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how would YOU fix the sox attendance woes?


ewokpelts

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Sign or develop a legitimate superstar, preferably one with some personality (and not another Albert Belle). Us diehard fans appreciate the A.J.'s & Konerko's of this world, but a lot of casual fans need that big name to get excited and support a team. You'll have to overpay for a star in the short-run given the quality of our farm system, but you could develop some long-term fan interest by doing so. Think of how many people on this site are Sox fans because of Frank Thomas alone.

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There's definitely plenty of Sox fans in the Chicagoland area to consistently fill the park. The reason they don't go is because it's just not worth it. Why not? One of the main reasons is because the stadium is almost always empty, which takes away a lot of the excitement from the ballpark experience. It puts a damper on the experience. People are generally social and want to be where other people are, where the party is at. Everyone and their Grandpa in Chicago knows about the Sox attendance woes.. and that's what's hurting attendance every year. If attendance ever goes up in a few years, the news will get around, and then everyone will want to go. Just like in the summer of 2006 when most games were sellouts or near sellouts, the White Sox instantly became a hot ticket.

 

How do you make the Sox a hot ticket again? Cater to the casual fan and tourists. This means get rid of Thunderstruck. It's annoying and off-putting. Get rid of the current "rough" culture and start to create a more family friendly culture. If families coming from the burbs begin to notice that the crowd no longer resembles a typical crowd for a Mega Death concert, more families would likely start to go more often. Create an "Out of State/Visitor Parking Lot", where any vehicle with a license plate other than Illinois pays only $5. Build new roads/lots to ease the traffic nightmares. Build tourist attractions around the park, like the Bean or Cloud Gate or whatever it's called. Or a giant Ferris wheel. Fountains. Lots of them. Inside and outside the park. Anything to beautify the immediate area around the park. We NEED to draw more tourists. If attendance picks up, the locals and diehards will notice and simple supply and demand will take care of the rest.

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QUOTE (SouthSidePride05 @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 05:47 PM)
There's definitely plenty of Sox fans in the Chicagoland area to consistently fill the park. The reason they don't go is because it's just not worth it. Why not? One of the main reasons is because the stadium is almost always empty, which takes away a lot of the excitement from the ballpark experience. It puts a damper on the experience. People are generally social and want to be where other people are, where the party is at. Everyone and their Grandpa in Chicago knows about the Sox attendance woes.. and that's what's hurting attendance every year. If attendance ever goes up in a few years, the news will get around, and then everyone will want to go. Just like in the summer of 2006 when most games were sellouts or near sellouts, the White Sox instantly became a hot ticket.

 

How do you make the Sox a hot ticket again? Cater to the casual fan and tourists. This means get rid of Thunderstruck. It's annoying and off-putting. Get rid of the current "rough" culture and start to create a more family friendly culture. If families coming from the burbs begin to notice that the crowd no longer resembles a typical crowd for a Mega Death concert, more families would likely start to go more often. Create an "Out of State/Visitor Parking Lot", where any vehicle with a license plate other than Illinois pays only $5. Build new roads/lots to ease the traffic nightmares. Build tourist attractions around the park, like the Bean or Cloud Gate or whatever it's called. Or a giant Ferris wheel. Fountains. Lots of them. Inside and outside the park. Anything to beautify the immediate area around the park. We NEED to draw more tourists. If attendance picks up, the locals and diehards will notice and simple supply and demand will take care of the rest.

 

I do think building stuff around the area would definitely help. I know nothing of what can/would be possible logistic, but like good family restaurants as well as cool bars would help. Same thing with retail and parks...

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Speaking as an insane person who has no idea what he's talking about, referring to Google Maps, I see there is a church and elementary school right next door. Cant they buy those and knock en down to build more attractions?

 

Nobody needs school or church right?

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QUOTE (Cali @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 07:56 PM)
Speaking as an insane person who has no idea what he's talking about, referring to Google Maps, I see there is a church and elementary school right next door. Cant they buy those and knock en down to build more attractions?

 

Nobody needs school or church right?

 

Google Maps will do that for you. The area has improved so much since the old park.

 

 

 

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You obviously haven't taken a look at Google Maps recently. The images are fairly recent, probably taken sometime this summer. Just zoom in.

 

In a perfect world, they'd tear down Adler Planetarium (move it south on Northerly Island), and build a new ballpark right at the site of the Adler Planetarium with the seats facing the skyline.

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QUOTE (SouthSidePride05 @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 08:42 PM)
You obviously haven't taken a look at Google Maps recently. The images are fairly recent, probably taken sometime this summer. Just zoom in.

 

In a perfect world, they'd tear down Adler Planetarium (move it south on Northerly Island), and build a new ballpark right at the site of the Adler Planetarium with the seats facing the skyline.

 

Old Man Daley wanted to put the Sox at Northerly Island back in the 60's let's be glad that plan never happened. Bear traffic 81 games a year on LSD? count me out.

 

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QUOTE (Cali @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 07:56 PM)
Speaking as an insane person who has no idea what he's talking about, referring to Google Maps, I see there is a church and elementary school right next door. Cant they buy those and knock en down to build more attractions?

 

Nobody needs school or church right?

With the coming school closings, I dont doubt that the sox would love to scoop up that site.

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QUOTE (SouthSidePride05 @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 06:42 PM)
You obviously haven't taken a look at Google Maps recently. The images are fairly recent, probably taken sometime this summer. Just zoom in.

 

In a perfect world, they'd tear down Adler Planetarium (move it south on Northerly Island), and build a new ballpark right at the site of the Adler Planetarium with the seats facing the skyline.

 

That actually sounds kinda badass...

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QUOTE (ewokpelts @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 06:48 PM)
you try getting to schaumburg on a wed night for a 7pm game.

 

I have done just that. for a flyers game. took us well more than an hour to get there from the city.

 

 

attendance would crater in the burbs.

Um, OK. You try getting to the south side of Chicago on a Wed night for a 7pm game. Takes people well more than an hour to get there from the suburbs.

 

I think you missed the whole point about the Cubs already owning the city as it is, might as well try to get the all the people in the suburbs. There's quite a few people within a 20-30 mile radius of somewhere like Schaumburg.

 

Attendance is already cratering in the city.

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I live in Ohio and don't get to go to a lot of games. But I eat tickets, so they get their money from me (I don't buy from stubhub either, I buy directly from the Sox).

 

Lower ticket prices

Lower parking prices

Up the ante with gifts/prizes/giveaways. 25th thousand person at the park gets to throw out first pitch or something that would get a lot of people to come out in hopes of winning a cool prize like a year supply of Pepsi, or a new car or something.

$10 general admission for the upper deck.

$15 general admission for the bleachers.

 

 

I would even say attack the Cubs if you have to. I don't have any personal resentment towards the Cubs or Wrigley Field or anything, but why not launch ads that attack their "lovable loser" ways, or "why would you want to go to rundown Wrigley when we have a brand new(ish), modern, clean, stadium!". Stuff like that. "Look, guys, WE ended the baseball drought in this city, what the **** have they ever done for you?".

 

Maybe even incentive people to come. If you have a ticket to a game where the attendance was over 30K, bring in your ticket and get 50% another game.

Edited by whitesox901
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QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 09:12 PM)
Considering that $6 of every parking pass goes to city/county taxes, that would give the Sox $4 for every car that shows up. That will help the payroll.

 

All the more reason to leave Chicago and Crook County.

 

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I think there have been some decent ideas thrown out there, but I don't think there is a simple cure.

 

I think ticket prices are low enough, to be honest, especially considering if you Google "White Sox Ticket Codes" you get a ton of resources. However, like Tiger stadium, there should be a section, maybe the corners of the UD, that are always $10. Can do that downstairs too, at $25 a game. With the dynamic pricing structure, those seats go down to that anyways. Also, some people just have to suck it up. You are not gonna get a seat downstairs for cheap on a weekend. Just not gonna happen. You have to decide how important that beer is for $7.75. Or that Pepsi for $6. Enjoying a game doesn't mean you have to have a 3 course meal.

 

I think the parking should be lowered, that is a big thing. Mondays thru Thursdays, $15. Weekend parking should be $20.

 

People should be rewarded for going to games during the week, minus the Half Price Monday. Do the promotions during the week, in the summer, to encourage people to come. Like Frank Thomas day years ago, it was in a Sunday vs the Yanks. Why? People are gonna go to that game anyways, why reward them? The Twins on a Tuesday in September should be rewarded.

 

I think the number of promotions could be increased too, but not necessary.

 

One other thing is the attitude of some of the people working for the Sox. Not all of them are angry as heck, but a bunch are. Heck, I was in the uppers watching a game and one of the vendors was just talking so much ish about the team, it was bothersome. People barely say hi to you when you come in, if people think they are appreciated, they come back. Just promoting a positive attitude would do wonders.

 

These things will help, but it won't be a cure-all. Some fans are just apathetic to the team. I am working with a bunch of conventions and on signage, Wrigley Field is everywhere. We need to market the Cell like that. Or scrap that entire plan and start marketing to our fan base, not a Cubs fan. There has to be an incentive to get people in the gate, we don't have history on our side. One thing is for sure, what they have been doing, isn't working. Needs to be changed.

 

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I took all of the negative media attention and Cubs fans harping on Sox fans for not going to games (while the team was in first place) to heart and stepped it up this year. Went to 25 games, which is more than I had in previous years. At the time I started doing this, I was working at a startup making pennies. How did I make this happen?

 

Organize group outings: I'd meet my friends or family out after work and make sure that someone drove so I could get home. There's no easy solution to get back to the suburbs without a ride. The only way it could work is if I parked next to the Cell early that morning, took the train to work and then took the train back for the game. But that's inconveniencing the fan. So I would pitch to my family and friends that it was a good pitching matchup, nice weather and tickets were cheap. We went and had a blast even if they got their asses kicked by KC.

 

Advertise reduced ticket prices, coupon codes/change the slogan: Marketing slogans usually don't make sense, but "Appreciate the game" did not fit this season as I thought it would in April. If our fan base is comprised of families, why did I not see families and plenty of young groups at the games on the weekends, weeknights and whenever I went late in the season? Offer the reduced ticket prices for people buying more than 4 tickets like someone had mentioned earlier in the thread. Also a big reason why I could go to so many games this year is because the tickets were discounted from coupon codes. Educate the fans on this, or maybe showcase the poster who went to 50 Sox games for under $500...it's a great idea.

 

Get rid of the lame promotions throughout the game: The notion of getting rid of the start with Thunderstruck and Pirates of the Carribean is crazy. That's the only time, especially when there's more than 25,000 there, that I feel the ball park is energized. Educate the fans on when to get up and cheer (like a 1-2 count when Peavy is in a jam) or when Dunn's up and we desperately need a base hit to tie the game or pull ahead, because most people will remain quiet and sit on their ass. I realize this isn't a Bears game but getting loud and making some real noise as opposed to that lame ticker is real cool. The promotions between innings are sort of random and annoying. Some are good (dancing, kid hitting the home run and hat trick game is cool) but most of the other ones suck.

 

Reduce parking to $22 and $20, always offer $10 upper deck tickets and $25 corner tickets Let's say I get free tickets or discounted tickets and go to the game. I obviously have to drive because it's going to be a late night, especially with how slow Floyd is to the plate. Parking is actually more expensive than the tickets themselves, so I end up not buying food at the park if I'm going with friends. Bottom line, parking is a bit annoying at $25 and $23.

 

A lot needs to be changed, but it's up to KW and Brooks Boyer to make the fan experience better. Also I'll never become a White Sox season ticketholder. It's just more convenient to walk up and get tickets when I want to as opposed to make that much of a commitment with the possibility of missing games.

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QUOTE (SouthSidePride05 @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 08:42 PM)
You obviously haven't taken a look at Google Maps recently. The images are fairly recent, probably taken sometime this summer. Just zoom in.

 

In a perfect world, they'd tear down Adler Planetarium (move it south on Northerly Island), and build a new ballpark right at the site of the Adler Planetarium with the seats facing the skyline.

 

Adler isn't going anywhere. My wish was that they had built in the south loop before they regentrified it down there.

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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 13, 2012 -> 12:04 PM)
Serious question here. $100+m payroll with prices where they are now, or $75 million with cheaper parking and top end tickets?

Higher payroll with guys that don't have Adam Dunn's or Alex Rios' salary or duration of deals. Slightly OT, but the Sox really need to groom someone to play first when Paulie leaves/retires.

Edited by MuckFinnesota
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QUOTE (MuckFinnesota @ Oct 13, 2012 -> 12:43 PM)
Higher payroll with guys that don't have Adam Dunn's or Alex Rios' salary or duration of deals. Slightly OT, but the Sox really need to groom someone to play first when Paulie leaves/retires.

 

That's not how it works. ESP isn't a part of the deal.

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A big reason why the Sox didnt leave 35th and shields is that the STATE told them to stay put. Jerry wanted addison, but the state said chicago was better due to infrastructure(cta, dan ryan, ect) than in the burbs.

 

Can you imagine traffic in rush hour for people going home AND to the sox game in addison/bolingbrook/lemont/ect?

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