Scott Merkin writes a piece on the spring training move to Glendale which is surprisingly more well rounded than the editorial that I posted last week in the comments.
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Mayor Daley wants to raise the amusement tax on the Sox (and Cubs, and Bears, oh my!). Some guy, a "Chicago Sports Marketing Expert," claims this costs the Sox up to $12M a year.
"The White Sox have a similar situation . . . with the Red Sox. There's a very low ticket tax in Massachusetts. The White Sox will be $10 million to $12 million less able to pay players from the same source. Does that put the Sox in a less-competitive situation with the Red Sox? Absolutely."
Though the proposed increase is only 1%, the expert gives us figures for the entire tax... because he's an expert. -
The White Sox TV ratings were up 67% this year, while baseball's overall TV ratings fell in general. There was only one other team who saw significant gains in TV viewership. That team, the Rays, was the only team in baseball to pull a bigger one-season turnaround in the standings than the Sox.
I found it interesting that the Sox had the 11th largest average audience, but ranked behind Twins and Tigers in that measure. I would have thought for sure that the Twins TV audience would be 1/2 or 2/3rds that of the Sox, but that relationship is reversed.
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