Solon's Bob DiBiasio, Cleveland Indians VP, Talks Tribe

Bob DiBiasio has seen it all in his 32 years with the Cleveland Indians. Good times, bad times and times that challenged the loyalty of Cleveland sports fans.

DiBiasio, the Tribe's longtime vice president of public relations, was there for the glory days of Jacobs Field when the Indians sold out entire seasons instead of select games. He was there at the old Municipal Stadium on nights when the vendors made more noise than the fans.

Today, with the team a half game out of first place in the American League Central Division, the Solon resident still has his work cut out for him as the Indians try to draw fans in an economic climate where every penny counts.

"People are now event seekers," said DiBiasio. "They're looking for added value with things like fireworks, bobble-heads and $1 hot dog nights and it is important for us to provide those things.

"Promotions have become vitally important for all teams," he added. "And that includes ticket discounts. We have more benefits for our season ticket holders than ever before."

DiBiasio knows that even a winning team is not always enough.

"Success is so very elusive in sports," he said. "A few years ago we lost to the Red Sox in the seventh game of the playoffs and people were calling the season a disappointment."

The Indians have also found ways to entertain people who may or may not be baseball fans. A recent Brad Paisley concert drew well and last winter's Snow Days were an instant hit.

"We originally wanted to join Fenway Park and Wrigley Field by having an NHL game here," he said. "The Snow Days was a fun thing for us to work on and it was very well received. It was an incredibly unique idea."

The Snow Days promotion will be back this winter and DiBiasio also has high hopes for an Ohio State-Michigan hockey game to be held at Progressive Field as well. "We're hoping to get it here, it would be incredibly exciting," he said.

Baseball continues to draw the same cross-section of fans each season – the young, the old and families. And, unlike the NBA and the NFL, baseball's affordability appeals to those of all economic groups.

"We're well aware of the importance of this franchise," said DiBiasio. "No one else in the community can bring anywhere from 1.8 million to 3 million people downtown. Only we can do that. And that creates an economic impact for the neighborhood."

The Indians have sold out Monday's Fourth of July game with the New York Yankees but have plenty of good seats for the remaining games of that series as well as next weekend's four-game series with Toronto. The Tribe's top-drawing home series this season have been with interleague and geographic rivals Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

The Indians' hot play early in the season resulted in three of the top five walk-up crowds in the history of the facility. Another hot streak would be more than welcome and DiBiasio feels the Tribe will be in the division race until the end of the season.

"Pitching is the name of the game and we have that," he said. "We have some solid starters and one of the strongest bullpens in the American League. We're hoping some of our younger kids can come through and I think this (race) will continue."

DiBiasio and wife Penny have lived in Solon nearly as long as he has been with the Indians. Daughter Julie works for Notre Dame College and son Patrick is in his junior year at Ohio University.

The biggest change for DiBiasio from the early days of public relations has been the advance of technology and social media. "Now we have players and managers tweeting," he said.

If the Indians are still in first place come September, there will be plenty to tweet about. And Bob DiBiasio will be enjoying it all.