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QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 07:24 PM) This should not be surprising at all. It has been a trend for the last 5-10 years. Oakland has a terrible stadium to play in. Cleveland, the fans are still pissed at Dolan and two total rebuilds...so what do they do, turn around and charge by far the highest for playoff tickets to show their appreciation to the fans. Rays' problems are well-documented and familiar to Sox fans since that would have been the home park for the White Sox if not for James Thompson and the mysterious midnight+ vote. How much does Tampa(or Miami) get in local tv rights? Part of Einhorn's reasoning for Florida was his claim that the tv rights would be worth more than any loss of ticket sales.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Oct 18, 2013 -> 04:51 PM) He's not coming back. They don't need 3 1B/DH types on the roster. There are traditions, and there are WHITE SOX traditions

Abreu may not start the season with the big club. And having Konerko as a backup/pinch hitter is not necessarily a bad thing. And let's be honest. Keeping him one more year helps sell tickets and merch for a farewell tour. Also of note: Konerko has been known to rejoin the sox after big moves(Thome in 05, Dunn in 10)

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 03:25 PM) There are a number of different reasons. Whether it involves drinking with their buddies, the field itself being a tourist attraction, being long-time season ticket holders who are afraid to miss the year the Cubs finally make it all the way or just watching Sammy hit a bunch of homeruns... Obviously. The city is big enough for both teams to draw 3 million fans in the same season. But if the Cubs attendance started shrinking like it has the past couple of years and the Sox attendance stayed up, I think the tide would turn from everyone thinking that it always will be a Cubs town. The sox were a sellout short of 3 million PAID admissions(comps don't count towards attendance) in 2006, and the Cubs drew north of 3 million that year as well. It can be done.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 01:09 PM) BS. You probably did the same thing in 2005, since they were collapsing then as well. I love the argument Sox fans make, they "knew the team would collapse" that is why they didn't support them all year. Like Sox fans are far more intelligent than other fanbases. Explain to me why, if these fans are so smart and know what is going to happen ahead of time, more Sox fans watched them in person in 2007 than in 2012? More season ticket holders. And that number shrank quickly, as there were no playoff invoices/deposits forcing people to renew(Sox have a policy that if playoff refunds are deposits for the next year, or you lose your seats. 2006 had tix issued and refunded).

Sox attendance, for a horrible horrible team, was actually much better than playoff teams tampa and cleveland. and we were not that far behind oakland. http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 03:45 PM) Altanta yes. Dodgers last night, amazingly, I saw multiple tweets saying a few thousand seats remained unsold just prior to the game. Also I believe Cleveland was having a very hard time selling out, and not sure they made it. Tampa also definitely fell short. Tampa "sold out" but they also had tarps covering several thousands seats. Arizona couldn't sell $12 playoff tix in the 2011 NLDS. You literally could have bought 100 tix in the same section a week before game 3.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 10, 2013 -> 10:43 AM) You are not correct. Think about it, aif it didn't make a big impact on their own revenue, why would the Indians charge over $400 a ticket on average? So MLB can make more money? There wouldn't be such a difference between what teams were charging if it was going to all be divvyed up. Some of it goes to the league, some of it for the playoff shares players get, but the team keeps a decent percentage. There was an article a couple of years ago how the DBacks heighted their payroll based on a hopeful long playoff run to cover the increase. The playoff run didn't happen. When you buy playoff tickets you buy the from the White Sox and not MLB. If playoff ticket money is refunded for unplayed games, the White Sox refund you, not MLB. If it was all going to MLB, they wouldn't need the middleman. The AVERAGE is based off tickets in the upper corner as well as the dugout seats behind home plate. you know, ones that cost $400 already. Also, like i said before, these teams have the stubhub prices in front of them. They are charging secondary prices at the primary market level. Based of 2011, players got 60 percent of the gate for 24 games. The number of minimum games needed assuming every series was a sweep. 100% The other 12 still go to mlb to distribute. How much a team gets is unknown. But what is known is that some owners, like Jerry, purposely wrote into stadium leases that playoff STADIUM money was not part of any rent agreement. Now why would jerry do that if he was expecting a windfall of money in a playoff run from ticket sales? For all we know, the excess money gained from non-sweeps is distributed among all 30 teams. As for the indians again, they have been known to gouge their fans. phantom playoff tix in 2011 were 92% higher than regular season tix. Also of note: My game 163 tix in 2008 (lower box down the line) cost MORE than my ALDS tix in Lower Reserved Outfield. EDIT: Yes, the Sox are the ones who "sell" my playoff tix, but look on the back. I sure don't see no damm dunkin donuts ad on them. I see bud selig's signature.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 9, 2013 -> 11:57 AM) Only a percentage of it does. The teams get to keep a decent percentage themselves. ALL ticket money goes to mlb to distribute. They use 12 DS games, 4 CS games and 2 WS games to dish out to players and teams. The rest goes to mlb. Hockey is the sport where playoff ticket money is dished out via revenue sharing. But those clubs do not send the money to Toronto.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 9, 2013 -> 10:57 AM) Priced determined by MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL. I'm just refuting your earlier point. MLB only sets the World Series ticket prices... fair enough. but the larger point is that the ticket revenue, no matter who sets it, flows to the head office in NYC. The indians do not get the AL Wild Card game money. They will get a slice of the total compensation pie.

One also needs to factor in the "stubhub effect". Teams now have data from stubhub directly for postseason tix sold on the secondary. They see the market rate, and have compensated.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 9, 2013 -> 09:14 AM) Major League Baseball spokesman Matt Bourne said that the league recommends a series of postseason ticket percentage increases based on a team's regular-season ticket price. The teams themselves, however, are responsible for setting those ticket prices for the division and championship series. The league sets the World Series prices unilaterally. And this has what to do with the average price versus section by section. Sox upper reserved seats for 2012 alds were $45. Regular cost was as high as $30. But scout seats were $300 in the alds, while they are $285 for regular season.

"Average price" is misleading as the premium sections skew the model. Pittsburgh has $20 standing room and $25 upper level seats. You need to compare the prices to regular season tix at the price levels. Not as a whole.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 9, 2013 -> 08:57 AM) http://247wallst.com/special-report/2013/1...yoff-tickets/3/ The five most expensive (in terms of premium over regular season prices) will surprise you. 5. Oakland, avg. $167 203% premium 4. Boston, avg. $329 227% premium 3. Cincy, avg. $150 234% premium 2. Pirates, avg. $322 532% premium 1. Indians, avg. $461 697% premium The Reds and A's are also considered small market teams....so you can see the strategies for those ownership groups. The Indians and Pirates really gouged their fans, counting on making up revenue from the regular season from the pent up demand for playoff baseball tickets. 7. Tampa Bay Rays > Premium: 185% > Division Series avg. price: $154 Dodgers' tickets were only $14 more than Rays' tickets. Cardinals, Braves and Tigers charged the lowest premiums vis a vis regular season ticket prices. Priced determined by MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL. Also, not all teams have 50,000 seats like la or Atlanta. Those teams charge less due to larger capacities. Pittsburgh had $20 standing room tix for the wild card and NLDS games.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 5, 2013 -> 09:02 AM) If that's the case, that the Indians were charging the most and were going to bring in something like $20 million per game...then there would be some incentive to fire Francona, but surely that's not the scenario. Likewise, unless the owner was Loria, it would have been nearly impossible for the Pirates to fire Hurdle even had they lost to the Reds (does the frustration of falling apart the two previous 2nd halves not get erased by breaking a two decade long playoff-less streak?). Following your line of logic, the pressure would be on the small market managers (the A's and Rays would be two other teams that jump to mind right away)...and yet Joe Maddon's job right now is probably among the most secure in baseball. Teams that are going to suffer financial setbacks if they get knocked out of the playoffs quickly without having had the opportunity to pocket all that additional revenue windfall. On the flip side of the coin is Don Mattingly, who the feeling is in LA right now that if he doesn't advance to the NL Championship (and perhaps win it or at least look like a convincing manager in losing) that he will be fired, and the Dodgers are THE Evil Empire West right now, yes? With the decision to walk Reed Johnson to face Craig Heyward in the rearview mirror...well, not even sure Ozzie Guillen at his worst would have done something that bone-headed. Finally, there's not a better franchise model in existence than the Cardinals, despite trying to upset the apple cart in the beginning with the 2nd manager hired with ZERO previous professional experience in Matheny. Rightly or wrongly, Ron Washington is going to be on the hottest seat of all beginning April, 2014. Again, playoff revenue is SPLIT among the 10 teams AND the league. There's a reason jerry gets ALL ballpark revenues during the postseason. He put that in his lease with the state because you can't know for sure how much $$ the league will award the team for postseason play. MLB "rents" each stadium and collects all ticket revenue. They determine a formula to distribute the money. Typically the division series games $ is spread out to all clubs, with the was teams getting some of the WS receipts.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 5, 2013 -> 07:48 AM) First off, Dusty has been managing how many years? This is the first time I have ever seen that written as a problem, if it was, why would the Reds not only hire him, but give him an extension? Where has the same things been said about Ventura other than by people on message boards who come to that conclusion by the 2 or 3 shots of him shown in the dugout per game? I think this move was all about money. I think Reds ownership is thinking that point A to point B crap Krause used when he fired Collins. The article I read about cost of playoff tickets these days seems to me is going to put a lot of pressure on managers to avoid quick playoff departures. From what I read, a couple of these team could basically cover their entire payroll with a run to the WS just on playoff ticket sales alone. playoff ticket sales are handled by MLB. Teams only get a cut of the money. The real money is in media rights now. As for baker, he sucks. That's why he got fired. 2010: swept by the phillies 2012: lost THREE GAMES IN A ROW AT HOME AFTER WINNING THE FIRST TWO ON THE ROAD. to a s***ty giants team. 2013: simply WATCHED as his starter got unglued by heckling fans. Proceeded to lose the one game playoff. Need I say more?

QUOTE (knightni @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 03:28 PM) I see. Does Garcia get half or something, or is this a tax write-off to a charity? Garcia is likely being paid for his time and a set # of autos. Probably no different than if he was doing a normal signing. The organizers are likely adding the appearance fee to their expenses.

Grandstand sent me an email about this. The signing is a fundraiser for a cancer charity.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 05:37 PM) http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/08/07/ber...e-sox-optimism/ This is stupid. No team has ever done this because teams that are in a position to dump overpaid veterans for underperformance are the same teams that also need prospects to rebuild. This is the type of idea someone would get when they don't understand how professional sports work. Plus, what would the sox have to give up to acquire the bloated payroll AND cost effective prospects?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 03:25 PM) Perhaps, but I have heard otherwise. That and Bernstein continuing to allude to the possibility a return by Guillen. Ozzie's making 4 million sitting at home the next 2 years. He's not coming back, even as an analyst/spokesidiot

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 05:22 PM) The article was that the Sox rebuild might follow a model that has not been seen in MLB before, taking on bad contracts for prospects. And it was beyond stupid. Why would the sox need to take on other teams bad contracts? To have an even s***tier team but much more expensive? And he never answered how the sox could get goodnprospects included in the deal.

It means the giants are still the giants. Overpaying for veteran talent.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 27, 2013 -> 01:28 PM) Check stubhub a few hours before the game. Diamond boxes were $8 last night.club level WITH PARKING was $6 yesterday

9/27 - SSC 9/28 - BRIAN1 or TRAIN1 - HTTP://www.whitesox.com/thankyou 9/29 - SATC - HTTP://www.whitesox.com/satc

QUOTE (spiderman @ Sep 24, 2013 -> 10:54 PM) Were there any deals/discounted tickets for this Saturday's game? I thought I had heard something about highly discounted tickets, but can't find anything anywhere other than what people have on Stubhub. Anything know of any promo code / deals for this Saturday? www.whitesox.com/thankyou use code BRIAN1