JUGGERNAUT

http://207.241.73.152/images/ISFA_AR_2004.pdf Total asset value for the ISFA has risen from $157M to $235M. A lot of people ignore this as well. When the White Sox' currently lease expires (2011) the ISFA will be in an even bigger position to get a better deal with the asset value probably rising to $250M. They are listing a charge of $3.8M a yr for maintenance. A total of over $24M to date. Finally, I looked up Jacob's Field. It's initial cost was $173M but it had over $75M in cost overruns. So you are looking at nearly $100M more was spent on Jacob's over Comiskey initially.

I haven't been able to find anything to support that either. But I do want to point out something that maybe most people don't know. The ISFA is handling the renovations. The White Sox are paying the costs. It doesn't seem like a big deal but it is because the ISFA controls the purse strings for those contracts. That generates added tax revenue for the state from sales tax to income tax. http://207.241.73.152/images/ISFA_AR_2004.pdf Rather than nit-pick on the details the main point I'm getting at is that the White Sox are moving in the direction of a top 10 revenue team in MLB. I saw a 2003 estimate for revenue & it was $128M to the Cub $156M. That's a reflection of price increases & such but again if you divide that revenue by the attendance figure the White Sox are getting more bang per ticket sold. Where this is all leading to is something White Sox fans probably are not ready to accept. In 5 yrs team $100M payroll should be expected for this franchise. If you are thinking the loss of seats will keep them from getting there, plans have already been discussed to create a right field porch that will add 2,500 new seats. They will probably announce this sometime during the 2006 season in time for 2007. The whole strategy of adding something new each year seems to be working as well. It creates buzz about the stadium.

http://www.chicagolaunch.com/company.asp?r...&companyID=5357 # Levy Restaurants # Fully equipped business center (allowing Internet access, faxing and copying capabilities) # On-site parking, free on non-game days The free on-site parking strongly suggests the ISFA owns the lots. That's not to say the White Sox manage parking operations. I doubt that very much. It's likely a company the ISFA recommends that is paid a flat fee each year. Probably similar arrangements exist with other management operations of the stadium.

Yes it's common knowledge the ISFA owns the stadium & the lots & office bldg's around it. It's likewise common knowledge that the ISFA doesn't make squat from the parking revenue. That has nothing to do with your belief that there exists an infamous 3rd party company taking the lion's share of the parking revenue from the White Sox. Perhaps this will help convince you that you are wrong. http://www.dcwatch.com/auditor/audit041112.htm What you are suggesting is that JR is somehow less saavy a buisness man than the managing partner/owner of the Cleveland Indians. I doubt that very much. Cleveland retains all parking, signage, concessions, luxury and club seat revenues. It's common knowledge that the ISFA owns & operates US Cellular Field. It's common knowledge that they more recently approved fitting the parking lots with video cameras to increase security outside the park. Now if there was a 3rd party involved they would clearly have been mentioned in that deal.

The 2001 per patron revenue figure strongly suggests the White Sox are getting the lion's share of the parking revenue. Here's another link that shows stadium revenue per ticket sold for the White Sox. They ranked higher than the NYY. http://www.mcfol.org/hottopics/artsculture/sox.asp If you have a link for this 3rd party that you believe is getting the lion's share of that revenue then post it otherwise it's here-say.

Which gets us right back to the source of the disagreement. You claim the White Sox don't even get 50% of that revenue. That would put their take at millions. I claim they get nearly all of it which would put their take in 10's of millions or if you prefer over $15M with the post-season. What we know from credible sources is that the ISFA is getting next to nothing from this revenue & if the White Sox did include a 3rd party which takes away revenue from the organzation then the ISFA would have had to approve that as well. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...94.story?page=1 One more thing to add in the White Sox revenue sources is the fact that they have more non-gate revenue sources now: Pontiac is paying them over a million for the Fundamentals billboard tower. For the first time in team history they are sharing in broadcast advertising revenues. Not only does Comcast pay them for the games but they share a % of the ad revenue as well. My guess it that they followed a similar suit with the new radio deals (WSCR & the Spanish stations).

I didn't take into consideration the $13 for season ticket holders. The $14.2M figure seems reasonable with that. That is an 8 digit figure & that does represent 10's of millions as opposed to a 7 digit figure which just represents millions.

Unless someone has a credible source for information on the actual revenue from parking all we can do is guestimate it. I've done that using the per patron revenue figure for 2001. Another way of doing this is to guess at how many Sox fans are coming from the el. If you assume no more than 4000 then that means 25K are coming from cars & dividing that by 2 gets you about 12,000. I don't know how many spots are available but I do know I've been to games where the front lots are full & I've had to park behind the tracks. At a price of $17 it's not a stretch to suggest on average 200K per game in parking revenue. That's over 16 million a season. To this you have to add 6 post season games with much higher prices. For 2005 close to 20 million in parking revenue is not unreasonable & the lion's share of that is going to the White Sox.

You know what's really shocking about the ISFA story? The 2001 re-vamp of the contract with the White Sox was tied to the renovations. It was coming off of the 2000 season yet they didn't have the foresight to include anything about post-season revenue in the contract? What were they thinking that it was a fluke? Were they even thinking? The White Sox couldn't go forward with the renovations & the naming rights w/out ISFA approval. So they had new bargaining power in 2001. This was a chance for the ISFA to really work the post-season to their advantage. They might have even been able to go as high as $10 per admission & a % of non-gate sales. In the absence of that we have to conclude it was simply overlooked entirely by the ISFA. Perhaps it's part of the Cub mentality that still grips the state

This article strikes at the heart of the issue & this was back in 2001-2002: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1599 2001 atend: Cub 2779465, CWS 1766172 2001 reven: Cub 131M, CWS 101M Per patron revenue (attend / reven ): Cub $47.13, CWS $57.19 If you apply the Cub figure to CWS attend you get : $83,242,110. Now both teams undoubtedly do their best to hide non-gate related revenue. But the one thing that the CWS have that the Cubs don't is parking related revenue & you can't hide that because it is directly linked to attendance. It's a safe bet that a good portion of that $18M is coming from parking related revenue. This year the White Sox drew 2,342,834. 2001 $57.19 figure : $133,976,891.27 2005 total 2001 $47.13 figure : $110,420,981.74 2005 total But of course the prices have gone up at US Cellular field since 2001 so the 2005 figure is likely to be 10% higher. That means the regular season reported revenue should be close to $147M or $16M more than the Cub reported revenue of 2001. Now 2.4M might not look like much in comparison to the Cub's 3.1M but it is good enough to move the White Sox into the top 10 in revenue in MLB for 2005 & the post-season could conceivably push them into the top 5 since they didn't have to share $1 w the ISFA.

It wasn't implying that Chicago is the 3rd largest MLB market overall. It was stating it's the 3rd hottest market in MLB post-season history with respect to sales. With respect to LAA in 2002 the 2005 CWS eclipsed them in post-season non-gate sales. http://www.suntimes.com/output/worldseries...soxworth31.html

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-nws-soxpay18.html 1) The ISFA gets $1.24M/yr in rent plus $4 for the first 500,000 full-priced tickets sold after attendance reaches 1.5 million. 2) The ISFA gets $1.5 for all full priced tickets sold after attendance reaches 2 million. The Sox get all reg season rev from concessions, parking, & merch sales.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/battin...&hand=a&pos=all There's a lot of good names there & options available with what the White Sox have to trade with right now. It's not inconceivable for the White Sox to spend the $$$ in acquiring a speedy SS & moving Uribe to 3B. But it's pretty obvious that such a move would say goodbye to Kong & possibly Crede. I don't think BorASS is as much a plague to the White Sox has he once was. It does his reputation no good to have so many unhappy clients & be shut out by the World Champion White Sox. I think he knows this. I think he knows that getting Crede signed to a long term deal with the White Sox would greatly bolster his credibility & PR around the league. That has to be worth more than a few million he might be able to squeeze out of Crede by moving him.

On the question of whether Kong should accept a Delgado-like deal from the White Sox I think he would be foolish to ignore endorsement potential in Chicago right now. He has a fair minded agent & I am sure that is going to come into play. The White Sox should offer him a Delgado like deal & Kong should accept it because outside of this post season he has never come close to being as productive as Delgado. A month ago it looked like Kong would be the most lucrative name on the market. Now we hear many teams are offering up their star sluggers for the right trade. This plays into the strength of the White Sox because these teams are willing to pick up good portions of those contracts in exchange for cheap young prospective talent. The White Sox are strong in that regards. So now the White Sox have to weigh what they should pay to retain Kong vs what they can deal to get his marquee value in someone else. Make no mistake about it. The face & voice of America's heartland is now a marque player. He can sell ads on TV probably better than most others. Obviously in that respect Thome is the most sensible name for a replacement. To suggest that he can return to AL & compete for the MVP in 2006 for the White Sox is not far-fetched by any stretch of the imagination. He's got a heartland face & voice as well & the Cell seems tailor made for him.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/worldseries...soxstuff11.html Top seller since 1991, MLB can't keep up with demand since they won the WS. 3rd greatest hot market: 1) Boston 2004 2) NYY-NYM subway series 2000 3) Chicago White Sox 2005 MLB sold the most programs in LEAGUE HISTORY during game 1 of the WS in Chicago. It just stands to reason that if you have been ranking near the bottom in attendance every year but in the middle of the pack in revenue you must be near the top in other revenue sources. This confirms that. The avg ticket price is going up $1-$4. Mostly a reflection of prime game pricing. But keep in mind the team collects 10's of millions in parking revenue each year. I'm not sure if that can be said for most of the other 30 teams.

But you have to keep in mind his age is in question just like El Duque. El Duque is listed at 36 yr old but is perceived to be as old as 41. Contreras is listed at 34 yr old but is perceived to be as old as 39. If the Phillies GM comes up to KW & says "we'd like to structure a package around Thome for Contreras" I'm pretty sure KW will say "I bet you would but it's going to cost you plenty." He's not going to say "no way". The White Sox should definitely NOT rush to judgement on Kong. Offer him arbitration to extend the negotiating window & see what options you have at the winter meetings.

The 2 biggest things working against Kong: 1) Dye at 1B. When Ozzie began to seriously consider this Kong's defensive value dropped a bit. Ozzie has seen him field ground balls & be used in DP combo's & is convinced he can play the position well. With that being the case it opens an OF position for the White Sox. That's where the plot really thickens because there are quality OFers available either thru FA or trades this year. KW could spend youth to get it. 2) 1B on the trade block. The most obvious name is Thome but again don't rule out Delgado either. Thome: 1995-2004 6 950ish OPS seasons, 4 1000ish OPS seasons. He's a hometown boy from Peoria, IL & IL Central college. Unlike Kong when he is healthy there are no poor months. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/4762...er&type=Batting What he's done at the Cell: .286A/.382O/.600S His 2005 season was an aberation that works in the White Sox favor. KW should be able to pull off a deal for Thome & below Kong prices. From 1995-2004 he avg'd 504 AB per season so there's no reason to believe he won't fully recover & produce. Contract wise: $14M 06-08, $12M 09 OR $3M buyout. If Philly were to include just $9M in cash this makes more sense than re-signing Kong.

IMHO & I think both KW & Ozzie support it: Mark, Freddy, & Jon are untouchables. They are the future of the staff. Jon has developed the mindset of big league pitcher & with AJP behind the plate looks to get even better. Freddy is our road warrior. He might very well be the most dependable road pitcher in the game today. Mark of course is a LH version of Greg Maddux. Filthy on the corners & great with off-speed stuff. That leave Contreras & El-Duque. Contreras' stock couldn't be any higher right now & that gives KW some major clout in these winter meetings. El-Duque's stock is probably a little higher as well because of his clutch post-season appearances. Contreras year is too similar to ELO's. It might be best to deal him on the upside then risk a slide in his last yr before FA.

You ask a good question. I believe when you offer a player arbitration you are agreeing to pay them at least 80% of their previous year's contract worth. So in Frank's case that would be a little over $6M. However I don't know whether buy out money counts toward the player's 2006 salary. I believe it does. So if they offered Frank arbitration to extend the negotiating time frame I believe they would only be on the hook for a little more than $3M on top of the $3.5M buyout.

I hate when the media (espec Kotex boy) trashes the Cell. I like the ball park more than Wrigley. If I had a choice between seeing the White Sox at the Cell or Wrigley I would still choose the Cell. I grew up with the exploding scoreboard & it's as much a part of the White Sox mystique as TD Jesus is for ND. I like a park that is both comfortable & appealing. But maybe that's just me. I don't need something to gripe about or a human flesh market atmosphere to enjoy a baseball game. I can't wait for 2006 to open. Seeing the finished greening of the Cell is going to bring tears of joy to my eyes. I've been waiting for 15 yrs now. I think it will instantly upgrade the appeal value of the park & bring back memories of old Comiskey. I hope they opt to do some brick facing & other contour work to give it more of a retro feel. Just for the record, I've been to Camden Yards, Jacob's Field, the new Miller Park, & the one in Pitts. I like ours the best. Camden might be more appealing but it's not as comfortable. Pitts has the best skyline & it does cause me to think of what the Cell would be like if you just picked it up & plopped it down on the lakefront. But then getting there would be a chore. Much more difficult than it is today. Even dating back to my cub scout days I never took a liking to Wrigley like I did Comiskey. I was born to root for the White Sox.

To the best of my knowledge of AZD they are deep in OF but about average on the corners. Tracy was moved to 1B to make room for Glaus. They are considering moving Gonzalez to make room for one of their young OFers. But if you move Glaus, you can move Tracy back to 3B (his natural position) & then look to upgrade 1B. Koney would probably allow them to part with Clark which would save them another million. A rumor has surfaced out of Miami this week that could have bearings on Kong as well. Delgado has been rumored to have indicated he would like to void his contract with the Marlins & enter FA. Now when you look at how the contract is structured & consider the Marlins finances there is reason to beleive the rumor is not all hot air. If Delgado were to become a FA that would probably put Koney down to #2. If there is any truth to this rumor than teams might sit on the fence a while to see what happens. There still might be a bidding war for Kong but it looks to be a slow & arduous process. That leaves me to believe that the CWS will offer arbitration to both Kong & Frank just to extend their negotiation time.

I've got all the papers but I want that bat.

Whether we can grow to be America's team remains to be seen. Road attendance next year might mean even more than home attendance. We were not a good draw last year on the road. I expect us to be much better. I'm dreaming of a Top 10 finish.

All die-hard White Sox fans know that if Jerry had never pulled them off free TV & kept Harry on, the Cubs would NOT even have attendance in their favor. That's why I've never taken that argument seriously. If the White Sox repeat as World Champions I fully expect they will outdraw the Cub the next year. When you add the parking revenue that will accompany that even against Cub pricing the White Sox will draw more revenue that year. That's the added benefit of the average White Sox fan spending more at the ball park than the average Cub fan when you exclude ticket prices.

Shawn Green (hometown Des Plaines, IL) is very consistent month to month: April .253A/.327O/.385S May .273A/.330O/.404S June .306A/.377O/.663S July .324A/.395O/.505S Aug .308A/.366O/.549S Sept .350A/.382O/.732S His 3 yr averages: April .266/.343O/.428S May .253/.321O/.408S June .257/.323O/.462S July .304/.371O/.502S Aug .305/.396O/.516S Sept .280/.370O/.484S His Jul & Aug numbers are the most impressive here. That's the weakness on the White Sox. We tank in offense in Aug at the same time our pitching goes south. We've got guys that always get hot in Sept. That's why we've not had a losing Sept under KW's tenure. Even if the Manny trade does not go down this trade & the eventual signing of Kong by the AZD works well for both teams. Though I'd prefer Kong to remain at $52M/4 getting Green would be nice as well.