Attendance

[ewokpelts]

Also of note is that companies are dropping ticket plans left and right the last few years. They see the season long expense as too great, with many opting to buy as needed.

 

Brokers also dropped plans hard when the teams fortunes sunk. My rep had ONE ORDER(likely a broker, but he didnt ask) in january 2006 that was for SIXTY FULL SEASON TICKETS in the bleachers.

[Greg Hibbard]

I think it has much more to do with other factors than anything necessarily intrinsic to the White Sox.

 

Recent home entertainment options have made the value of going to a baseball game vs. the cost of going to a baseball game absurdly disproportionate.

 

If MLB teams do not wise up, they will lose almost everybody eventually.

 

I'm sorry, but it is simply no longer worth $50-$100 to go to a regular season baseball game.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Greg Hibbard

[ewokpelts]

I think it has much more to do with other factors than anything necessarily intrinsic to the White Sox.

 

Recent home entertainment options have made the value of going to a baseball game vs. the cost of going to a baseball game absurdly disproportionate.

 

If MLB teams do not wise up, they will lose almost everybody eventually.

 

I'm sorry, but it is simply no longer worth $50-$100 to go to a regular season baseball game.

A family of four can go to a sox game on a sunday for $30 which includes parking. Brookfield zoo is actually more expensive.

[Greg Hibbard]

A family of four can go to a sox game on a sunday for $30 which includes parking. Brookfield zoo is actually more expensive.

 

You're including transportation to and from the ballpark and food, right?

[Greg Hibbard]

Also...there are 13 home sundays on the schedule....and 68 other home games.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Greg Hibbard

[southsider2k5]

You're including transportation to and from the ballpark and food, right?

 

Eating at, and getting to, Brookfield Zoo is just as ridiculous. They charge for parking for single day visits as well.

[Greg Hibbard]

Specials aside, though, what is the AVERAGE cost for a family of four to go to an AVERAGE white sox game?

 

Also, I was talking about HOME entertainment options being better these days.

[Harry Chappas]

Eating at, and getting to, Brookfield Zoo is just as ridiculous. They charge for parking for single day visits as well.

 

Go anywhere, museum, movie, great america is like a vacation in and of itself, zoo, local carnival for christ sake. Start at about $50 and go from there.

 

A White Sox game is no more expenses than those.

[southsider2k5]

Go anywhere, museum, movie, great america is like a vacation in and of itself, zoo, local carnival for christ sake. Start at about $50 and go from there.

 

A White Sox game is no more expenses than those.

 

Very true. Yes, there are tons of options, but they aren't cheap for the most part. Even a movie starts at $10 a person, without food or snacks.

[Greg Hibbard]

Go anywhere, museum, movie, great america is like a vacation in and of itself, zoo, local carnival for christ sake. Start at about $50 and go from there.

 

A White Sox game is no more expenses than those.

 

Yes, many other forms of live entertainment have gotten disproportionately expensive recently. I don't do many of those things as well, because the cost is outsized to the value I perceive of the product. Concerts, Great America, the Zoo...everything.

 

In the early 2000s, I made about half the money I make now but I found a way to go to about 20 games a year. Nowadays, I'm lucky if I make it to one, even though I have way, way more money.

 

Why? Because my HOME entertainment options are way better. I have better television programming alternatives, I have a better internet. I also now have a high definition huge TV and a DVR to cut out commercials.

 

Personally, I don't go to White Sox games anymore largely because I can watch them on crystal clear high definition television - without commercials - for zero cost. Suddenly, an all night commitment...getting to the ballpark.....all night there.... at $30-$40 plus food becomes a whenever-I-want-thing for 60 minutes at no money. It would be substantially more attractive to me if the cost was more in line with what I perceive the value to me to be.

 

That's just me, though. It could be different for different people. However, if you have a family of four, and the average cost to get them all into the ballpark is $25-$40 a ticket....plus other stuff.....for just a regular season ball game....that would seem to me to be very outsized from what most people can afford to blow on a couple hours of entertainment.

[ewokpelts]

Specials aside, though, what is the AVERAGE cost for a family of four to go to an AVERAGE white sox game?

 

Also, I was talking about HOME entertainment options being better these days.

On any day not counting opening day or cubs games, the lowest you can go is $48 with parking. 4 $7 tix plus one $20 parking pass. That's with no codes or deals.

 

Sundays are $30. 4 $5 tix plus one $10 parking pass.

 

[Thad Bosley]

Because Baseball depends on the average Joe to fill its seats more than the other sports (you left out the Cubs.) Not too mention the Hawks you know winning big.

For decades now, "Average Joe" has resoundingly sent the message that he/she does not find the location at 35th and Shields to be an appealing one, no matter how nice, affordable, and/or accessible the ballpark is. There has been a negative stigma associated with that location that has dogged this organization for years, and 34 years into his ownership, Mr. Reinsdorf still hasn't found a way to get past it.

[Dick Allen]

Yes, many other forms of live entertainment have gotten disproportionately expensive recently. I don't do many of those things as well, because the cost is outsized to the value I perceive of the product. Concerts, Great America, the Zoo...everything.

 

In the early 2000s, I made about half the money I make now but I found a way to go to about 20 games a year. Nowadays, I'm lucky if I make it to one, even though I have way, way more money.

 

Why? Because my HOME entertainment options are way better. I have better television programming alternatives, I have a better internet. I also now have a high definition huge TV and a DVR to cut out commercials.

 

Personally, I don't go to White Sox games anymore largely because I can watch them on crystal clear high definition television - without commercials - for zero cost. Suddenly, an all night commitment...getting to the ballpark.....all night there.... at $30-$40 plus food becomes a whenever-I-want-thing for 60 minutes at no money. It would be substantially more attractive to me if the cost was more in line with what I perceive the value to me to be.

 

That's just me, though. It could be different for different people. However, if you have a family of four, and the average cost to get them all into the ballpark is $25-$40 a ticket....plus other stuff.....for just a regular season ball game....that would seem to me to be very outsized from what most people can afford to blow on a couple hours of entertainment.

I had season tickets for many years. I gave them up in 2012, and re-entered with a weekend package last year. I still have them this year. I'm going to watch the games anyway, but I love going to day games. That's why I have these. I also love my Samsung HDTV. I was invited to go tonight, I don't have to work tomorrow, but I'm with you, I'm going to be sucking back $8 beers with my buddy, sitting there for who knows how long. I just am not up for it. I told him to give the tickets away, come over, we'll throw something on the grill, say what Hawk is going to say right before he says it, and amaze my wife, and drink until we puke.

[ewokpelts]

You're including transportation to and from the ballpark and food, right?

want to keep moving the goal posts?

 

Gas is a sunk cost regardless where you take the kids. But I imagine $10 parking offsets that.

 

Food? You don't NEED to buy the $5 hot dog at the stands. Sox allow tailgating and you can bring in food and water. And if suzy and junior want a soda, sign up for teh designated driver reward.

 

And on sundays, the "Chisox bar and grill" has the kids menu free with paying adults.

 

 

Any more excuses?

[ewokpelts]

For decades now, "Average Joe" has resoundingly sent the message that he/she does not find the location at 35th and Shields to be an appealing one, no matter how nice, affordable, and/or accessible the ballpark is. There has been a negative stigma associated with that location that has dogged this organization for years, and 34 years into his ownership, Mr. Reinsdorf still hasn't found a way to get past it.

yet sox attendance the last 30 years has been better than the previous 80. when the location was more desirable, i mean white.

 

 

[ewokpelts]

Very true. Yes, there are tons of options, but they aren't cheap for the most part. Even a movie starts at $10 a person, without food or snacks.

Sox ticket on a saturday night? $7

 

Movie ticket at the showplace icon on roosevelt BEFORE 6pm? $10.50

[Thad Bosley]

yet sox attendance the last 30 years has been better than the previous 80. when the location was more desirable, i mean white.

Comparing the attendance of the last 30 years to that of the previous 80 is damning with faint praise at best. The attendance of the past 30 years has still been quite pathetic for the most part, and in particular when you consider this is a large market we are talking about here. Fairly or not, the location has been maligned over the years, resulting in many people finding it to be somewhat undesirable; hence, attendance suppression. I don't see any other plausible reason to explain this chronic attendance problem for the South Side ballclub.

[ewokpelts]

Comparing the attendance of the last 30 years to that of the previous 80 is damning with faint praise at best. The attendance of the past 30 years has still been quite pathetic for the most part, and in particular when you consider this is a large market we are talking about here. Fairly or not, the location has been maligned over the years, resulting in many people finding it to be somewhat undesirable; hence, attendance suppression. I don't see any other plausible reason to explain this chronic attendance problem for the South Side ballclub.

I should point out that ALL of the top 20 most attended Sox seasons were under Reinsdorf, with all but four(as of the 2010 media guide) being at the new, unhip, undesirable, park.

 

All of these years have had the black, i mean unsafe, element in the area.

 

 

Because that's what you're getting at, right?

 

[LittleHurt05]

Comparing the attendance of the last 30 years to that of the previous 80 is damning with faint praise at best. The attendance of the past 30 years has still been quite pathetic for the most part, and in particular when you consider this is a large market we are talking about here. Fairly or not, the location has been maligned over the years, resulting in many people finding it to be somewhat undesirable; hence, attendance suppression. I don't see any other plausible reason to explain this chronic attendance problem for the South Side ballclub.

 

Cubs attendance definitely increased as Wrigleyville went from undesirable to popular. By the same token, a bad neighborhood has never stopped the Bulls & Hawks from selling tickets. (Other factors led to the Hawks down period)

[cabiness42]

Cubs attendance definitely increased as Wrigleyville went from undesirable to popular. By the same token, a bad neighborhood has never stopped the Bulls & Hawks from selling tickets. (Other factors led to the Hawks down period)

 

Did the increase in Cubs popularity spur the increase in Wrigleyville popularity, or was it the other way around???

[ewokpelts]

Did the increase in Cubs popularity spur the increase in Wrigleyville popularity, or was it the other way around???

a little bit of both.

 

[Thad Bosley]

I should point out that ALL of the top 20 most attended Sox seasons were under Reinsdorf, with all but four(as of the 2010 media guide) being at the new, unhip, undesirable, park.

 

All of these years have had the black, i mean unsafe, element in the area.

 

 

Because that's what you're getting at, right?

The White Sox have topped two million fans in only 13 of the 33 years during the Reinsdorf ownership, so Jerry's not going to win any awards for getting those turnstyles to spin. My point is that the primary reason for this inability to draw better is that the location simply doesn't have the greatest reputation. There is a perception, rightly or wrongly, that the area isn't the safest, but it also has to do with the fact the area around the ballpark isn't considered to be all that exciting. That has been the rap for years, and unfortunately no matter what the organization has tried, from ballpark renovations to price reductions to 10 pound ice cream sundaes, they have not been able to overcome that stigma to consistently draw the types of crowds one would expect from a large market team.

[sammy esposito]

Cubs attendance definitely increased as Wrigleyville went from undesirable to popular. By the same token, a bad neighborhood has never stopped the Bulls & Hawks from selling tickets. (Other factors led to the Hawks down period)

I believe the baseball strike in 1994 dissuaded many sox fans from going to the park. Reinsdorf lead the owners against the players. Until that time neither the cubs not the sox drew very well. In 91 on a nice day at Wrigley toward the end of the season the cub cubs drew 3800 fans. The sox were drawing about the same per game.

[Eminor3rd]

God this is the worst discussion we have six times a year.

[southsider2k5]

God this is the worst discussion we have six times a year.

 

For real.