The Rosemont Cubs?

[I Should Coco]

The White Sox have opened a bar in U.S. Cellular? Guess it's been a few years since I've been there. But DW and Bob, you're right about the "Comiskey Park" neighborhood -- it's gentrified big time.

Regarding Wrigley Field, I think the biggest problem are those damn rooftop seats, which have become corporate, big-business moneymakers. The Cubs long ago should have added a second deck in outfield just to stick a fork in those leaches. (Yes, I realize they now pay some pish-ante fee to the team).

Are the Cubs really hurting that badly for money that they would consider moving?

 

[Dick Whitman]

The White Sox have opened a bar in U.S. Cellular?

Outside of it, attached on 35th Street.

 

[Uncle.Ruckus]

When the John Henry group bought the Sox in 2002, they very quickly determined that cramped, no-parking old Fenway was their prime asset, the franchise's real star attraction. So they began a series of incremental improvements (by improvement, I mean things that made more money for them). If the Cubs ownership doesn't see how Wrigley works for them, they really are stupid.
Mizzou, I see no reason why similar things couldn't be done to Wrigley. Fenway is as cramped by its neighborhood as it is, and cramped by things like hospitals and universities which have major political clout to block what they don't like.

What seems to elude you and everyone else saying this idea has no merit whatsoever is what good is Wrigley if Tunney and the rooftop owner douchebags won't let the team make any changes or build up their facilities? The park may have a lot of history, but it's a forking junkpile that's falling apart. They're willing to completely fund it themselves, but still they're running into roadblocks. fork that.

Hey, assholes, want to know why your basic three-flat is worth seven figures? Look across the forking street and stop being forkheads. Let the Cubs leave and see what that does to your property values. I hope Tunney drowns in Lake Michigan. Provincial putz.

 

[Bob Cook]

Re: Sox's location -- the Robert Taylor Homes are gone, Bridgeport and Bronzeville are expensive buys, and Chinatown has crept closer. A fear of getting mugged should not be the reason anyone doesn't go to a Sox game.

Yep.

The reason that they don't draw, in seasons they don't draw, is that it's too expensive to go to a White Sox game. I don't have the data in front of me, and I'm not sure it's ever been made public, but I'm guessing Sox fans don't have the disposable income that Cubs fans, do, on the whole. Just from geography alone. People in Hammond and Calumet City aren't exactly affluent. And even in Sox strongholds with money - like Munster, Dyer, or Orland Park - the money doesn't compare to the kind you'll find in the city and in the north suburbs. Plus, those towns aren't that big.

As a Sox fan in the southern suburbs, I can give you these reasons why the team can struggle to draw a crowd:

1. They don't have the tourist cache like Wrigley. That would be the biggest thing a Rosemont park would NOT have -- the many people who would go because That's What You Do In Chicago, like going to the Empire State Building in New York.

2. As you noted, the disposable income is lower.

3. In part, that's because the Sox draw comes from people with families. (Hey, Bill Ligue brought his son, remember?) It's not just a function of money available -- it's also time. The biggest sign of that is how attendance craters for midweek games once school goes back.

4. Also, regarding families, the South Side has many large, tight-knit families, the sort where there are all sorts of weddings, graduations, birthdays, etc. over the summer for parents, kids, cousins, school buddies, whoever. If the Sox are doing great, you have an excuse to miss the event (as long as it's not an immediate relative). But if the Sox are at .500, skipping grandma's 75th birthday because the Mariners are in town becomes less defensible.

 

[Bob Cook]

I think what Uncle Ruckus is saying, translated to something less profane, is that Wrigley is a dump, and that the team owners get all sorts of pushback if they ever try to do ANYTHING to improve it. It's exacerbated by the weird way Chicago does its politics, with aldermen getting an almost dictator-like level of control of projects in their ward (I guess, in exchange for doing whatever the mayor wants, without protest).

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

I never understoof why the Cubs couldn't just buy the houses which line the outfield and use those for VIP suites and to place a scoreboard on.

 

[Uncle.Ruckus]

I think what Uncle Ruckus is saying, translated to something less profane, is that Wrigley is a dump, and that the team owners get all sorts of pushback if they ever try to do ANYTHING to improve it. It's exacerbated by the weird way Chicago does its politics, with aldermen getting an almost dictator-like level of control of projects in their ward (I guess, in exchange for doing whatever the mayor wants, without protest).

Technically, Emanuel can overrule Tunney. Daley never did because he's a Sox fan. But Emanuel has the authority. I wonder if he'll use it. I doubt it.

 

[I Should Coco]

3. In part, that's because the Sox draw comes from people with families. (Hey, Bill Ligue brought his son, remember?) It's not just a function of money available -- it's also time. The biggest sign of that is how attendance craters for midweek games once school goes back.

Nicely done.

 

[RickStain]

When the John Henry group bought the Sox in 2002, they very quickly determined that cramped, no-parking old Fenway was their prime asset, the franchise's real star attraction. So they began a series of incremental improvements (by improvement, I mean things that made more money for them). If the Cubs ownership doesn't see how Wrigley works for them, they really are stupid.
Mizzou, I see no reason why similar things couldn't be done to Wrigley. Fenway is as cramped by its neighborhood as it is, and cramped by things like hospitals and universities which have major political clout to block what they don't like.

Not only can it be done, Epstein's familiarity with it is a big reason why Ricketts wanted him to run the Cubs.

 

[YankeeFan]

Parking at Comiskey is expensive, and kind of a pain, but the neighborhood is accessible, and doesn't scare me in the least.

And, you can take the train.

 

[YGBFKM]

Comiskey is actually one of the more accessible parks around. Very easy to get to from either side of town.

 

[YGBFKM]

Parking at Comiskey is expensive, and kind of a pain, but the neighborhood is accessible, and doesn't scare me in the least.

And, you can take the train.

I come from the far NW side when I'm in town and it never takes more than 20 minutes to drive there.