How Can The White Sox Get More People In The Park?

Similar to the movie theater thought process, people who can afford the better experience (i.e the popcorn and pop that is unbelievable expensive) pay more, but those who can’t, can still get in the building.

On the other hand, what type of people are you bringing into the cell when it’s half price? I think any Sox Fan who regularly attends games can tell stories about fights breaking out in the bleachers on Half-Day Monday’s.

I just assumed they have all the S. Carolina teams because it’s easier for scouts, those working in the minor leagues to go between the teams.

And Aldermanic races around the basepaths.

The product. Show that they are the better team in town. This wouldn’t be the park so much as what happens there, run a commercial featuring game 162 vs the Twins in 2008, or feature highlights from this month long run, run one where its all highlights against the Cubs.

Uhhh shouldn’t that be 163? :P

I tell people who brag about attendance that “i don’t care how many people like your team”, and that usually shuts them up.

You want to know who fills Wrigley? Tourists. September attendance always falls way off for the cubbies when the rubes take their kiddies back to school. You can thank Harry Caray and WGN for turning Wrigley into a major attraction on the tourist to-do list.

And what do tourists fear the most? Bad folks in bad parts of town. Go over to tripadvisor sometime on the Chicago forum, everyone is soiling themselves that they’ll get a gun put in their face as soon as they step off the airplane.

Until you change the whole “south side, oooo scary” mindset the Sox won’t outdraw the Cubs – unless they put championship teams on the field and put the lurking local Sox fans in the seats. They’re not going to get the tourist hoards away from the cubbies.

when does the bidding start, what needs to be done to make this happen?

you are right about getting turned on to baseball and being hooked as a child. the cubs have the right idea for attracting new fans for life and that is play day games when school is out. parents take young children to the park on nice summer days, buy them all kinds of snacks and treat them to a great time. that carries over from generation to generation and that is why they get 3 million fucking idiots to show up at that shithole every year.

i forgot where i found this:

http://teammarketing.com.ismmedia.com/ISM3/std-content/repos/Top/News/2010_mlb_fci.pdf

or if it has been mentioned here yet or not (full ‘idaman’ disclosure).

that a packed ballpark looks like a better and more desirable place to go than a half-empty place. If I’m some casual fan flipping channels and I happen across a Sox game, seeing lots of empty seats does not make it seem like an enticing place to be. Seeing a packed, noisy, excited park makes me want to be there.

Bear in mind, I have done absolutely no research and this is entirely based on personal opinion and perception, but to me it seems as though well-attended games – coupled with what has been a fairly consistently competitive product on the field – can only breed more interest and, ultimately, attendance.

Based on this idea, it would seem to me that a temporary decrease of certain ticket prices may well lead to more interest, and the prices can steadily go up from there once the “base” is bigger. Somebody earlier in the thread suggested $10 upper tank tickets for weekday games, and I honestly can’t see the harm. Why not have 40k in the place on Tuesday and Wednesday nights? More concessions sales, more enthusiasm, more aesthetically appealing (so long as they aren’t running on the field and attacking people).

All of this said, I imagine there’s a totally reasonable explanation that someone much smarter than myself – Brooks Boyer, for example – would have for why this has not been done.

is a fairly recent trend. It dates to 1984. Since then, Cub attendance has been high and consistently high, regardless of the team on the field. Sox attendance tends to ebb and flow much more and is more sensitive to quality of play on the field. You creative stat guys could probably do some interesting analysis, controlling for league average attendance and the like, to make some revealing trends comparing attendance between the White Sox and Cubs over the decades (I’m always stunned by how low attendance was in the so-called Golden Age of Baseball, when the players were “better” and prices were cheaper). Regardless, the Sox always outdrew the Cubs in the 1950s and 1960s (when they were consistently better) and not until the WGN Super Station, the Harry Caray migration to the Cubs, the Tribune ownership, and the placing of Wrigley Field on the tourist agenda did the Cubs dominate and turn Chicago into a “Cub town.” The Cubs now have a national following that the White Sox do not and that factors into attendance. I don’t know the anwer to this, but somehow changing the national mindset to equate Chicago with the White Sox rather than the Cubs is a place to start. Maybe that MLB Network show will help. Whenever I tell someone that I am from Chicago and a baseball fan (I live in central Virginia), the assumption is that I am a Cubs fan. I would love to see the day when the assumption is the reverse. And when that is the case, the attendance will take care of itself.

the Cubs have been at or significantly above league average in attendance since 1984. Before then, their attendance was mostly significantly below league average, except in their better years like 1969-1972, 1977. The White Sox have been much more up and down, with many years below league average in recent years, whereas they were consistently above league average in the 1950s and 1960s. Maybe it’s time to resurrect the Go-Go White Sox theme song more aggressively, rather than just at the ballpark.

paraphrase—-Sox need to win 7 WS titles to overtake the Cubs in popularity.

Getting more butts in the stands is what I want as well, but the Sox will never be able to outdraw the Cubs. I guess that really does not bother me that much. Just keep winning!

Gaaawwwwwdamn! Those food prices are ridiculous too. Holy shit.

When I go to Williams-Bryce Stadium to see the Shamecocks play the pay parking is anywhere from $5-15. The closer spots require a larger, season commitment, but you can arrive a half hour before the game, park for $10, and walk 15-20 min to the stadium. Not bad. So $23 is absurd.

The food too… I mean you’re still eating a piece of sausage/bratwurst/hot dog whatever on a hot dog bun. You’re not eating a seasoned ribeye. How much was your Super Comiskey dog?

kenny williams on pti 5 good minutes

I’d love to watch a minor league game at the Duck Pond. Right now it’s just a wood bat summer league and it draws over 5k a game.

please dump the black and white thing, its physically depressing to watch. The sox really need to sell the experience of being at the park, seeing the statues, taking the train or the Dan Ryan, the showers, seeing your favorite players on the field, watching ozzie get ejected, ecetra ecetra.

Egus this is great.

Why they gotta be on the road until the 26th?

until you look at the league standings. still seems surreal

The White Sox are far more involved in the community. Part of your ticket payment goes towards several charities.

Let’s say the teams swap stadiums next year. Guaranteed within the next 5 years the Sox are selling out the house and the Cubs are drawing 50%-80%. The fact is the Cubs ARE the #1 team in town, but if the Sox moved to a tourist destination and continued to be the most consistant team in town, things would change.

i think bridgeport is rather lovely. id move to 33rd and canal in an instant. much better than being by all of those bars with the drunks and gays all over the place.

is a big free agent splash in the offseason to get people talking.