Corporate sponsors of the Indians, who currently sport the
best record in MLB and are playing to mostly sold-out crowds at
Jacobs Field, are happy they stuck with the team through
baseball's labor problems, according to the current issue of
CRAIN'S CLEVELAND BUSINESS. Barbara Mooney writes that for
companies such as Office Max and Shop-N-Save, which committed to
three-year deals before the opening of Jacobs Field last year,
"the wisdom of those deals was in question." Michael Feuer, CEO
of Office Max, which is based in the Cleveland area, said his
company's sponsorship "has netted a lot of attention." Feuer:
"We've had customers write to ask if our sign (on the Jacobs
Field right field wall) has anything to do with the Indians'
biggest hitting season" (CRAIN'S CLEVELAND BUSINESS, 6/26-7/2
issue).
TRIBE ON TUBE: TV ratings for the Indians have are also up
from previous years. SportsChannel Ohio, which carries the
team's games on cable, "took a risk by not selling all the
commercial time for its 60 games before the season began," but
the channel has reaped higher profits because of the team's
success. The team's over-the-air broadcaster, WUAB-TV, says most
of their advertising was sold before the season, "at less than a
premium price" (Barbara Mooney, CRAIN'S CLEVELAND BUSINESS, 6/26-
7/2).
