Small-Market Teams
For the Super Bowl next weekend, the Seatle Seahawks are up against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Both are considered small-market teams. Of course, a couple of small-market teams concerns advertisers since the viewership might be lower, but...
The World Series had two small-market teams (see below), and the NBA Finals had a couple of small-market teams, too. Of course the numbers were down, but the main differnce is that those events are week-long developing stories. If they are quick series, they just don't develop the suspense.
Why the White Sox have been a small-market team.
Chicago is the third largest city in the United States. Consider the Houston-Chicago numbers from the 2000 Census:
Houston: 1,953,631
Chicago: 2,896,016
Note that Chicago has been decreasing in population, while Houston has been growing. However, when you consider that Chicago has two baseball teams, and we divide these numbers, the White Sox fan base in the city is probably much smaller than the Houston fan-base (Chicago has a larger metropolitan area, however, so these numbers are probably not a good measure).
Winning brings the fans out of the woodwork, though. The White Sox have sold more than 20,000 season tickets since winning the World Series. It probably helps that they've made some serious commitments to bring back vital parts while adding better pieces here and there. Since the Bears looked horrible in their playoff game, and the Bulls are looking pretty shaky right now, I'm just looking forward to Spring Training next month.
This was a post I started just before the World Series started, but it seemed like something I could just get out there.
IT'S THE SUPER BOWL!
The World Series had two small-market teams (see below), and the NBA Finals had a couple of small-market teams, too. Of course the numbers were down, but the main differnce is that those events are week-long developing stories. If they are quick series, they just don't develop the suspense.
Why the White Sox have been a small-market team.
Chicago is the third largest city in the United States. Consider the Houston-Chicago numbers from the 2000 Census:
Houston: 1,953,631
Chicago: 2,896,016
Note that Chicago has been decreasing in population, while Houston has been growing. However, when you consider that Chicago has two baseball teams, and we divide these numbers, the White Sox fan base in the city is probably much smaller than the Houston fan-base (Chicago has a larger metropolitan area, however, so these numbers are probably not a good measure).
Winning brings the fans out of the woodwork, though. The White Sox have sold more than 20,000 season tickets since winning the World Series. It probably helps that they've made some serious commitments to bring back vital parts while adding better pieces here and there. Since the Bears looked horrible in their playoff game, and the Bulls are looking pretty shaky right now, I'm just looking forward to Spring Training next month.
This was a post I started just before the World Series started, but it seemed like something I could just get out there.
posted by Michael M. Davis at 2:42 PM
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