Browns President Alec Scheiner said that his team has "sold about 60,000 season tickets, up from about 50,000" in '11. In Cleveland, Terry Pluto noted the Browns "did raise ticket prices for this season," and for some fans, it "was a significant boost." The fact that fans "have purchased 60,000 season tickets in some form screams that this area remains excited about the team, despite the miserable history on the field." Pluto wrote several fans e-mailed him to "complain about the rise in prices and said they were 'quitting' the Browns." But apparently, "enough still signed up to watch the team again" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 7/12).
KEEPING IT CLASSY? ESPN.com's Buster Olney wrote the Padres’ situation "closely mirrors where the Marlins were" in the fall of '12, "after their franchise spending spree of the previous winter went badly." The Padres acquired several new players this offseason, but enter the All-Star break with a 41-49 record. The Marlins in '12 "decided to blow up the roster" after they "recognized their previous plan wasn’t working." But Padres execs are "concerned about what the perception of a midseason roster dump would be" (ESPN.com, 7/11).
UP THE TOTEM POLE: Indians President Mark Shapiro said of whether better attendance would lead him to take more risks in personnel moves, "That’s a hard hypothetical. If we have more revenue, a larger payroll, we would be able to afford a greater amount of risk. How we would allocate that risk I’m not certain because we’re not spending a lot of time on that. It’s safe to say we would be less risk-averse if we had more revenue" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 7/13).
IN A REAL PINCH: In Boston, Chris Villani writes as the Boston Lobsters prepared to open the World TeamTennis season last night, league co-Founder Billie Jean King had "one thing atop her wish list for the team." She said, "What I would like is local ownership. We don’t have local ownership right now. It’s very important for the future of the team." The Lobsters previously were "owned by Boston-area businessman Bahar Uttam," but the league "took over the team" after he stepped away last season. WTT Commissioner & CEO Ilana Kloss said that the league "has had talks with 'about six or seven' interested individuals" from the Boston area (BOSTON HERALD, 7/13).
