The Chicago White Sox aren’t exactly the hottest ticket in Chitown right now.
On Monday in the southside of Chicago, the White Sox hosted the Tampa Rays on a snowy afternoon. While the Cubs deemed that the winter weather in the North Side of the city was too severe, which caused them to cancel their home opener at Wrigley, the White Sox decided to play ball at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The actual attendance of the game was rather, well, lacking. Severely lacking.
While 10,377 tickets were sold for the game – a staggering low amount in its own regard – only 974 people actually entered the gates, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The might be a little generous, based off of these photos below.
Now, to be fair, it’s hard to pin blame on White Sox fans for not wanting to pay money and sit stationary in the freezing cold. The time of the game should be noted, too, as the afternoon matinee restricted a lot of fans because the game cut into work hours. Plus, it didn’t help that both teams were a combined 6-15 on the season.
The MLB should know better than scheduling a game in the middle of the day in early April probably isn’t the best idea to drive fans into seats in a place that's known as the Windy City. While it would be colder at night, at least more people would likely be showing up.
The Monday match was the lowest attended game since April 28, 2015, after Camden Yards was closed to the public because of safety precautions regarding the Baltimore riots.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the second game of the series didn’t do much better.
All the games in the three-games series against the Rays were afternoon games.
According to ESPN, the White Sox are averaging the fourth lowest average attendance at 17,862 (remember, that’s purchased tickets) only ahead of the Pirates, A’s and Marlins.
(Sporting News)
