Indians

Indians' Mark Shapiro Talks Business, Fan Support And Cleveland's "Anti-Dolan" Sentiment

Published June 12, 2012

Indians President Mark Shapiro recently said barring a surge in attendance at Progressive Field, the club "will clearly lose a lot of money and we're budgeted to lose money," according to Bill Lubinger of the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. Shapiro said while the team is "marginally profitable" from year to year, "this year we will clearly not be profitable." Shapiro: "We're budgeted to say we're at a point in the wind curve where our owner was accepting outspending revenues in order to best ensure the chance to win. There have been other times in the front office where we haven't recommended that." Shapiro added, "The entire time that I've been here with [Indians Owners] the Dolans, every single profit that we have taken have been put right back into the team the following year." He also said, "I do feel the criticism of ownership is unfair. I feel that our ownership is also penalized for the timing of when they bought the team, not for how they've run the team. I wish the fans could know the Dolans like I know the Dolans. I wish they could know how much they care about the city, how much they care about the Indians and how badly they want to win." Shapiro: "Our attendance is very similar to last year. It's marginally off, small percentage points off from last year. We've had a challenge weather-wise. I think our best days are ahead of us" (CLEVELAND.com, 6/9).