The dividing line

A comprehensive look at how both the Cubs and Sox are marketed to their respective fan base

By Paul M. Banks

The Cubs-White Sox rivalry takes on a new dynamic this year, as the popularity gap between the first (Cubs) and second (White Sox) teams of Chicago has narrowed significantly.

When White Sox tickets went on sale February 17, over 26,000 sold in the first hour alone. Overall, they have sold well over 2,000,000 tickets already. Obviously, taking care of postseason business last fall to bring home the city’s first baseball title in 86 years increases a team’s marketability.

Every season, twice a summer, all the major publications analyze the Cubs-Sox rivalry from a baseball fan’s perspective. An examination of this rivalry from a baseball marketing perspective, however, is long overdue.

One interesting similarity is both clubs’ ability to successfully market themselves as the “working-class, every man’s team” despite rapidly escalating ticket prices. Face value of a White Sox club-level ticket was $22 in 2000; the same seat is $50 today. A Cubs bleacher seat goes for $40 this season; in 1998 it was just $11.

For those who weren’t business majors, let me clarify what exactly a marketing brand is. Major League Baseball is the entertainment product sold at the ballpark; the brand is the collection of feelings, ideas, experiences and emotions you associate with seeing the red, white, and blue of the Cubs or the black olde English script of the Sox logo.

The Cubs: A media conglomerate — the envy of sports marketing

In order to dissect how Chicago baseball sells itself, I enlisted the help of a sports expert and a business professor, and I found some consensus in their views. I asked raio personality Dan Bernstein of The Score (WSCR 670) what he thought about Cubs marketing and how it differs from the Sox.

“The Cubs have been brilliantly marketed,” Bernstein says. “John McDonough is a huge reason for that, and the fact that they have been owned by a media company has played a large role as well. The Cubs have lucked into the gentrification of the neighborhood surrounding their ballpark, and one could argue that the success of the team has maybe had a lot to do with that gentrification. You can’t take away from them what they have been able to do. They are the envy of many in professional sports for having been able to do that, having been able to transcend wins and losses in a large regard.”

Life-long Cubs fan Eve Geroulis is a lecturer at Loyola University, where she teaches marketing courses on both the undergraduate and graduate levels. She explained the methods used by the Cubs to sell their product to their fan base thusly: “The Cubs are an enviable sports marketing anomaly. WGN’s national cable reach coupled with Wrigley Field’s historic and geographic location favorably impact the team’s ability to fill seats. People love the Cubs because they lose. How’s that for marketing?

“The ‘lovable loser’ is also a brilliantly cultivated team label,” Geroulis continues. “While there are die-hard Cub fans who suffer year after year, many Wrigleyville residents are young, white-collar professionals from all over the country who embrace the party atmosphere of the neighborhood, especially during the season. It’s not so much about the game, but the pre- and post-game camaraderie. And with the new V.I.P. seating, fans look forward to the dessert cart as much as a home run — probably more. All this serves to reinforce the growing demand for creating ‘experiences’ that extend the brand franchise.”

In addition to the Cubs and Wrigley Field Premium Ticket Services, the Tribune Company holdings include WGN radio, the WGN TV superstation, the Red Eye, the Chicago Tribune, Chicago magazine, CLTV, Metromix.com, Hoy and the WB. An exceptionally powerful media corporation such as this can shape public opinion and overshadow events unfavorable to their investments. Cub fans have stayed loyal despite losing seasons on the field and very disagreeable policies by management off the field.

In recent years, the front office has been criticized for scalping their own tickets through Wrigley Field Premium Ticket services, creating questionable security threats as an excuse to deprive neighboring rooftop owners and street vendors of revenue, being less than completely truthful about the health of star pitchers Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, unfair treatment of ex-WGN broadcaster and beloved Chicago icon Steve Stone, and allowing a potential conflict of interest to exist within the organization (The editor of the Chicago Tribune sports department, Dan McGrath, and team manager Dusty Baker maintain a very close friendship.) However, as any Cubs fan who waits for hours each February to get tickets (whether it be in the frigid wristband line or their workstation’s virtual waiting room) will attest, none of this negative press has affected the demand for Cubs tickets.

 

The White Sox: Underdogs no more?

I had an email conversation with Brooks Boyer, vice president of marketing for the White Sox.

TRC: What is the typical White Sox fan demographic?

Boyer: Quite honestly, we are something for everyone. We like to think of ourselves as the cultural melting pot of sports teams in Chicago. We have a very diverse fan demographic. We succeed with the corporate crowd because our venue is great for client entertainment. We succeed with kids and families because of our diverse food offerings and kids activities (the Pontiac fundamentals deck, rain room, shower, kids’ days, pre-game and in-game entertainment). We succeed with the young adults because of the social setting in our outfield concourse and on our fan deck. From our research, we have seen growth in minority attendees, and we strive to offer something for everyone.

TRC: What is the White Sox “brand” of baseball? What is the most important thing you feel the fan should take from their experience of attending a game at the Cell?

Boyer: We are a team of “grinders.” Our team plays by a set of “Grinder Rules.” We work hard and play hard every game. We are focused on winning and representing our fans. Giving less than 100 percent effort is not acceptable in the clubhouse by our fans. The most important thing a fan takes away from US Cellular Field is a great experience. If someone comes in and is not a hardcore baseball fan, we want them to walk out of the park having had a great time and a willingness to come back the next time the opportunity presents itself.

TRC: How has the World Series championship affected popularity and ticket sales?

Boyer: Season-ticket sales are at an all-time high. Individual ticket sales are very brisk, and our fans have had to change many purchasing habits. If you want a desired location for a game, you should purchase well in advance. Clearly, winning the World Series has elevated our presence in the market place with not only our fans, but with casual sports/baseball fans as well.

TRC: Is there a new dynamic to the competition with the Cubs?

Boyer: We only truly compete with the Cubs six times a year. Chicago can clearly support two teams, as proven last season. Although, clearly, we compete with the Cubs on many levels, we do not use them as our measuring stick. They are the 800-pound gorilla in this market, without question. They have a bigger fan base. They will more than likely draw more people than us and have higher TV ratings. Good for them. They run a very good operation. We measure ourselves against ourselves. Are we delivering the fan everything we can to make his or her experience at our ballpark (or on TV or radio for that matter) as positive as possible? We care about the people that come through our gates, and I would put our ballpark experience up against anyone’s. I would hope that our success would have a positive affect on our ability to draw the casual fan which, in the past, has been drawn to the Cubs. Whether there is a new dynamic is to be debated in the media.

TRC: Past ad campaigns like “Win or die trying” and “Good guys wear black” have been described in the media as edgy. Is that a fair assessment?

Boyer: Our goal is to create buzz by creating fun, entertaining and truthful advertising. I think “Win or die trying” accomplished that goal last year. It was fun, and our fans enjoyed it. It helped define our brand for not only the core fan, but the individual, casual fan.

When you call the White Sox front office, a warm, fuzzy greeting meets all Chicago baseball fans: “World champion Chicago White Sox, how can I help you?” Like the Cubs, the Sox have also recently weathered a storm of negative P.R. to reach a historic level of popularity. Winning it all certainly cures everything. During the postseason last fall, we saw numerous features in the media debunking the myth that Cub fans are much wealthier than Sox fans. Studies concluded that no significant difference in income exists and effectively put to rest a popular misnomer.

This grossly inaccurate stereotype began with the infamous “Disco Demolition Night” fan riot of 1979. The fallacy grew stronger as the neighborhood surrounding the park deteriorated further and extraordinary events took place in 2002 and ’03. Two different half-price Monday-night games brought to the park malcontent thugs who stormed the field and attacked a Kansas City Royals base coach and an umpire, respectively. These two isolated events were national news stories that brought the bashing of Sox nation to perhaps its highest peak. This trend finally diminished in ’05, as attention on the organization shifted to their historic postseason glory.

The myth of a low-class fan base was one P.R. ghost busted by the White Sox winning it all. The Sox had previously thrown a World Series more recently than they had won one. Some people believed that they were still haunted by a ghost. They held that the curse of the “Black Sox” scandal and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson helping fix the World Series in 1919 was to blame for more than 80 years of postseason futility. Unlike the Red Sox or Cubs, no true members of the White Sox nation embraced their hex to sell baseball-related goods. Instead of holding publicity stunts, they distanced themselves from the ghosts of crooked players and gamblers.

Of course this didn’t stop the corporate media from playing up “the curse of Arnold Rothstein” and/or the “curse of Shoeless Joe” during the 2005 postseason. Hardcore followers of the team heard Black Sox references ad nauseam. In fact, CBS Sportsline, ESPN.com and the Fox Sports homepages all had the exact same banner headline (“Say it is so”) on the title-clinching night. Now that the Sox are world champs, references to these events should likely disappear. Also disappearing soon (possibly) will be the world champion Southsiders playing the role of the underdog.

“Sox campaigns have always had more of an edge,” Bernstein says. “It’s always been edgy. ‘Win or Die Trying,’ or ‘Good Guys Wear Black,’ whereas the Cubs have been much more middle-American, more bucolic, because they can be. They can just throw open their arms and say, ‘America love us’ because we’re the Cubs and everyone loves us.”

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