Attendance

[southsider2k5]

And their tickets also sell for at least 5-10x the price that Sox tickets do.

 

I never recall an SRO $100 Sox ticket for anything other than the playoffs.

[southsider2k5]

Chicago is the third largest market in the USA and we drew 18,000, pathetic and embarrassing. Don't tell me it was Mothers day, it was Mothers Day all over the country, Baltimore had 45,000, Milwaukee, LA and NY all over 40,000. We are getting outdrawn by the Rays and the Marlins. Where are all the Sox fans? Down through the years we have had lousy ownership from cheap Charles Comiskey, to underfunded Bill Veeck to the current regime who if we hadn't won in 2005 we would begging them to sell. This franchise has never made the post-season 2 years in a row, that's amazing. High prices for seats and parking plus a lousy location not to mention alienating the fan base many times many times through the years has led to a very apathetic fan base and it saddens me to no end. I may be wrong but I think the franchise is in trouble and when the lease is up do not be surprised it the Sox move to another town.

 

None of those excuses were relevant for Mother's Day.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

Their marketing didn't work for s*** before Toews and Kane got there. In terms of similarity to the White Sox, the Hawks are about as close as it gets. In general, they are secondary to the Bulls, Bears, and Cubs in every way shape and form. They are popular now, because they are winning. When they weren't winning, NO ONE was going. They were drawing 8000 a night.

Unfortunatly I don't have the Hawks timeline for success etched in my brain. Not sure when the old man died and Rocky took over along with the arrivals of Kane and Toews along with the shrewd marketing of the team. Everything came together in a short amount of time. At least the Hawks never changed their uni's a billion times. The point is they still really kiss the fans asses and the Sox could be better at that.

[Dick Allen]

Unfortunatly I don't have the Hawks timeline for success etched in my brain. Not sure when the old man died and Rocky took over along with the arrivals of Kane and Toews along with the shrewd marketing of the team. Everything came together in a short amount of time. At least the Hawks never changed their uni's a billion times. The point is they still really kiss the fans asses and the Sox could be better at that.

I think they have. They lowered prices, even parking on Sundays. They changed the color of the seats. The problem is, no matter what the Sox do at that end, there will always be something else an average White Sox fan will complain about. The only thing that will work is consistently good teams. Unlike the Cubs, Bears and the Bulls after Michael Jordan, they cannot sustain high attendance with mediocre performance. If the Hawks win another Cup or 2, they may be in the same boat, at least for a while.

[cabiness42]

I've talked about these things before, but from the perspective of somebody who does not live in the metro area, some things that can increase attendance:

 

#1 (by a longshot over all the others): Since the Sox own a 20% stake in CSN, they need to very aggressively market the channel to cable/satellite providers within their "blackout area" that aren't already carrying it on the same tier as ESPN/NBCSN. I'm talking about places like Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Terre Haute, Champaign, Bloomington, Springfield. Getting games on in front of TV viewers is the first step in getting them to games in person. I grew up near South Bend back when most Cubs games were on WGN and most Sox games were on SportsChannel and if my local cable company hadn't carried Sportschannel, I'd probably be a Cubs fan now instead of a Sox fan. Kids in the cities I listed above are growing up to be mostly Reds or Cardinals fans in large part because those are the teams games they can see on TV.

 

#2: Try to get more Saturday home games in the evening. I know that national TV contracts have a lot of control over Saturday scheduling, but the Sox need to find a way to get more of the Saturday home games in the evening. Those Saturday night 6:05 fireworks games are pure gold. On Saturdays, families can go to museums/zoos during the day and Sox games in the evening, but they can't go to Sox games during the day and then the museums/zoos in the evening.

 

#3 (which is buoyed a lot by #1): Aggressively market group outings to those cities I listed above. I know the Notre Dame Alumni Association has a Chicago outing every year and it is ALWAYS scheduled to coincide with a Cubs home game. There are probably dozens of others like this. Get them on the phone and offer them insane discounts to try switching to the Sox for one year. Especially now that the Cubs have really sucked for a few years. Time to pounce on those groups that do their yearly outings to Cubs games.

 

#4: There are plenty of giveaways with admission, how about some giveaways with parking? 50% off (up to $10) concession stand coupons, random drawings for seat upgrades, random drawings for free VIP parking at a future game, etc.

 

#5: Continue to work on ticket pricing. I would like to see pricing that varies by opponent go away. Make three different price levels per seating area: Friday-Saturday (highest), Monday-Thursday evening (middle), and Monday-Thursday afternoon + all Sunday (lowest). Also, for games other than Friday-Saturday, designate a few sections in the Club Box and Gold Box areas to have special lower prices that are available only as individual game purchases and in quantities of no more than 8. Give people who would never consider paying $60 each for tickets a taste of these seating areas at a discount and see if you can convince them that those seats are worth the money.

[LittleHurt05]

I think they have. They lowered prices, even parking on Sundays. They changed the color of the seats. The problem is, no matter what the Sox do at that end, there will always be something else an average White Sox fan will complain about. The only thing that will work is consistently good teams. Unlike the Cubs, Bears and the Bulls after Michael Jordan, they cannot sustain high attendance with mediocre performance. If the Hawks win another Cup or 2, they may be in the same boat, at least for a while.

 

They gave away free tickets just for filling out a simple online survey.

[IlliniKrush]

Their marketing didn't work for s*** before Toews and Kane got there. In terms of similarity to the White Sox, the Hawks are about as close as it gets. In general, they are secondary to the Bulls, Bears, and Cubs in every way shape and form. They are popular now, because they are winning. When they weren't winning, NO ONE was going. They were drawing 8000 a night.

I was going

 

And there were games where 8K was reported, and it was definitely much lower than that. I was at games where they'd be 300-400 people in the 300 level if you were lucky.

[Dick Allen]

They gave away free tickets just for filling out a simple online survey.

It would be interesting to see how many people on this site got those free tickets and didn't use them.

[southsider2k5]

It would be interesting to see how many people on this site got those free tickets and didn't use them.

 

I used one set, and then gave away my other set on Soxtalk because I couldn't go.

[bmags]

It would be interesting to see how many people on this site got those free tickets and didn't use them.

 

This made me panic. Damn. I did not realize they were restricted to April.

[jasonxctf]

not that it matters, but do you think attendance would be higher if the ballpark would have been built in the SW suburbs instead? Orland Park/Lemont area?

[The Mighty Mite]

None of those excuses were relevant for Mother's Day.

 

What was?

[cabiness42]

It would be interesting to see how many people on this site got those free tickets and didn't use them.

 

I gave mine away, but then, I also think that those tickets were not included in paid attendance totals.

[ewokpelts]

I've talked about these things before, but from the perspective of somebody who does not live in the metro area, some things that can increase attendance:

 

#1 (by a longshot over all the others): Since the Sox own a 20% stake in CSN, they need to very aggressively market the channel to cable/satellite providers within their "blackout area" that aren't already carrying it on the same tier as ESPN/NBCSN. I'm talking about places like Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Terre Haute, Champaign, Bloomington, Springfield. Getting games on in front of TV viewers is the first step in getting them to games in person. I grew up near South Bend back when most Cubs games were on WGN and most Sox games were on SportsChannel and if my local cable company hadn't carried Sportschannel, I'd probably be a Cubs fan now instead of a Sox fan. Kids in the cities I listed above are growing up to be mostly Reds or Cardinals fans in large part because those are the teams games they can see on TV.

 

#2: Try to get more Saturday home games in the evening. I know that national TV contracts have a lot of control over Saturday scheduling, but the Sox need to find a way to get more of the Saturday home games in the evening. Those Saturday night 6:05 fireworks games are pure gold. On Saturdays, families can go to museums/zoos during the day and Sox games in the evening, but they can't go to Sox games during the day and then the museums/zoos in the evening.

 

#3 (which is buoyed a lot by #1): Aggressively market group outings to those cities I listed above. I know the Notre Dame Alumni Association has a Chicago outing every year and it is ALWAYS scheduled to coincide with a Cubs home game. There are probably dozens of others like this. Get them on the phone and offer them insane discounts to try switching to the Sox for one year. Especially now that the Cubs have really sucked for a few years. Time to pounce on those groups that do their yearly outings to Cubs games.

 

#4: There are plenty of giveaways with admission, how about some giveaways with parking? 50% off (up to $10) concession stand coupons, random drawings for seat upgrades, random drawings for free VIP parking at a future game, etc.

 

#5: Continue to work on ticket pricing. I would like to see pricing that varies by opponent go away. Make three different price levels per seating area: Friday-Saturday (highest), Monday-Thursday evening (middle), and Monday-Thursday afternoon + all Sunday (lowest). Also, for games other than Friday-Saturday, designate a few sections in the Club Box and Gold Box areas to have special lower prices that are available only as individual game purchases and in quantities of no more than 8. Give people who would never consider paying $60 each for tickets a taste of these seating areas at a discount and see if you can convince them that those seats are worth the money.

Csn is on directv on the sports tier for those not in Chicago. But csn may not have the right to get on other providers in say, Indianapolis. This is an mlb issue more than a sox issue.

 

As for groups, the sox work hard. The notre dame alumni don't want a sox game. They want a wrigley field outing. My longtime rep is a huge nd guy( his father went there). And the director of marketing is an nd alum. If they can't convince the alumni association to do a sox game, I don't know who can.

[ewokpelts]

not that it matters, but do you think attendance would be higher if the ballpark would have been built in the SW suburbs instead? Orland Park/Lemont area?

It would be worse. Count your blessings Addison never happened.

[cabiness42]

Csn is on directv on the sports tier for those not in Chicago. But csn may not have the right to get on other providers in say, Indianapolis. This is an mlb issue more than a sox issue.

 

As for groups, the sox work hard. The notre dame alumni don't want a sox game. They want a wrigley field outing. My longtime rep is a huge nd guy( his father went there). And the director of marketing is an nd alum. If they can't convince the alumni association to do a sox game, I don't know who can.

 

That was just an example, and probably a bad one. 99% of ND alums have more money than they know what to do with it so underselling the Cubs won't work. It should work with other groups though.

 

As for CSN, anyplace inside the Sox blackout area (which includes Indy) should be able to put CSN on whatever tier they want. No reason MLB would stop them from putting CSN on inside their blackout area.

 

[Dick Allen]

I gave mine away, but then, I also think that those tickets were not included in paid attendance totals.

They are not, but still, they are free and people don't use them. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised. I know I would be more apt to eat a ticket I paid nothing for than for one I spent a lot of money. You have to price tickets at some price point people think there is value. I was reading an article about pricing beer, and one thing that was said was if you priced it too low, people wouldn't buy it.

 

I've probably gone to 10 games so far this season, and it's easy for me as I live a couple of blocks from the Red Line and it's about 20 minutes until I'm in the park. But there are times, even when the team is good, as much as I love going to games, I just don't want to commit the time, and my time is certainly a lot less than most.

Edited May 12, 2014 by Dick Allen

[bmags]

I would never, ever go to a game if it were in sw suburbs.

 

I love where sox stadium is. It has 2 major CTA train lines. It is right off of a major highway. It also has metra stops directly along it's route.

 

I understand the criticism of "not enough stuff to do around park" but if it's that the stadium is hard to get to you aren't going to fix that going to the suburbs.

[Dick Allen]

I would never, ever go to a game if it were in sw suburbs.

 

I love where sox stadium is. It has 2 major CTA train lines. It is right off of a major highway. It also has metra stops directly along it's route.

 

I understand the criticism of "not enough stuff to do around park" but if it's that the stadium is hard to get to you aren't going to fix that going to the suburbs.

That is interesting. What exactly is there to do in Addison after games?

[jasonxctf]

I gave mine away, but then, I also think that those tickets were not included in paid attendance totals.

 

i never used mine either. Was going to go on Sunday the 27th with my 3 year old, but the weather was pretty bad.

[cabiness42]

not that it matters, but do you think attendance would be higher if the ballpark would have been built in the SW suburbs instead? Orland Park/Lemont area?

 

No, anyplace outside the city (or one of the few close suburbs connected to an L line) would have been worse. I can't think of anyplace in the city that had land available that would have been a better fit.

 

In hindsight, what would have helped would have been:

 

1) Orienting the park to have a direct view of downtown from behind home plate

 

2) Having green seats and the smaller upper deck from the start

 

3) Getting some businesses (restaurants, retail shops) on the property from the start, even if it meant having one less parking lot

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

I think they have. They lowered prices, even parking on Sundays. They changed the color of the seats. The problem is, no matter what the Sox do at that end, there will always be something else an average White Sox fan will complain about. The only thing that will work is consistently good teams. Unlike the Cubs, Bears and the Bulls after Michael Jordan, they cannot sustain high attendance with mediocre performance. If the Hawks win another Cup or 2, they may be in the same boat, at least for a while.

I can't help but think of the sea of red at Hawks games or blue with the Dodgers even orange at Orioles games. The Sox have a mishmash of multiple uniforms in the stands. I'd love to see Sox fans in high attendence games looking like a cohesive unit. Somehow black and white doesn't work as cool as those uni's look now. Best we can hope for is either the black sea or looking like snow.

Edited May 12, 2014 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[jasonxctf]

I would never, ever go to a game if it were in sw suburbs.

 

I love where sox stadium is. It has 2 major CTA train lines. It is right off of a major highway. It also has metra stops directly along it's route.

 

I understand the criticism of "not enough stuff to do around park" but if it's that the stadium is hard to get to you aren't going to fix that going to the suburbs.

 

I used to live in the City. Over by UIC and then up north. Getting to games was a breeze and went to a lot. Now that I'm out in Geneva, driving to/from the Cell is a bi*ch. Especially for weekday night games. Wonder how many fans dont go for similar reasons as I do.

[southsider2k5]

What was?

 

Sox fans are bandwagon fans. The excuses are just that... excuses.

[The Mighty Mite]

I would never, ever go to a game if it were in sw suburbs.

 

I love where sox stadium is. It has 2 major CTA train lines. It is right off of a major highway. It also has metra stops directly along it's route.

 

I understand the criticism of "not enough stuff to do around park" but if it's that the stadium is hard to get to you aren't going to fix that going to the suburbs.

 

I went to my first game at 35th and Shields in 1955 and never had a problem with the location but there are many many in the metro area that do including out of towers. When was the last time that you ran into a visitor to the city on vacation that wanted to go see a Sox game at USCF. Not one of my golf cronies down here in Florida has ever seen a Sox game but quite a few have been to you know where.

Edited May 12, 2014 by The Mighty Mite