to see the team win.

Not exactly the brightest thing a team president can say to a frustrated customer, so Shapiro attempted to clarify his response on Tuesday. He did not do a very good job.

“I told him if the sole reason, the only reason, for renewing is predicated on us winning, then they shouldn’t come,” Shapiro said according to Bruce Hooley of ESPN Cleveland. “I stand by that. Baseball has to mean more than just being a fan when you win.

“No where are we spending more of our time, more of our energy or more money in trying to win. We all understand that the single-most important thing in baseball is winning and losing. But we are always going to have cycles to when we can win.”

Once again, not the brightest thing for a team’s president to say. Some personal seat licenses belong to people with businesses who don’t care about the team or rich people with so much money they need to find ways to spend it. But many season tickets are sold to people whose sole reason for opening up their wallets each season is that “this could be our year.”

Is there more to going to a ballgame than seeing your team win? Of course, and season ticket holders know they are going to see plenty of losses each season no matter how good there team is. That being said, the idea is to win. If you don’t think your team has a shot at the postseason and you aren’t made of money, why not save a few grand?

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