ewokpelts

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 03:56 PM) This. It's all about building up the season-ticket base which happens in the off-season.The Sox have been good about pushing "buy tickets for next year and get playoff tickets for this year". Hell, they had the playoff payoff ad running right til the magic number went to 1. In 2005, the day after the sox clinched the AL Pennant, I was able to add four 2006 full season seats to my plan so my brother could get world series tix. He ended up with club level seats for the WS, much better than my Lower Reserved seats I had through my partial plan.

QUOTE (klaus kinski @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 03:34 PM) And they should have built the Metra Station on the tracks WEST of the park. Easier to get to, and connections to other UNION Station trains to go North & West would be available. Those are areas it is hard to drive from.It wasnt the Sox' call. IIT gave the land to Metra FREE. And the site was more "shovel ready" than the west end. Metra has said they are open to moving the other south side lines to stop at 35th, but that involves rerouting the lines a bit. And dont forget, the green line is two blocks north of union station.

QUOTE (SnB @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 03:20 PM) DISCLAIMER: I know this isn't going to happen any time soon. The Sox should move to the 'burbs. Let the cubs have the city, they already get all of the tourists and most of the younger city dwellers anyway. Focus your attention on families and easy accessibility. Not having your parking lots owned by the city would go a long way. the state of illinois owns the parking lots. but the sox get virtually all the parking revenue. city and county get tax revenue upwards of $6 per game. sox control 99.9% of USCF. And own 0% of it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 03:07 PM) Except it did ramp up in 2005 and 2008 while we were in contention. It didn't in 2012.sox had larger ST bases in 2005-2011.

I keep hearing excuses by people on why they dont go to games. I want to know what WOULD bring people TO THE PARK.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 01:14 PM) I never thought about this but after drawing so few fans during the season with a team nobody really believed in, I wonder if Sox would have sold out any early playoff games. Certainly if the Sox made the championship series, those would have been sold out but before that? Maybe not. Nobody has any money. If this goes on another year or two, I'd suspect habit will kick in and the Sox fan base will be very, very tiny. If enough seasons pass where the average fan just says the hell with it, it costs too much to go to a game, that can shrink a fan base for decades to come. sox held a bit for season ticket sales(playoff payoff), but most seats were sold as the season wound down. the smaller season ticket base meant more were up for sale to the public. when you look across the league, there were plenty of teams that had extra tix as the playoff started. but that was mainly due to a few teams not knowing their playoff future until the last second.

QUOTE (Tuna @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 12:23 PM) This is ridiculous. In your opinion, if someone voices a complaint are they now "crying" about it? That's another one of my favorites. If a conversation comes up about reasons why I don't go to a lot of games, I will give them. You can raise your nose and say they are "excuses" if you want to I suppose. The fact is, yes, there's public transportation, but it doesn't make any sense for me. 3 or 4 round trip tickets on the Metra + taking/paying the el round trip doesn't offer any financial solution. Add in taking my 4 year old on the red line at 10 pm isn't an ideal situation for me. With all that being said, it's not like I don't go to games. I do, but that is my reasoning of why I don't go to more. With a code, you could have gotten to a game for $9 on a weekend($12 after fees). So a family of four($48) plus parking($23) comes out to $100. And if you tailgate, you save a lot on your food expenses. Hell, the Smart Circle package(that I posted on here and other sites) offered 12 1/2 off tickets and four tickets at $1 each for $40(plus $5 shipping). So if you factor in the cost of the package plus the four $1 tickets, you spending $49 on a weekend date(most dates were friday and sunday games, with a few saturdays thrown in), while still having vouchers for 12 1/2 off tickets. So YES, I think you are making excuses. If you want to go to a game, you have more than one way to get there. Hell, you can even go for free when you sign your kids for the kids' club.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Oct 8, 2012 -> 12:39 PM) Maybe I'm still not reading you right. Why would they use attendance as their barometer instead of revenue, since (my assumption is that) attendance makes up a smaller percentage of overall revenue than it used to.that's the way the sox set their budget. both kenny and jerry have said this to the press. player payroll is determined by the ticket revenue. I don't think ticket revenue is the sole form of player payroll, but the sox are a break even business. he must be using tv and online money to finance the other parts of the org. remember, the sox have little debt to service. some teams are swimming in debt. look at the rangers, who listed a-rod as a creditor for 25 million dollars when they were in bankruptcy.

QUOTE (Tuna @ Oct 10, 2012 -> 09:00 AM) I don't believe that to be a myth. If everyone lived in Bridgeport and wanted to go to games by themselves then sure.tickets were as low as $7 on Mondays in 2012. the same seat was $5 on Mondays in 2000. And parking was $13 in 2000, a year that sold less tickets than 2012, with it's "unsustainable" parking rates. and don't forget that 2000 was a DIVISION TITLE year. people just want to make excuses.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Oct 5, 2012 -> 08:28 PM) I don't expect them to ever admit that they don't care. What business ever says to potential customers "we don't need your business?" They just try to get you to buy at whatever price they are offering. kenny and jerry use attendance as their barometer of payroll. you misread my response

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Oct 5, 2012 -> 12:50 PM) I don't understand why we keep using attendance as the measuring stick. It's clear the Sox are perfectly happy charging a higher price for lower attendance but higher revenue. (Sure, the Sox will whine and try to convince more people to come to the park, but that doesn't change the fact that they are purposefully charging a premium price for what they consider to be a premium product). People are watching and paying attention to the Sox (for example, see this article by Telander in late August). I know it's frustrating to see a half-filled ballpark, but we, as fans, should care much more about revenue. Revenue is what determines payroll, not the raw number of fans in the stands. tell that to kenny and jerry

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Oct 5, 2012 -> 12:27 AM) I honestly think Cubs fans in the metro-Chicago area outnumber Sox fans 4 to 1. I think the Sox need to seriously lower prices and market themselves as the cheaper alternative. I'd guess the Sox had about 9-10,000 season ticket holders this season. I base this number on the Tuesday afternoon game at the end of the season that drew 13,000 fans - that's tickets sold, not actual butts in the seats. So, when the Sox draw 30,000 for a big game, the media take is that the fans don't care and aren't loyal, but I'd say a walk-up of 20,000 to any game is pretty impressive. Attendance is pretty poor throughout the league. All you have to do is watch MLB or ESPN highlights and look at all the empty seats throughout baseball. Then compare them with the reported attendance. Where the Sox really lag behind other big market teams is season ticket sales. I really get tired of the attendance argument/discussion, but it's a valid one to have. Unfortunately, it usually devolves into Cubs fans are just there for the ballpark, or to get drunk, or .... Whatever the reason, they have a large, loyal fanbase. It's supply and demand. Their demand allows them to raise prices. The Sox lack of demand should result in lower prices, and considerably lower at that. However, we go into the season with basically the same prices as the Cubs and expect to compete with them for fans. I went to one game this year when I was in town. Wednesday afternoon game. For myself, wife and three kids, it was around $200 for five bleacher tickets. Another $20 for parking. Another $50 or so for food and drinks. $270 for a baseball game is a bit much. The neighborhood doesn't keep me away. Neither does the lack of bars/restaurants in the area. Neither does a bad experience with a player not signing my hat or Jerry Reinsdorf or Kenny Williams being arrogant. None of that stuff matters. The cost of a baseball game keeps the fans at home watching on tv. It's happening all over baseball and sports in general, fans are staying away because, for the price, it makes more sense to watch from the comfort of home. A few places are somewhat immune, but even the Cubs had more empty seats than I can remember seeing in 15-20 years (despite what they announce for attendance). because of youkilis, the sox allowed fans to get refunds for the 9/25 game. I suspect a lot did just that.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 5, 2012 -> 10:33 AM) Cubs attendance will take a big hit next year unless they start winning. All those ticket brokers who lost their asses this year, will not be renewing.the brokers write unsold(or way undersold) tix off as losses. i suspect the number of amateur scalpers will drop. I had been on the waiting list(for s***s and giggles), and last november i was #8000-ish. in less than a month, i was in the 5000's and allowed to buy bleacher tickets. i passed that up, and they took my name off the list. of course, the cubs list allow you to register multiple times, so i suspect thier list is padded with lots of people that are no longer interested. i'm suprised they never went to a paid waiting list model like the bears or the hawks. especially since johnny mccub mcdonough is the one that set up the paid list at the hawks.

QUOTE (flippedoutpunk @ Oct 4, 2012 -> 01:14 AM) So how is attendance going to look next year? Isnt Sir Rahm closing down the Dan Ryan part of the red line for the entire baseball season next year? Thats usually how I transported myself to sox games, screw paying 25 bucks to park in the lot... The cta will have ahuttle busses as well as having the red line run on the green line tracks

QUOTE (VAfan @ Sep 3, 2012 -> 06:12 PM) Look at these splits for Paulie: April 81 13 31 9 0 5 15 7 2 12 0 0 .383 .444 .679 1.123 May 95 18 36 4 0 6 18 14 1 21 0 0 .379 .464 .611 1.075 June 83 7 20 2 0 3 7 10 0 8 0 0 .241 .323 .373 .696 July 93 9 28 2 0 3 12 7 3 14 0 0 .301 .365 .419 .784 August 78 7 18 1 0 4 10 5 1 10 0 0 .231 .282 .397 .679 September 8 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 .250 .250 .375 .625 Last 7 Days 27 2 4 1 0 0 2 2 0 4 0 0 .148 .200 .185 .385 Pre All-Star 286 40 94 15 0 14 42 33 3 44 0 0 .329 .404 .528 .932 All-Star 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000 1.000 .000 1.000 Post All-Star 152 15 41 4 0 7 20 10 4 25 0 0 .270 .327 .434 .761 April and May he was a monster. Since then, he had a mediocre July, but June and August were pathetic for our cleanup hitter, and the last week has been unwatchable. Maybe there's hope in his home/away splits. Home 209 32 71 11 0 12 36 25 2 33 0 0 .340 .414 .565 .979 Away 229 23 64 8 0 9 26 18 5 36 0 0 .279 .344 .432 .776 I don't think Robin can afford to just pencil him into the 4 slot every day and pray he rebounds. At home maybe he should play everyday, but his last week on the road was SO BAD anyone -- even a pitcher -- could have outhit him. What's up? He's not the only one in a slump, but he's killing the heart of the order. You can't have Dunn strike out like he does with men on base if Paulie can never pick them up. He zucks more than zima.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Oct 1, 2012 -> 09:00 AM) Anyone know about how long it takes them to refund the money? My credit card payment is due on October 18. Is it a pipe dream to think I'll have it by then? Probably a week after they get officially eliminated. So next monday.

2012 total attendance is down roughly 35k from 2011. The plus side is that this number was reached with a much lower sth base. Down side is that base prices were actually lower than in 2011, and that the weather was actually mych better in 2012 than 2011(only one rainout had to be made up)

ozzie's act hurt ticket sales. not to mention the 25 man roster. two big reason to say "adios!"

QUOTE (SI1020 @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 11:47 PM) Why is this even being seriously discussed? It is a BS fantasy. Also FWIW I thought Jeff Torborg was a good manager. torborg did a solid job, especially in 1990. BUT, he bailed at the first chance of a bigger payday(mets). and that really messed up his career more than anything.

yeah....not goin to happen

Final Code - 9/30 - SATC - http://www.whitesox.com/satc

2012 attendance is now at 2003 levels. It's projected higher than 2004 but still better than 2000, when the sox made the playoffs.

sox park: next to 2 cta lines, 1 metra line, and a major expressway wrigley field, next to 1 cta line. 1 mile from nearest metra line. 1.5 miles from lake shore dr.(which does NOT have an off ramp at addison) obviously, Wrigley is harder to get to for many chicagoans.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Sep 27, 2012 -> 10:37 AM) The whole point people are talking about here is that this is the last week in a pennant race, so you'd think it'd be higher. Those other games aren't the last week in a pennant race. If they were winning a lot more right now and it was a true fight to the finish, more would be out there. it's also late September. race or not, kids are in school and the weather is not as good. and tuesday being a day game to accommodate youkilis hurt the gate(low walk up sales and the sox offered REFUNDS/EXCHANGES for people that had tix and couldn't make the 1pm start). considering he only gave the team 1 hit, they should have just told him to stay at home and play the night game.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Sep 27, 2012 -> 08:29 AM) This brings up the old argument of ticket prices being so high (along with parking and concession costs). I realize that the Sox are a business and they have to make money. And I know that there's no money to be made if tickets are $10. But there has to be a happy medium. There is no question that lower ticket prices would result in more fans coming out. And as Greg pointed out, lower parking costs would help, too. Obviously ticket prices cannot be dropped dramatically, or there would be no money to pay for a quality product on the field. I live 40 minutes from the Cell, and I've been to one game in the past three years. Not because I'm not a fan. But because of the cost. The average person nowadays cannot afford to take their family to a Sox game very often. And even if I wanted to go by myself (my kids would be quite pissed), I'd still be paying $50 for a ticket and parking and then another $20 or so for concessions. I just can't afford to do that very often. And frankly, if I can't go to a game with my family or at least some friends I'm going to grab a 6-pack of Hoegaarden and flop down in my recliner. That's only going to cost me about $9. I would love to go to 5-10 games a year, but it's not going to happen. However, if ticket and parking prices are lowered, I might be able to come 1-2 times a year. sox kids' club is FREE, and the sox give you TWO FREE TICKETS per kid. a family of four can go to at least one game free, and only be on the hook for parking and concessions. kid's day has $1 tix for kids, even on the lower level. but keep telling yourself that sox tix are too expensive for families.