Browns raising ticket prices despite disappointing season

As Jake Trotter wrote for ESPN, the 2020 Cleveland Browns clinched the franchise's first playoff berth since the 2002 campaign and later notched the club's first postseason victory since 1994. Those days probably seem like long ago for passionate Cleveland fans who watched the 2021 Browns become arguably the NFL's most disappointing team, one that missed out on the postseason tournament and finished with an overall record of 8-9.

Despite the Browns' inability to reach any of their preseason goals, they announced Wednesday they're raising ticket prices for 2022. 

Per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, Cleveland's lowest-priced season tickets will increase from $50 to $55. More than half of the non-club and non-premium seats at FirstEnergy Stadium will go up "by no more than $10 per game." 

"After every season, we review comprehensive data about our season ticket memberships and price points for each section in the stadium," Browns senior vice president of communications Peter John-Baptiste said in a statement shared by PFT. "Our first focus is making sure that we continue to enhance our season ticket members’ year-round experience while also appropriately pricing tickets based on variables in the local market, NFL and sports industry. 

"Our annual approach prioritizes making ticket options available to all fans at affordable price points and providing customizable payment plans to meet each individual’s needs. In addition, our recent introduction of an auto-renewal payment program and two-phase renewal process gives our season ticket members convenient payment options. We look forward to an exciting home slate of games in 2022 at FirstEnergy Stadium with the best fans in the NFL." 

The Browns say that, despite increases, their average season-ticket price will stay in the NFL's bottom third for another campaign. 

Roughly 12 months ago, Browns fans couldn't have been blamed for believing Baker Mayfield would evolve into the team's long-term franchise quarterback. Some of those same supporters booed Mayfield and his teammates this past fall as they failed to produce wins with any consistency, and the Browns are now routinely linked with veteran signal-callers in trade rumors during the final days of February.