ewokpelts

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Oct 25, 2017 -> 04:38 PM) 12 team format works fine for the NFL, and would be a preferred method to me as opposed to the current 10 team format. Give the two best teams in each league the equivalent of a bye (which will make all those September games matter more) with a best of 3 wild card round for teams 3-6. Then proceed as current format. byes are for lesser sports. like football.

QUOTE (flavum @ Oct 25, 2017 -> 03:36 PM) 8 divisions of 4 teams wouldn’t work in baseball. Teams under .500 would make the playoffs if they did it, and it’s not happening. It’s either: Two 16-team leagues with a nearly balanced schedule (see post #118) or 4 divisions of 8 teams, major realignment, the unbalanced schedule, and 6 or 8 wildcards Btw Ewok- 16 out of 32 playoff teams in baseball? No way. No how. why not? we have 16 in basketball and hockey. and 12 in football. more teams in the playoffs and "in contention" equal larger local and national ratings. which equals more money. and more money means teams like the sox have more to spend. f*** major realignment. im for the preservation of what's left of the leagues. you do regional conferences and divisions, and you will watch the sport die. my idea creates a march madness like atmosphere for the first round of games. you'll have 3-5 games on every day for a week or so.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Oct 24, 2017 -> 09:22 AM) It is extremely easy to sell the tickets through the sox-ticketmaster process. I have never had a problem selling the tickets, even the morning of a game, especially if you sell them for face value. The season ticket price is slightly discounted so if you sell them for face value you actuality make a little money. I put the back into the account so my cost the next year is even less. too bad most September games, even lower level seats, are $6 on stubhub.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Oct 24, 2017 -> 08:52 PM) I would just appreciate a legal way to watch White Sox games from inside their blackout territory. I would pay $120 a year to get MLB.TV; sadly, I still cannot watch Sox games, legally. get a cable provider that carries nbc sports Chicago. I know directv will let you buy access.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Oct 24, 2017 -> 08:25 PM) I think for all of the games to move to WGN, the team would have to undergo some serious renegotiation with the station. I forget the exact terms, but I believe the team receives significantly less in fees per game from WGN than they do from cable. Probably a trade off for the additional exposure ‘GN provides. Nonetheless, the team would be out what would seem some significant revenue if they flew solo on WGN. wgn is an over the air station. the next tv deal will be similar to the current nbc sports deal. the sox will have equity in the station and air all or most game's on it. My $50 bet will be they stay on nbc sports and make more money per year. The cubs are bolting no matter what. The sox already have equity in the station, and have the right to purchase the cubs share. And staying on nbc sports means that they wont have to negotiate with every cable provider because they are already on most tvs in Chicago's market.

Here's a simple solution: 2 Leagues 4 divisions per league 4 teams per division (this assumes expansion of 2 additional teams) 16 playoff teams. The 8 division winners and four best non division winners per league. 3 game "wild card" round where the division winner plays a wild card. Top division winner plays worst wild card. game one in WC park and games 2-3 at division winner. 5 game "division series" - same home/road splits as current LDS format. Can either play in a hard bracket or re-seed division winners and wild cards. 7 game championship series - same as current format. 7 game world series. currently, a team that plays in all rounds including the wild card will play 23 games max. this format has a max of 22 games, so the postseason wouldn't get extended at all, thereby not needing to reduce regular season games. Going to an nhl or nba system of east and west conferences is a bad idea. but going to 16 team brackets for the playoffs is better than a 10 or 12 team format.

QUOTE (champagne030 @ Oct 23, 2017 -> 02:46 PM) Yes, but the weekend package never got opening day. Did they have the 13 game packages last year and was that a package where you received the same seat for all 13 games? They had a seven game plan and a 14 game Plan. You chose the games and seating level per game. You were not guaranteed the same Seat per game. The 7 game was nice because you could get the cub game and six Sunday games for the box office price of the cub game alone in the upper corners. I would sell the cub games and get the Sunday games For free

QUOTE (champagne030 @ Oct 19, 2017 -> 04:36 PM) Don't know if this will work....never tried to upload a file here. Where did you get this information?

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 16, 2017 -> 02:59 PM) Why is this even a story? because it was in a newspaper(and website)

The crazy thing is that Bam tech was a SPINOFF of mlb advanced media. the 30 clubs still own the mothership, plus the 25% of bamtech not owned by the nhl or Disney. There was a lot of pressure from outside forces for mlb to take on outside investors or IPO mlbam. And even then it would have been massive windfall for the 30 clubs. holding pat until bamtech spun off was a smart move. As for the money, since the sox really only have operating losses and don't carry long term debt, they have a huge wad of money that can be used for ANYTHING, but yeah, likely it'll cover Robert's signing bonus and fees. I imagine quite a few clubs will use it for debt service.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Aug 22, 2017 -> 04:39 PM) Teams in general need to get away from giant contracts to 28+ year old dudes, only way anything changes and teams stop being crippled by 34 year old league average players making 20m. Take all that money and invest in your scouting/development.and the current labor deal puts caps on that. the system is designed to give 28 year olds mega contracts.

meh. he should have never played in 2015. he's a casualty of a desperate front office. if he was drafted in 2016, or even 2015, I think he'd be barely in AAA by now.

QUOTE (soxtalker999 @ Aug 17, 2017 -> 12:39 PM) I wonder how much leverage the Sox had in the negotiations. Did we ever learn whether Houston claimed him, or if he passed through waivers unclaimed? If the latter, the Sox could negotiate with any team. If the former, the Sox could only negotiate with Houston, and the only alternative to making a deal with them was to keep Clippard for the rest of the season. Also, I imagine that Clippard is far happier to be pitching for Houston than the Sox for the rest of this season. He has a chance at a championship. I would think that would be a good message to send to players that we might sign in the off-season -- if you sign with the Sox, they'll work with you and give you a chance to latch onto a contender in the middle of the season. i think it was implied he cleared waivers. especially considering that the sox ate some money. if he were claimed, the sox would get 100% salary relief plus 50k in transfer fees.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 01:34 PM) When they are winning games and in first place, why does 2009 or 2011 matter? The White Sox fans not showing up in 2012 really spooked this team to new heights. There have been a lot more people at games than I thought this year though. That will be tested during the week and when the kids go back to school. They are trying $1 hot dog Wednesday to see if that helps. So those ticket sales must really be meager. Family Sunday really is taking off. Almost 30k yesterday. And over 30k to get a piece of crap jersey on Saturday. But the highlight on Saturday was a couple of rows in front of me was a group of about 6 guys. One guy did seem like the ringleader, he did buy a round of beers. He and another guy in his group got into an argument, and the other guy threw his entire beer on the ringleader and stormed away never to return. You buy a guy a $10 beer and he douses you with it. That ain't right. Attendance is flat or below 2016, when they sold 100k tix in one week thanks to that hot start in April. But they have played so few weekday games that the average isn't brought down.

QUOTE (SonofaRoache @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 01:49 PM) Yep, no shows is the key here. I was surprised with this, but then again they play a lot of day games. People could just go to work and spend time with their families instead of watching horrendous baseball. The Cubs have actually fielded some good teams since the '98 season. The no shows impacted night games more.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 02:14 PM) Then how come attendance was lower in 2009 than in 2008 which was lower than 2007 Being in first place for the vast majority of the season doesn't make people want to come to the park due to what they did the year before? Kind of makes you wonder why they showed up and paid big bucks in 2005 for the WS considering it had been 46 years since they even went to one of those, and 88 since they actually won. 2006 was bigger because the team forced season ticket buys for WS tickets. And they won a World Series. Don't forget that.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 11:22 AM) The Roosevelt/Clark/River site has been sold and is going to be developed into offices and residences. The Sox aren't moving there. In retrospect, it would have been pretty nice, as other things would have been developed around there, but it had to be a football/baseball stadium. If it was built, the complaints would be even louder. That site is nowhere near usable for baseball. There is literally ONE road leading to that site. And it's surrounded by overpasses and rail tracks.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 11:06 AM) The Indians tore down two perfectly legitimate contending teams....2000-2002, that was more logical. The second one, around 20007/08, really killed that franchise, along with the strike as well. Owner more hated by many many multiples than JR. The Indians went to the World Series the year after the strike. And sold out for 8 years

QUOTE (SonofaRoache @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 11:03 AM) True. Also I'll add that Cubs attendance started tanking and forced them to make the moves they did. The Cubs had tickets sold, but massive no shows before the rebuild. That actually costs more because they staff the day of game employees based on tix sold.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 10:47 AM) A measure of the quality of a fan base isn't that they pack them in when winning. It is if they show up when they aren't. So that means the Cubs are the best fans in baseball?

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 09:21 AM) Beyond the ChiSox bar there is really not much in the way of hotels, bars, restaurants, etc. around the stadium to attract fans. The stadium itself is not bad per se, but your only choices are really 1) Tailgating 2) ChiSox pub 3) Turtle's bar/cork and kerry South of the stadium is not doing it any favors either. Kansas City plays in a parking lot. Look at thier numbers

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 09:14 AM) The Indians have very nearly the worst fan base in all of baseball. Outside of Oakland and Tampa, you don't really get much lower. That comparison honestly makes it worse, not better. One team town and the American League champions. And a fan base that sold out games for 8 years straight.

I repeat: the American league champions draw over 1000 per game more than the last place sox. And that is after play By MORE home dates. Sox are doing just fine.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Jul 30, 2017 -> 07:18 PM) Sigh. Same old, same old...rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. I think the next stadium will be exactly in the same location when the lease runs out because they'll still be using THAT stadium. Absolutely nothing wrong with it after the roughly 70 million dollars in improvements over the years. Atlanta replaced a 20'year of facility. The sox will have a new park by the 100th anniversary of the all star game

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 30, 2017 -> 08:14 PM) I really wonder if Illinois will risk losing the Sox over a stadium? Not sure what this has to Do with attendance, but the state has mechanisms to pay for a new facility. The hotel tax that paid for the current park will still be collected after the soldier field bonds are paid off. Most likely they will use that income to build a new park. One with a lease less favorable to the sox of course.