Sox Philosophy Dilemma...

[gosox41]

Originally Posted by voodoochile

Well those folks are going to come out based on winning and losing anyway. It can't hurt to market the team to a more casual fan who is looking for those other things. Maybe an ad with a video of young attractive people cooling off in the shower on a hot summer day. Show a father sharing a foul ball they caught with their young child then close with a family package deal announcement. Heck a walk down the main concourse showing all the various food options.

It would be a dramatic change from the Sox current marketing campaign of focusing exclusively on the game and players and it cannot hurt the bottom line to market to more people.

I agree with that. It is easier to sell the Wrigley experiece to the casual 20 something fan who could care less about winning and losing and more about picking up people before and after the game.

The question for Sox marketing (and they've probably already asked it) is: What makes going to US Cellular to watch a Sox game unique/special to the casual fan?

Unfortunately, I don't have the first darn clue.

Of course the next question should be: How do we expand our base of 'die hard fans' ie the one's who don't stop going when the team isn't playing well or feel the need to start threads about their annual complaints about how they are treated at the game.


Bob

[gosox41]

Originally Posted by RKMeibalane

I'm not going to get into the numerous problems imposed by Hawk being the face of the franchise (someone posted pictures of him wearing a hood a few years ago, and he looked like Palpatine), but it would seem that if the Sox want to attract more fans, what you're suggesting is the best way to do it. Cast a wider net to catch more fish. It's not a great long-term plan, as fans won't support a mediocre team, but it may help over a period of a few seasons.

These fans you speak of go to Cubs games. 2.8MM bought tickets wiht their hard earned money last year. A year when they lost 100 games. What keeps those fools coming back? The right to spend more money to see a much worse team play then the Sox?


Bob

[Lip Man 1]

Originally Posted by gosox41

These fans you speak of go to Cubs games. 2.8MM bought tickets wiht their hard earned money last year. A year when they lost 100 games. What keeps those fools coming back? The right to spend more money to see a much worse team play then the Sox?


Bob

The answer is everything but baseball. Sunshine, good looking females and cold beer so they can get drunk and act like bigger idiots.

Lip

[Golden Sox]

Beer and good looking chicks plus a neighborhood which has become the new Mardi Gras has obviously worked for the bad guys on the Northside. The area wasn't always like that. In the mid 1970's that area was awful. I knew the man who bought Rays Bleachers and renamed it Murphys. He bought the tavern for $25,000 in the mid 70's. The only time the bar was open was when the Cubs played, 81 times a year. Most people wouldn't step foot in that area other than to go to a game there. My former taxman grew up in a 2 flat on Eddy street just southwest of Wrigley Field. They sold it in the mid 70's for $70,000. That same 2 flat sold recently for $1.3 million. Obviously things have changed there. The Ricketts must realize the Cubs are going to draw decently regardless of what the team does. Anybody who thinks the Chicago media doesn't favor the Cubs is dreaming. The media has yet to point out that this present Cubs ownership has done nothing to improve the team in over 3 years. Spending $52 million on Edwin Jackson isn't exactly improving the team. Yet the media says nothing.

[voodoochile]

Originally Posted by Golden Sox

Beer and good looking chicks plus a neighborhood which has become the new Mardi Gras has obviously worked for the bad guys on the Northside. The area wasn't always like that. In the mid 1970's that area was awful. I knew the man who bought Rays Bleachers and renamed it Murphys. He bought the tavern for $25,000 in the mid 70's. The only time the bar was open was when the Cubs played, 81 times a year. Most people wouldn't step foot in that area other than to go to a game there. My former taxman grew up in a 2 flat on Eddy street just southwest of Wrigley Field. They sold it in the mid 70's for $70,000. That same 2 flat sold recently for $1.3 million. Obviously things have changed there. The Ricketts must realize the Cubs are going to draw decently regardless of what the team does. Anybody who thinks the Chicago media doesn't favor the Cubs is dreaming. The media has yet to point out that this present Cubs ownership has done nothing to improve the team in over 3 years. Spending $52 million on Edwin Jackson isn't exactly improving the team. Yet the media says nothing.

I've actually seen some articles critical of Cubs ownership for not doing more to improve the team, but I think that people are pretty aware the Ricketts were strapped for cash immediately following the purchase, especially because the economy was in the tank.

The Ricketts aren't fools and there is no way they are going to move the team away from that area. It's a cash cow if they can find a way to keep the stadium standing.

[TaylorStSox]

Originally Posted by Lip Man 1

The answer is everything but baseball. Sunshine, good looking females and cold beer so they can get drunk and act like bigger idiots.

Lip

This attitude is the problem. God forbid people want to go out and have a good time.

[kittle42]

Originally Posted by TaylorStSox

This attitude is the problem. God forbid people want to go out and have a good time.

It's only jealousy from Sox fans, IMO, over the exposure and attendance issues. If it were the Sox who played in a stadium which attracted sellouts, but half those people were annoying/only there to get beer/sun/hookups, while some of us would be annoyed, we would be happy the Sox were reaping the rewards and would rip the Cubs for being irrelevant.

While I hate the "casual" or "having fun" Cubs fans, I get the whole situation is great for the Cubs.

[RKMeibalane]

Originally Posted by TaylorStSox

This attitude is the problem. God forbid people want to go out and have a good time.

I don't know. I agree with Lip on this one. Wrigley Field isn't a baseball stadium so much as it is an outdoor hotel bar. I don't have anything against people having fun, but the main reason to go to a baseball game is to watch baseball. People can have fun getting drunk and exposing themselves within the confines of their backyards. There's no reason to spend money to do so at a baseball game.

[kittle42]

Originally Posted by RKMeibalane

the main reason to go to a baseball game is to watch baseball. People can have fun getting drunk and exposing themselves within the confines of their backyards. There's no reason to spend money to do so at a baseball game.

I think this is a bit ridiculous. People go to *many* events to drink and have fun. Street fests, bars, concerts (where sometimes music is even secondary) and, I hate to say, sporting events. You can drink in your backyard, but that is not exactly the entertainment of choice for most people. The point of a sporting event is, first and foremost, entertainment. The number of people who spend the majority of the game not watching the game is probably a lot higher than we all think. This is *especially* true at ballparks, which allow fans to walk around and still kinda see the action (i.e. don't have to walk underneath as it many football stadiums and practically all hockey/basketball events). In addition, I am sure, if you have ever walked the Cell concourse, you can see tons of people decked out in Sox gear with their backs to the field chatting in groups and slugging down beers.

Sox fans love to be the "if you're not interested in the outcome of the game, get the hell out of here" types (see 2006 attendance spike), but it hurts the fanbase.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by RKMeibalane

I don't know. I agree with Lip on this one. Wrigley Field isn't a baseball stadium so much as it is an outdoor hotel bar. I don't have anything against people having fun, but the main reason to go to a baseball game is to watch baseball. People can have fun getting drunk and exposing themselves within the confines of their backyards. There's no reason to spend money to do so at a baseball game.

What does it matter to you how people spend their own money? If you only want to go a game to watch baseball AND NOTHING ELSE, you can do that in a park full of Chads and Trixies having summertime fun or in a deserted ball park. But logic says the park that's full to the brim with (THE HORROR) people having fun will probably have more money to spend on the on-field product than the team whose park is half empty.

Bring 'em all down to the Cell, I says.

[RKMeibalane]

Originally Posted by doublem23

What does it matter to you how people spend their own money? If you only want to go a game to watch baseball AND NOTHING ELSE, you can do that in a park full of Chads and Trixies having summertime fun or in a deserted ball park. But logic says the park that's full to the brim with (THE HORROR) people having fun will probably have more money to spend on the on-field product than the team whose park is half empty.

Bring 'em all down to the Cell, I says.

It doesn't. I just think it's silly to go to a baseball game to do things other than watching the game.

[dickallen15]

Originally Posted by RKMeibalane

It doesn't. I just think it's silly to go to a baseball game to do things other than watching the game.

Yet, here we are on a board with diehard Sox fans and we hear gripes over the years about seat colors, canned music, ushers not smiling, not having access to the lower deck so they can't stare at some statues, poor service at concession stands and scoreboards not being big enough. There are very few people left that actually go to a game just to watch the game.

[RKMeibalane]

Originally Posted by dickallen15

Yet, here we are on a board with diehard Sox fans and we hear gripes over the years about seat colors, canned music, ushers not smiling, not having access to the lower deck so they can't stare at some statues, poor service at concession stands and scoreboards not being big enough. There are very few people left that actually go to a game just to watch the game.

I never understood the issue with the seats, beyond the fact that a continuous stream of blue looks weird.

[voodoochile]

Originally Posted by RKMeibalane

It doesn't. I just think it's silly to go to a baseball game to do things other than watching the game.

And most people on this board agree with you. That's why we go to baseball games after all, but for many people it's about having fun with their kids or friends and rooting for (insert city's name here) team or visiting a ballpark in a new city while on vacation or chilling with friends before an evening out or trying to meet people or any number of other reasons. Heck, there's a reason the fireworks' games are normally closer to sold out - because people take their kids to the game to enjoy the show afterwards.

Baseball is simply entertainment. How people are entertained comes in any number of flavors. If they want to get that flavor at UCSF and that flavor has little to do with the actual play by play or pitch by pitch aspect of watching a baseball game, if the occasional home run and a win is enough for them, that's fine by me.

Like the song says:

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks,
I don't care if I never get back
Cuz it's root root root for the home team
if they don't win it's a shame

Baseball has long been about culture to America. The actual outcomes aren't that important to many people and with 162 games a year if the outcome didn't go your way today, odds are it will tomorrow. Even the worst team in baseball will get 60 opportunities to send their customers home happy every single year.

[kittle42]

Originally Posted by RKMeibalane

It doesn't. I just think it's silly to go to a baseball game to do things other than watching the game.

When I visit other parks for the first time and the Sox aren't playing, the game is the least of my concerns.