Attendance

[bubba phillips]

Rather than continue with the discussion  about attendance at the tale end of the "Is it Hahn, Hostetler, etc." thread, I thought I would start a new thread on the topic.

I looked at the attendance figures by year from 1901 to present.  Here's some highlights:

• the White Sox attendance exceeded the AL average 57% of the years from 1901-1969, but only 21% of the years from 1970 to present.
• the Sox drew 2 million for the first time in 1983 and the league average didn't hit that mark until 1988.
• attendance has averaged over 2 million fans in 13 years, all of them between 1983-2011, including consecutively from 2005-2011, with a couple more years falling just short of the mark.

 

The underlying theme of the fluctuations is as expected:  good team, they will come.  Crappy team, fans stay away.   The Sox drew almost 3 million in 2006, the year after the miracle.  As I said on another thread, White Sox fans treat the team as they would any other consumer good:  if the product is good, you buy it.  If not, you don't.

[caulfield12]

Cue reference to fans not supporting “competitive” teams in 2010, 2012 and 2016.

(Note:  Adam Dunn’s historically-bad 2011 and the signings of LaRoche/Cabrera/Bonifacio didn’t exactly help restore the faith.)

[LittleHurt05]

3 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Cue reference to fans not supporting “competitive” teams in 2010, 2012 and 2016.

(Note:  Adam Dunn’s historically-bad 2011 and the signings of LaRoche/Cabrera/Bonifacio didn’t exactly help restore the faith.)

Dont forget September 2005

[Lip Man 1]

Given that the White Sox choked in the last two weeks of 2003 when they had a playoff spot squarely in their sights and the fact that they fell apart in the second half of 2004 (due to injuries to Ordonez and Thomas) I can easily see where the fan base in most of September 2005 would say, "here we go again..." But when they did clinch and when they did play playoff home games, the place was sold out.

That's why I've always said and Garfien did again today in his "Sox Drawer" column when attendance was brought up that the Sox have to consistently be competitive...not have a surprising good season coming out of nowhere and then fall back for the next two years. They need to put together three, four, five good years in a row to solidify the fan base, establish consistency and get the season tickets / advertising coming in on a regular basis.

When a team comes out of nowhere you usually don't see sustained attendance boosts until the following years and that generally is if said team continues to do well.

[SonofaRoache]

54 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Given that the White Sox choked in the last two weeks of 2003 when they had a playoff spot squarely in their sights and the fact that they fell apart in the second half of 2004 (due to injuries to Ordonez and Thomas) I can easily see where the fan base in most of September 2005 would say, "here we go again..." But when they did clinch and when they did play playoff home games, the place was sold out.

That's why I've always said and Garfien did again today in his "Sox Drawer" column when attendance was brought up that the Sox have to consistently be competitive...not have a surprising good season coming out of nowhere and then fall back for the next two years. They need to put together three, four, five good years in a row to solidify the fan base, establish consistency and get the season tickets / advertising coming in on a regular basis.

When a team comes out of nowhere you usually don't see sustained attendance boosts until the following years and that generally is if said team continues to do well.

This also explains why our 2007 attendance was incredible, even though we ducked. Give the fans some hope instead of year after year of heartbreak. 

[caulfield12]

The positive boost of a World Series title is usually pushed out 4-5 seasons.

2009/11 are when the Sox really started to lose their fans.

 

[oldsox]

What was the final attendance figure for 2018?

[Dick Allen]

2 minutes ago, oldsox said:

What was the final attendance figure for 2018?

Slightly over 1.6 million. 11th time in the last 12 seasons it was lower than the previous season. Considering they basically have discounted their tickets about as much as they can, it's probably at rock bottom. I would expect it to go up next year unless they jack up prices significantly.    

[Hatchetman]

Bad fans.

[Eminor3rd]

Good, this thread again. 

[Iwritecode]

We haven't beaten it to death in a few months. I guess it was time...

[pcq]

21 hours ago, bubba phillips said:

Rather than continue with the discussion  about attendance at the tale end of the "Is it Hahn, Hostetler, etc." thread, I thought I would start a new thread on the topic.

I looked at the attendance figures by year from 1901 to present.  Here's some highlights:

• the White Sox attendance exceeded the AL average 57% of the years from 1901-1969, but only 21% of the years from 1970 to present.
• the Sox drew 2 million for the first time in 1983 and the league average didn't hit that mark until 1988.
• attendance has averaged over 2 million fans in 13 years, all of them between 1983-2011, including consecutively from 2005-2011, with a couple more years falling just short of the mark.

 

The underlying theme of the fluctuations is as expected:  good team, they will come.  Crappy team, fans stay away.   The Sox drew almost 3 million in 2006, the year after the miracle.  As I said on another thread, White Sox fans treat the team as they would any other consumer good:  if the product is good, you buy it.  If not, you don't.

It would be more accurate to say that league attendance has increased over the years more so than Sox attendance. They had millions of extra fans in late 2005-2006 but could not sustain their good will.

[Lip Man 1]

10 minutes ago, pcq said:

It would be more accurate to say that league attendance has increased over the years more so than Sox attendance. They had millions of extra fans in late 2005-2006 but could not sustain their good will.

Agreed, because basically they went into the tank in 2007 and outside of three years haven't even been able to win more games than they lost at the end of the season since then. That does tend to drive fans away in bunches.

[pcq]

Related problem is that they are not a destination/ tourist site for people who will come out regardless. I prefer not having the party/ singles atmosphere but more restaurants would help. One area where I would give the owner demerits for lack of encouragement. 

[Chisoxmb35]

On 10/9/2018 at 3:27 PM, pcq said:

Related problem is that they are not a destination/ tourist site for people who will come out regardless. I prefer not having the party/ singles atmosphere but more restaurants would help. One area where I would give the owner demerits for lack of encouragement. 

That's not a problem. The only reason one would even say it is is because we suck. If we were good we wouldn't have to care or even think about being a "tourist site" because the fans would come (as has been historically proven time and time again with this franchise). We don't have to ape the schtick of the Cubs to be a successful draw, that's just silly.