Guardians looking for balance in younger, older fans with additions to Progressive Field

While the Guardians have made a "concerted effort to draw younger folks" to Progressive Field, the team is not "giving up on its older fanbase,” according to Marc Bona of the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. The Guardians this season introduced the Terrace Garden and the Paul Davis Pennant District at Progressive Field, and "young people" are a “common denominator" of those spaces. Guardians Assistant Dir of Communications Austin Controulis said, “All of our social gathering spaces, for the most part, are outside the foul lines. So what we got back from our fan-demographic work was that folks who we call our ‘longtime loyals’, who are traditionalist baseball (fans), all they want is a seat between the foul lines usually between first and third and behind home plate.” He added, “The idea was always to preserve those areas -- upper deck and lower -- for those folks who still want that traditional baseball experience. We put the social gathering spaces away from those areas for the most part.” Bona noted another balance the team has to keep involves “what music is played and when.” It changes “based on time and day, and that is all about who is at the game.” Controulis: “Your Friday- and Saturday-night music is going to be different from your Sunday kids family music. That’s different from your weekday day game.” The ballpark also went cashless this season, and Controulis said that the transition has been “seamless, which is amazing" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 6/21).