Are there more Cubs fans or White Sox fans?

I put together a bunch of research the the # of Cubs and Sox fans in Chicago.

10 months ago drodd 29 comments 0 recs |

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Exactly where and how was this "research" conducted?

You don’t give any details about that, how many people were consulted, etc.

That would help give this some credibility.

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by Al Yellon on Aug 3, 2011 4:47 PM CDT reply actions

I have been wondering how many actual Cub fans and Sox fans there are. Fans and the media make it seem like there are so much fewer Sox fans. I have been conducting personal research to determine the reality of this. I documented 33 friends of mine.

81% are Cubs fans
18% are Sox fans

I took a look at the 2010 attendance numbers – the % of people attending pro ball in chicago in 2010
59% of people that attended a pro MLB game went to a Cubs game
41% of people that attended a pro MLB game went to a Sox game

I also looked at TV ratings. The % of people watching pro MLB ball in Chicago in 2010
59% of people that watched a pro MLB game on the TV watched a Cubs game
41% of people that watched a pro MLB game on the TV watched a Sox game

Conclusion: there are more Cubs fans than Sox fans in the Chicago area

No Triangle Building! Build a park!

by drodd on Aug 3, 2011 4:54 PM CDT up reply actions

Three words.

Small. Sample. Size.

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by Al Yellon on Aug 3, 2011 4:55 PM CDT up reply actions

His friends are a small sample size

but % of tv audience and attendance are actually quite large sample sizes.

by magicblue on Aug 3, 2011 4:59 PM CDT up reply actions

Yes, BUT...

… we don’t know how many people who attended those games are actually Cubs or Sox fans. At many Cubs games, there are Cardinals fans or Brewers fans or Phillies fans. Sox games have Yankees fans and Red Sox fans attending. The numbers don’t necessarily match up. Same for TV ratings.

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by Al Yellon on Aug 3, 2011 5:10 PM CDT up reply actions

They're not 100% perfect, but there not a small sample size either.

And the vast majority of people attending Cubs games at Wrigley Field are Cubs fans, that goes for TV audience as well. The same goes for the Cell. They’re are more WSox fans going to games at the Cell and more likely than not, watching WSox games on TV.

by magicblue on Aug 4, 2011 1:33 PM CDT up reply actions

Add: Skewed

Just win the next game...!

by blackhawk24 on Aug 9, 2011 9:30 AM CDT up reply actions

I don't know but I wanted to share a hack White Sox moment:

Last night the White Sox expected storms so they laid the tarp on the field.

For 45 minutes their game against the Yankees was delayed.

It never rained.

by SenorGato on Aug 3, 2011 4:48 PM CDT reply actions

The Cubs have done this on multiple occasions.

Most notably, on August 23, 1999, when due to a forecast of storms they put the tarp on at 7 pm at the start of a scheduled night game. It didn’t start raining until 9:15, by which time they could have easily played six or seven innings.

The game was postponed, and they had to make it up as a regular DH. They had to refund a sold-out crowd.

This isn’t a White Sox thing. The Cubs have done it too. You might want to learn a little baseball history.

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by Al Yellon on Aug 3, 2011 4:55 PM CDT up reply actions

Yeah I don't think

“rain delays that happened without rain” is a serious area in baseball history.

Still pretty hack on the White Sox part….the Yankee booth sounded pretty annoyed. That said, since the Cubs did it 12 years ago they’re somewhat vindicated.

by SenorGato on Aug 3, 2011 5:33 PM CDT up reply actions

Before I have to hear it...

I do realize that teams might do this if they expect a big storm to come through.

by SenorGato on Aug 3, 2011 5:34 PM CDT up reply actions

Worst case ever, not even close

The Yankees had a day game on the anniversary of the famous Lou Gehrig Farewell speech. They had a nice ceremony and actress Teresa Wright who played Gehrig’s wife was there. Only problem was Yankees were in a race and Steinbrenner HATED the starting pitcher who I am pretty sure was Cory Lidle. After the Gehrig ceremony, the fans waited under an overcast sky for I think 2 hours than the Yankees CALLED THE GAME claiming storms were coming. NO DROP OF RAIN EVER FELL, Lidle’s start was skipped. George let an entire crowd go home because he did not like the starting pitcher ( though at least unlike current Cub fans they got their money back). One the flukes of baseball rules is that the home team gets to decide when or if to START or in this case cancel a game ( once it starts it belongs to the umps). However as we have also mentioned here the greedy Sox once made fans ( well few stayed) and players sit around for about 10 hours before calling a game, not because they thought the rain would stop , but because the Sox players refused to give up an off day to play it later.

"I am not ashamed to say I love Greg Maddux" - Jim Hendry
Me either

by Doggie Stalker on Aug 3, 2011 6:26 PM CDT up reply actions

Both the Yankees and Mets have been very fair, not only on refunds...

…but also in offering free tickets to fans who attend games that either are completed after a long rain delay, or played through without interruption during a steady drizzle.

"Elder White! Look at the talent on those Cubs!" Harry Caray, KMOX Radio, 4/22/62

"And you have to wonder – What's the matter with Broglio?" Harry, KMOX, 5/24/64

by ernaga on Aug 4, 2011 12:17 AM CDT up reply actions

I must miss these deals.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-05-04/sports/17923752_1_yankees-fans-yankee-stadium-yankee-spokesman/2

by SenorGato on Aug 4, 2011 2:02 AM CDT up reply actions

The Yankees are so nice they put the kid who

caught Jeter’s ball some 10,000+ in debt, amirite? (Please don’t take it seriously. He probably got himself a job offe

And really, free tickets because you happened to sit through a baseball game in a drizzle? I wish. Maybe I don’t know the right people or something. There was this:

http://cutoffman.mlblogs.com/2011/06/09/free-ticket-offer-for-rain-soaked-fans/

It’s an offer they made to people who killed time in the stadium for 3 1/2 hours of no baseball. They basically stayed for two games, probably spent money on drinks and food for two games… Might as well get them to spend money for 3 games.

by SenorGato on Aug 4, 2011 2:12 AM CDT up reply actions

Hey, I'm only reporting on one narrow aspect of the way these franchises treat fans...

I didn’t like the way the Yankees and/or Jeter pressured the kid either.

"Elder White! Look at the talent on those Cubs!" Harry Caray, KMOX Radio, 4/22/62

"And you have to wonder – What's the matter with Broglio?" Harry, KMOX, 5/24/64

by ernaga on Aug 4, 2011 7:32 AM CDT up reply actions

There are far more Cub fans

Most of this has to do with WGN which was broadcasting Cub games around the country for decades. People from Alabama to Alaska to Belize ( which got WGN) became Cub fans and many passed it on to their children.

As for the Chicago area specifically, still more Cub fans but not as lopsided. Blame it on the “Wrigley Field Experience” , but the Cubs are indeed the team of yuppies, tourists and most everyone north of say Madison. Bad Cub teams draw better than good Sox teams, it may not be fair but it is true.

"I am not ashamed to say I love Greg Maddux" - Jim Hendry
Me either

by Doggie Stalker on Aug 3, 2011 5:13 PM CDT reply actions

Yep that is about the

way we got sucked into Cubdom . WGN and Harry because they were all day baseball @ home . Also in the early 80’s Cable TV started to become a big thing . It gave the Cubs a huge boost the rest is history .

by cubs north on Aug 3, 2011 11:11 PM CDT up reply actions

Before the 80s...

… it was Jack Brickhouse and day baseball. You could come home from school and watch the games. That, I believe, created a couple of generations worth of Cubs fans in the pre-cable days, and then the national cable exposure widened the fanbase to a national level.

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by Al Yellon on Aug 4, 2011 6:47 AM CDT up reply actions

This was the enjoyable part of Mr. Wrigley's Neighborhood...

…not just with Jack on television after school, but especially going to games as a 12 or 13-year old on spring break or summer vacation, either alone or with friends, and paying 60 cents for a kid’s ticket, or getting in free if I showed up after the third inning.

As much as I blame Phil Wrigley for Cubness and everything that term entails (and he is 99% to blame), I certainly did enjoy the benefits of his unique environment.

"Elder White! Look at the talent on those Cubs!" Harry Caray, KMOX Radio, 4/22/62

"And you have to wonder – What's the matter with Broglio?" Harry, KMOX, 5/24/64

by ernaga on Aug 4, 2011 8:00 AM CDT up reply actions

And those things helped create the huge fanbase.

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by Al Yellon on Aug 4, 2011 8:35 AM CDT up reply actions

From 1968-1989...

The White Sox were only on WGN for one season in 1981. 1981 was still before many had cable and was a strike year also, which come down on the number of games played. To this day, I believe that’s why the Cubs have more fans than the White Sox. Harry coming to the Cubs was a big help, too. The White Sox even now have far fewer games on WGN than the Cubs do.

Good things come to those who wait... and wait....and wait.

by memphiscub on Aug 4, 2011 9:05 AM CDT up reply actions

Agree

Growing up on the south side in the early 60’s the Sox seemed to clearly have the majority of fans. Most Sox fans I knew then didn’t really care one way or the other about the hapless Cubs. When the Sox left WGN is coincided with a resurgence of the Cubs as a contender, and that began the shift to more Cub fans. Of course, cable TV & Harry Caray also increased the Cub fandom nationally by a huge margin.

"It's a funny old world. Man's lucky if he gets out of it alive." W.C. Fields

by KedzieKid on Aug 4, 2011 9:23 AM CDT up reply actions

The big swich from Sox to Cubs began in the early 1960's. Here are some important milestones:

• 1960 – After a sensational Year One as a pennant-winning Sox owner in 1959, an under-capitalized Bill Veeck trades away a half-dozen future stars to spark attendance by acquiring big names Minnie Minoso and Roy Sievers. These trades likely cost the Sox three or four pennants in 1962-65.

• 1961 – Veeck’s illness, personal finances, and unpopularity with other owners force him to sell the team. The circus leaves town as Pegleg “retires” to Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

• 1963 – After a Terrible Twenty years of non-stop losing, the Cubs show signs of life with future stars Williams, Santo, Hubbs, Brock and Ellsworth, and veteran pitchers like Jackson, Buhl, and McDaniel.

• 1964 – Phil Wrigley, with the help of Bill Bartholomay and several other investors, gets the Braves out of Milwaukee and on the road to Atlanta, eliminating what had been a steady drain on Cubs attendance since 1953.

• 1965 – The Watts riot in LA marks the start of a major increase in urban racial violence. Many fans stop going to Comiskey Park, located just two blocks away from 35th and State – ground zero for Chicago’s worst-ever race riot in 1919.

• 1967 – Sox owner Art Allyn moves Sox from Channel 9 and Jack Brickhouse, to WFLD-TV and Jack Drees. This proves to be a long-term disaster for the club for several reasons, especially with many fans unable to pick up signals from this UHF channel.

• Also in 1967 – Just as the Sox were winding-up nearly two decades as a contender, the Cubs finally were emerging as a force under Leo Durocher. This truly was the year the switch from Sox to Cubs was made by countless fans in Chicagoland.

Obviously, WGN-TV’s early arrival on satellite in 1981 built the national fanbase, but the local switch to the Cubs came much earlier.

"Elder White! Look at the talent on those Cubs!" Harry Caray, KMOX Radio, 4/22/62

"And you have to wonder – What's the matter with Broglio?" Harry, KMOX, 5/24/64

by ernaga on Aug 4, 2011 9:56 AM CDT up reply actions

Phil Wrigley, with the help of Bill Bartholomay and several other investors, gets the Braves out of Milwaukee and on the road to Atlanta, eliminating what had been a steady drain on Cubs attendance since 1953.

I don’t buy this. Braves attendance declined precipitously after 1960. They were headed out of town with or without Wrigley’s help.

Also, fans stopped going to Comiskey only after the team started becoming bad, in 1968. The biggest factor is the television switch, plus the Cubs becoming a good team right at that exact moment.

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by Al Yellon on Aug 4, 2011 10:25 AM CDT up reply actions

Exactly

televising day baseball in those days gave the Cubs huge exposure.

"It's a funny old world. Man's lucky if he gets out of it alive." W.C. Fields

by KedzieKid on Aug 4, 2011 9:25 AM CDT up reply actions

So being from the midwest

just about everyone has relatives or friends that relocated to Chicagoland . Lets visit the relatives they always wanted to see us . Well after day # 2 you were ready to explore around . Wrigley and the Cubs seemed to be the place to go .

However then it was a cheap way to spend the day and have fun . The ballpark was not packed and you could really wander around . ( Do not try that now ) ….We have met Cub fans from all over the country that are drawn back to a great old ballpark.

by cubs north on Aug 4, 2011 9:20 PM CDT up reply actions

From my own experience,

No scientific method applied: When you’re at Wrigley and you ask the people around you where they’re from, you get all kinds of different answers. Omaha, Des Moines, Texas, Florida to name a very few. When you’re at ~~Comiskey~~ US Cellular Field and you ask the same thing, everyone comments with something like, “Oh, I used to be from around here but now I live all the way out in McKinley Park”. So with that I’ll say there are more Cub fans.

by Fonzie2178 on Aug 4, 2011 3:36 PM CDT reply actions

I live in Portland

And there is 4-5 cubs bars( places that have cubs memorabilia, and more than 10 people there to watch a game). I’ve never met a single sox fan once in 15 years on the entire west coast!

by Notsnud on Aug 5, 2011 1:36 PM CDT reply actions