Frustrating.

[southsider2k5]

Still doesn't prove anything, because what's the surplus? There's not a big margin of error. Of course there's 36k Sox fans out there. But after that? What do you draw from when when it's not the post-world series win season?

 

I'm not saying it is Cub big, but it is bigger than I though. Pre-World Series, I wouldn't have guessed we could average 36k a night, no matter what. I would have thought 30k was about the ceiling.

[GreatScott82]

On a selfish note, at least there are available tickets at all times for the impulsive fans.

 

 

[LittleHurt05]

I'm not saying it is Cub big, but it is bigger than I though. Pre-World Series, I wouldn't have guessed we could average 36k a night, no matter what. I would have thought 30k was about the ceiling.

 

The question is, how many of those 36k were actually Sox fans? I bet a lot of them were just neutral fans or even Cubs fans who came to see a WS champion.

[caulfield12]

I don't see how that would make sense. I mean, it isn't as if other groups of people are being charged higher because they don't know some discount code - the prices are public for those games. And who they are marketing to for Sundays, I am pretty sure, is primarily families (especially those with kids). Look at the promotions they are running, they are kid-oriented. And families with little kids drive at a higher % than young adults will.

 

Honestly, I think they just haven't invested enough in advertising it. Sox marketing is just getting it wrong, IMO, thinking people will find out by social media or word of mouth. They need to get out there with this pricing info via more traditional methods - TV spots, billboards, website and newspaper ads, coupled marketing with local businesses who get families, etc.

 

I've always thought it was crazy not to have a toll-free number for ticket sales.

 

Growing up in Iowa, they always had that 312 number displayed on the backstop and advertising, but most MLB teams at that time and now had more user-friendly ways of buying tickets....of course, now with cell phones and no longer out of state/long distance calling, it's not as much of an issue, but it definitely enters your mind that the team really doesn't want your business if you have to pay to make a call to buy tickets.

 

It couldn't have cost that much money all those years.

[caulfield12]

Marty, let me ask you this.

 

If you were the CEO of any corporation, and your company was profitable on a yearly basis, wouldn't you feel that you as well as the shareholders should be rewarded for your performance?

 

If the value of your company increased by multiples in 30 years?

 

Would you plug ALL of that money right back into the company, into R&D, infrastructure, equipment, supplies, materials....or would you hold some of that in reserve for a rainy day?

 

For the last 3-4-5 years, American companies have been sitting on $3+ trillion dollars in reserves, and yet I don't see you on message boards cajoling them to hire more new employees (like Sox fans ask for money to be spent on international free agents and the draft in the past). Such companies and CEO's used the excuse they were waiting on clarity in terms of tax/government/fiscal policy, etc., but if you want the White Sox to be like a regular company, why should they always spend exactly what they earn, with their only appreciation being the rise in the value of the team and/or ComCast share appreciation?

 

And if you want to follow this business analogy that the Sox are equal to any Forbes/Fortune 500 company, how would you excuse every public and private company in the world that doesn't spend all of its operating revenue and never takes a profit or rewards shareholders?

 

Aren't you free, with all your success, to put together a group and buy the team (like the Iowa lawyer/s who purchased the Dodgers and are now spending billions) and spend as freely as you'd like?

 

Have you ever really considered how risky it would be to sign Josh Hamilton and Z. Greinke to long-term deals that might just as easily turn into albatross contracts? Would you pull out your own checkbook if the Board of Directors disagreed and pay those guy with your own personal net worth?

Edited April 9, 2013 by caulfield12

[Iwritecode]

It is the new reason du jour. Before it was prices. Then it was winning. Now it apparently is winning for a half of a decade in a row.

 

I don't know about anyone else but I've been saying the same thing for years. Win consistently and the fans will show up. This average of making the playoffs once every 5 years just doesn't cut it.

 

It's really not hard to compare attendance with playoff appearances. It shot up in 2005 and even more in 2006. It's gone consistently down since then. That one and done in 2008 didn't really help much when they backed it up with 4 straight years of missing the post-season.

 

The die-hards will show up no matter what but the band-wagoners just want to follow a winner. They don't know or care what place the team was in on Sept 1 of last year. They only remember where the team finished.

 

[Eminor3rd]

The White Sox are a business, they have a product they are trying to sell to us, the fans. We don't OWE them anything -- it's their job to sell something to us. Likewise, when we buy their product, they don't owe US anything -- they don't have to boost the payroll or do anything. It's in their best interest to keep us happy and engaged so that we buy more of their product, and they will invest as much and as wisely as is necessary to do so. If they fail (either in terms of the on-field product or the stadium/media experience), they run the risk of losing revenue if fans decide not to buy more product.

 

It's that simple, there is no morality or code of conduct here. You can complain about attendance, but if the attendance was there, you'd probably be complaining about payroll, because why would the White Sox find it necessary to invest more in the product than they need to? While those two numbers are surely correlated because they are both related to revenue, you are plain wrong to assume that they "reward" us with payroll for performing our "responsibility" of attendance. Do you go to McDonald's twice a week in hopes that you'll boost revenue and they'll create a better sandwich for you? The White Sox, just like McDonald's, are making a ton of money, and probably always will. If they weren't, the ownership group would fold.

[bmags]

I don't know about anyone else but I've been saying the same thing for years. Win consistently and the fans will show up. This average of making the playoffs once every 5 years just doesn't cut it.

 

It's really not hard to compare attendance with playoff appearances. It shot up in 2005 and even more in 2006. It's gone consistently down since then. That one and done in 2008 didn't really help much when they backed it up with 4 straight years of missing the post-season.

 

The die-hards will show up no matter what but the band-wagoners just want to follow a winner. They don't know or care what place the team was in on Sept 1 of last year. They only remember where the team finished.

 

I think one that has actually hurt the sox is the cubs fall from grace. Even when they were really bad after 03, the 2 great seasons they had in that time kept the interest of cubs fans. The past few years the cubs fans have been completely disinterested, and around town you can just tell baseball is not grabbing a lot of attention. I really don't like this thread, but I'll admit I was a bit depressed that we weren't drawing in september in the lead of a division race.

[southsider2k5]

I think one that has actually hurt the sox is the cubs fall from grace. Even when they were really bad after 03, the 2 great seasons they had in that time kept the interest of cubs fans. The past few years the cubs fans have been completely disinterested, and around town you can just tell baseball is not grabbing a lot of attention. I really don't like this thread, but I'll admit I was a bit depressed that we weren't drawing in september in the lead of a division race.

 

I think the Sox were a big cause of that. Cub fans didn't seem to care if they lost until the Sox won the World Series. Now I see more angry Cub fans than I can ever remember.

[bmags]

I think the Sox were a big cause of that. Cub fans didn't seem to care if they lost until the Sox won the World Series. Now I see more angry Cub fans than I can ever remember.

 

You may be right. Pre-WS and a little bit post - WS that cubs sox series was everything. Now part of it may be oversaturation (it was relatively new), but I think more of it has to do with bragging rights. That was all the city really had for baseball competitiveness and both teams were pretty good in early 00s. After the WS, I think both fans re-adjusted to really only caring about winning in the playoffs.

[Iwritecode]

I think the Sox were a big cause of that. Cub fans didn't seem to care if they lost until the Sox won the World Series. Now I see more angry Cub fans than I can ever remember.

 

Going into triple digits in 2008 didn't help either. So many people thought that was going to be THE year simply because it was a nice round number.

[Steve9347]

Off days make for the worst f*cking conversations.

 

Edited April 9, 2013 by Steve9347

[My_Sox_Summer]

The die-hards will show up no matter what but the band-wagoners just want to follow a winner. They don't know or care what place the team was in on Sept 1 of last year. They only remember where the team finished.

 

What about winning DURING the season? That is what the Sox did all season (till the end) and there was still attendance issues with a first place team. It was blamed on price then, but of course playoff tickets sold out (which a much higher price tag). Bandwagon makes sense, doesn't bother me at all. The only thing that bothers me is the fan complaining about something, it get's changed and they still don't show up.

[IlliniKrush]

What about winning DURING the season? That is what the Sox did all season (till the end) and there was still attendance issues with a first place team. It was blamed on price then, but of course playoff tickets sold out (which a much higher price tag). Bandwagon makes sense, doesn't bother me at all. The only thing that bothers me is the fan complaining about something, it get's changed and they still don't show up.

You don't understand why playoff tickets sold out? Is it really that hard to understand?

 

As far as "they still don't show up," again, 3 games in April. But hey, jump to conclusions however you want.

[Iwritecode]

What about winning DURING the season? That is what the Sox did all season (till the end) and there was still attendance issues with a first place team. It was blamed on price then, but of course playoff tickets sold out (which a much higher price tag). Bandwagon makes sense, doesn't bother me at all. The only thing that bothers me is the fan complaining about something, it get's changed and they still don't show up.

 

Someone in this thread compared the few games that have been played with last year's and there has been a slight boost.

 

Just don't expect attendance to suddenly jump to 30,000 every single game simply because ticket prices went down.

Edited April 9, 2013 by Iwritecode

[NorthSideSox72]

Someone in this thread compared the few games that have been played with last year's and there has been a slight boost.

 

Just don't expect attendance to suddenly jump to 30,000 every single game simply because ticket prices went down.

Especially since the biggest target for the pricing improvements are families, who are a lot more likely to go to summer games than April ones.

 

[lostfan]

This is the size of our fanbase, for the past 10 years. It really is what it is. We draw at a ~60% capacity rate, on average. Except for the couple of years with stronger-than-normal attendance. I mean, bandwagons or not, the people who come to games and the people who don't come to games show and don't show about the same rate as they always do. We are just another baseball team's fanbase, and our team is in a large market but isn't really all that popular.

[My_Sox_Summer]

Someone in this thread compared the few games that have been played with last year's and there has been a slight boost.

 

Just don't expect attendance to suddenly jump to 30,000 every single game simply because ticket prices went down.

 

Actually it went down from what I saw. Detroit was the first weekend series last year, and it was later. Weather was better. I don't expect it to be the same.

 

What I was asking was, if winning was the cure, the Sox would have been selling out at the end of the year. They weren't.

 

I agree that it is a bandwagon group, but that wagon wasn't rolling at the end of last year. So winning wasn't the way to get more people in. Price was given as the excuse, but then highly priced playoff tickets sold out. So maybe it isn't price. It is what it is, I get it, but enough with the excuses.

 

I don't expect it to jump that high, and yes it is early, but I was just noting something. I didn't expect a huge backlash that it has caused.

 

Some fans are alot more sensitive than I thought. I called out a specific group of fans that said PRICE was the only issue that kept them from going. Not weather, not the month, only price. I still haven't heard them complaining about my post, only people that it didn't apply too. I thought it was more clear, I guess I was wrong.

 

My bad.

[My_Sox_Summer]

You don't understand why playoff tickets sold out? Is it really that hard to understand?

 

As far as "they still don't show up," again, 3 games in April. But hey, jump to conclusions however you want.

 

 

Once again, if a fan is using PRICE as the only reason they don't go, they shouldn't sell out. It isn't only price that affects sales, it is many factors.

 

Of course I know why they sold out. Bandwagon fans. People trying to make a buck. And our fan base.

 

 

[Dick Allen]

Once again, if a fan is using PRICE as the only reason they don't go, they shouldn't sell out. It isn't only price that affects sales, it is many factors.

 

Of course I know why they sold out. Bandwagon fans. People trying to make a buck. And our fan base.

You are the one calling out some as crappy fans because they don't attend a game on a cold day in April. How do you know people won't be going to more games than they usually do? You take a picture of the half of the park hardly anyone was sitting in to prove your point. It was wrong. The only thing crappy about it at this point, was the conclusion you have come up with.

 

There is no doubt White Sox fans are full of excuses and will often move the goalposts, after all, these are people that pointed to the color of the seats as a reason to stay away. But there were almost 19k out there Sunday when it was fairly chilly and the Mariners were in town. Like was posted earlier, Sundays are being targeted for families. They will come out when it feels like baseball season. The prices aren't going to make the Sox suddenly jump to 3 million, but there will be more than last year, even if they don't play as well.

Edited April 9, 2013 by Dick Allen

[bigruss]

You go onto a Sox message board and try to get a rise out of a certain portion of Sox fans and then expect them not to be upset at all or have any lashback?

 

[IlliniKrush]

Once again, if a fan is using PRICE as the only reason they don't go, they shouldn't sell out. It isn't only price that affects sales, it is many factors.

 

Of course I know why they sold out. Bandwagon fans. People trying to make a buck. And our fan base.

Then why the f*** are you attributing the "low" attendance over the weekend to ONE factor? Congratulations on owning yourself.

 

How do you know all the families that said "prices are too high" weren't there, and it was the other people, that didn't say price, that showed up?

Edited April 9, 2013 by IlliniKrush

[Marty34]

Wow, the Tribune did a great job of brainwashing Sox fans over the years to make them think they're 2nd class fans.

[Chicago White Sox]

Wow, the Tribune did a great job of brainwashing Sox fans over the years to make them think they're 2nd class fans.

What does this even mean?

[Eminor3rd]

Wow, the Tribune did a great job of brainwashing Sox fans over the years to make them think they're 2nd class fans.

 

I don't read the Tribune, but the Score definitely does.