White Sox still one of just seven teams to see attendance falls

[The Kids Can Play]

1 minute ago, Lip Man 1 said:

The next owner likely will not be an individual but a corporation. 

I know you've told me that before, and that's fine by me. It seems the corporation that runs the Dodgers is doing just fine.

However I'm still not convinced some mega billionaire like Cohen of the Mets, can't go solo to buy the Sox instead of a collection of billionaires who form a corporation like the Dodgers did.

Either way the next owner or owner group, need to be about winning as a first priority, spending money like a 3rd largest market team should and recruiting away and hiring the best baseball executives and people from the winning organizations. 

[The Kids Can Play]

1 hour ago, ThirdGen said:

The idiots raised ticket prices to season ticket holders after one of the most miserable seasons possible.  This after raising prices during the rebuild in anticipation of the championship window which they pissed away.  I find it hard to believe they are that oblivious, this almost seems intentional.  Think I'll watch the movie "Major League" tonight to see if I can find any clues.

As we all know, that's the Sox MO, "Stupid is as Stupid Does!"

[The Mighty Mite]

1 hour ago, South Side Hit Men said:

Jerry rejected a neighborhood plan in the 1980s to incorporate the neighborhood and have large parking garages to minimize the impact on the community. Screw handing another penny of taxpayer money to this gluttonous greedy billionaire.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/the-white-sox-ballpark-in-chicago-that-never-was-and-could-have-changed-history/

 

Jerry maximized profit charging $35 for parking. Jerry to fans, taxpayers, and displaced businesses and people - screw you,

 

You’re darn tootin.

[caulfield12]

Column: Wrigley Field’s drawing power means the Chicago Cubs need only the illusion of contending 

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/column-wrigley-field-drawing-power-183000430.html

 

 

"Marcus Stroman, who is set to earn a nine-figure deal when he opts out of his contract, doesn’t seem to understand why the Cubs might trade him or Cody Bellinger by Aug. 1 if they’re seemingly out of contention.

“Everyone is always putting this emphasis on ‘Oh, we need to play good in seven days, 10 days, and then we can be buyers,’” he said Saturday. “But I actually don’t believe in that. This division is wide open, and then if you even look deeper than that, as an organization why would you not want to be competitive for multiple years — year after year after year?

“Belli is a guy who changed our lineup. Why would you want him to get away? Why would you want a guy like myself (to get away) who goes out there and gives you quality starts in a league that’s incredibly hard to do?”

The answer is simple. The Cubs can replace Stroman and Bellinger with less expensive players, still play at a sub-.500 pace in a bad division and continue to draw just under 34,000 fans. Meanwhile, the hotel the Cubs owners built still can charge more than $2,000 a night for a series against an old rival (Cardinals)."

[Highland]

The team has done next to nothing since the division title of '08. Then they staked their reputation on a rebuild that has failed. A drop in attendance is far from surprising and actually I don't think it's been that bad. In addition, attendance has been an issue for a long time, and JR has only worsened things.

There has been times when it looked like the franchise was turning a corner and on its way to developing a deeper fan base. Then they went back to losing or alienate fans in other ways. This FO gets real arrogant when they have success. They don't seem to understand, that in sports, you can win big one day and get your ass kicked the next. There is simply no tradition with the Sox.

 

[Texsox]

He really needs to move the team. The business on and off the field isn't working in Chicago. Why keep fighting it? Other teams with losing records in smaller markets are not having these declines. 

A new stadium in a new city getting a MLB team for the first time would crush the attendance numbers. 

JR is such an idiot businessman for staying in Chicago. 

[Spumoni]

On 7/15/2023 at 9:50 AM, caulfield12 said:

The White Sox have almost doubled that number

More than doubled.  77,000 * 2 = 154,000 < 156,000

[caulfield12]

26 minutes ago, Spumoni said:

More than doubled.  77,000 * 2 = 154,000 < 156,000

Or some other turn of phrase like essentially or basically or roughly if you want to be a bit more generous.

[South Side Hit Men]

With the exception of the Great Depression era (multiple Sox owners, worst teams in franchise history, Cubs having solid teams) the White Sox outdrew the Cubs until the Sox were cursed with the AL rejection of Veeck's preferred new owner, Ed Debartolo, and approval of Jerry Reinsdorf, This despite the fact the Cubs had a 25 year head start here.

Jerry Reinsdorf destroyed this with repulsive persona and policies starting with SportsVision. Once Jerry dies and a new owner is in place, Sox fandom can begin the slow march to parity starting by reversing policies which have alienated fans over the decades and also by running a quality baseball organization. See Chicago NHL team post Dollar Bill Wirtz' death.

Attendance Parity

• 1901-1929 White Sox 16.4M vs. Cubs 16.4M (Sox attendance would have been much higher if the KKK's Landis didn't destroy the World Series core)
• 1940-1979 White Sox 40.2M vs. Cubs 40.1M

Charles Comiskey Death and Jerry Reinsdorf Alive Curses

• 1930-1939 Cubs 8.8M vs. Sox 4.1M (Three World Series appearances for the Cubs vs. Worst non Reinsdorf period in White Sox history).
• 1980-2022 Cubs 105.0M vs. Sox 77.8M (Reinsdorf Penny Wise vs. Dollar Foolish, Greed, Avarice, Petulance, Death).

[Texsox]

I have a much bleaker forecast.

I think the world has changed since parity. Too many other things to do, new interests.  Nothing lasts forever. Society is more mobile, fandom won't be based on a physical address.

I'm not certain if it will be humans playing in fifty years. Humans make too many mistakes. We already want to eliminate umpires. We want managers to make decisions as if they were extensions of a computer, why not just eliminate the human and put in a computer and have the players read their instructions? 

Next step are AI generated players. Watching from home you won't even know the difference. Optimum performance, optimum strategy, optimum umpiring. 

 

[caulfield12]

13 hours ago, Texsox said:

I have a much bleaker forecast.

I think the world has changed since parity. Too many other things to do, new interests.  Nothing lasts forever. Society is more mobile, fandom won't be based on a physical address.

I'm not certain if it will be humans playing in fifty years. Humans make too many mistakes. We already want to eliminate umpires. We want managers to make decisions as if they were extensions of a computer, why not just eliminate the human and put in a computer and have the players read their instructions? 

Next step are AI generated players. Watching from home you won't even know the difference. Optimum performance, optimum strategy, optimum umpiring. 

 

White Sox will STILL lead the majors in injuries, computer glitches and analytics/algorithm fails.

Otoh, maybe they can change nickname to simply The Entity.