The
Tribune ran a story today about a financial-news website that claims the White
Sox have suffered the fifth worst decline of a pro sports’ team in its fan base
over the past ten years, and part of me wants to cry foul. I mean, this is the Tribune, where all things
Cub—except maybe for Sammy Sosa’s oddly proportioned body—was news all the time
back when newspaper and baseball team were part of the same corporation. And the story runs, not so coincidentally,
just two days before the start of SoxFest.
But this is one case where figures don’t lie.
According
to 247wallst.com, the Sox averaged 28,923 fans a game when they won the World
Series in 2005; ten years later, that figure was down to 21,947. Those figures are bad enough, but they become
really depressing when compared to the Cubs.
A 2005 team that went 79-83 outdrew the Sox by an average of 10,000 fans
a game. Last season, the disparity verged
on 15,000 a game.
The Sox vice president in charge of
spinning facts offered up a whole bunch of excuses, my favorite being the bad
weather last spring. Funny, but teams
never cite good weather when attendance jumps.
It’s always on account of good team play. I wonder if bad weather ever affects Cubs’
attendance.
The
Trib story also noted both a decline in Sox TV ratings and a growing disparity between
Sox and Cubs’ viewership. Long story
short, the Cubs are more than three times more popular than the Sox. So much for Hawk Harrelson commanding a
legion of devoted listeners the way Harry Caray once did. A platoon, maybe, but nothing more than that.
As
luck would have it, I was talking baseball to someone yesterday who told me his
wife refuses to attend games at the Cell because it’s in a bad
neighborhood. No, it’s not, but you can’t
fight perception. Well, maybe you could
had you decided back in the 1990s to develop the area around the new stadium, but
that decision was never made. And there
are consequences in life, especially for a pro team owner who as always acted too
smart by half.
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