Wrigley not Selling Out

[Wilson A2000]

I noticed that Pat and Ron only thought 35,000 were at the game tonight. The Cubs have sold 93% of their home seats this year which isn't bad, but it doesn't compare to the last couple of years. What is the reason? Cubs are playing bad or it isn't summer break yet or the economy?

[Sammy Sofa]

All of the above.

[apete6]

All of the above.

 

Combined with the excessive raise in ticket prices. Hopefully they are realizing that they have the Golden Goose, but the Golden Eggs aren't endless. If they keep sucking and raising prices, they aren't going to sell out most April, May, and September games.

[Sammy Sofa]

But if they didn't raise prices it was going to impact the owners' ability to both put a team worth watching on the field and fixing up the desperately dumpy Wrigley Field.

[UMFan83]

Same reason game threads on NSBB are only 3 pages, when they used to be 30 pages every game back in the day. The interest in the team is dipping a bit.

 

But also, that 93% number will spike after Memorial Day. The Cubs basically sell out every home game between Memorial Day and Labor Day in February.

[J.R.]

Game threads elsewhere are jumpin' ...

[Sammy Sofa]

Game threads elsewhere are jumpin' ...

 

Yup.

[J.R.]

Not to rag on this site, but you can't necessarily gauge interest in the team by the obvious decline in interest here at NSBB. I'm all for reversing that trend.

 

Back OT, the Bleacher Boxes and no-alcohol sections are a total bust so far.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Not to rag on this site, but you can't necessarily gauge interest in the team by the obvious decline in interest here at NSBB.

Why is there such a decline in interest here, but not other sites? Where did everyone go?

[chuckywang]

Not to rag on this site, but you can't necessarily gauge interest in the team by the obvious decline in interest here at NSBB.

Why is there such a decline in interest here, but not other sites? Where did everyone go?

I doubt people who are still on here would know that.

[Sammy Sofa]

Not to rag on this site, but you can't necessarily gauge interest in the team by the obvious decline in interest here at NSBB.

Why is there such a decline in interest here, but not other sites? Where did everyone go?

I doubt people who are still on here would know that.

 

Exactly.

[Sammy Sofa]

And no, it's not to 312Sports.com.

[Yeti]

this team sucks

 

even if they get hot, THEY STILL SUCK!!!

 

did i cover it all?

 

yup i sure did.

 

THEY SUCK!!!

[GhostRunner]

Not to rag on this site, but you can't necessarily gauge interest in the team by the obvious decline in interest here at NSBB.

Why is there such a decline in interest here, but not other sites? Where did everyone go?

This might catch me some flak, but honesty reigns: NSBB can be a very polarizing message board at times.

 

There are, without a shadow of a doubt, many extremely intelligent, humorous and well-spoken people that post on NSBB. There's also a fair amount of elitism and a subtle bullying streak aimed towards specific members and people who aren't as well-versed in "advanced" baseball. Not saying that NSBB is a bad place - quite the contrary. It's just flawed like people in general and everything else on earth.

 

And of course I can't say for certain that people who used to post here regularly did leave due to the above ... but I can say that if I were to leave, it would be a factor.

 

Witnessing the alternatives first-hand, NSBB is the best Cubs board I've found.

[Yeti]

Not to rag on this site, but you can't necessarily gauge interest in the team by the obvious decline in interest here at NSBB.

Why is there such a decline in interest here, but not other sites? Where did everyone go?

This might catch me some flak, but honesty reigns: NSBB can be a very polarizing message board at times.

 

There are, without a shadow of a doubt, many extremely intelligent, humorous and well-spoken people that post on NSBB. There's also a fair amount of elitism and a subtle bullying streak aimed towards specific members and people who aren't as well-versed in "advanced" baseball. Not saying that NSBB is a bad place - quite the contrary. It's just flawed like people in general and everything else on earth.

 

And of course I can't say for certain that people who used to post here regularly did leave due to the above ... but I can say that if I were to leave, it would be a factor.

 

Witnessing the alternatives first-hand, NSBB is the best Cubs board I've found.

and you are? oh [expletive], you've been here since 2003....how did i miss all your posts?

 

lets leave all the polarizing stuff out and we're still left with a team that is ageing at best, some say sub .500, and i cant disagree.

 

this site, well most of it's denizens anyway, seems to look at the bright side while being fully enveloped by the dark side

 

look for 80 wins outta this team

[GhostRunner]

You missed my posts because I only throw stuff up on here a few times a month, if that. I prefer to lurk and read daily ... better to say nothing and be thought a fool than post something and prove it, no? :wink:

 

Jody, Jody Davis was comparing NSBB's activity with activity on other Cubs boards, which are (apparently, per JR) flourishing. I'm not sure why the team's performance would push posters towards non-NSBB sites, but the record and the prognosis certainly isn't helping.

 

I have several friends and relatives who are more caught up in the Blackhawks right now and some even refuse to talk Cubs with me until the NHL finals are over.

[Yeti]

well, the teams outlook is unfortunate at best, but what ya gonna do?

[Yeti]

oh, i just saw that you're "whiteflagredux" i know you now, still dont help this team

[BeerHere]

Not to rag on this site, but you can't necessarily gauge interest in the team by the obvious decline in interest here at NSBB.

Why is there such a decline in interest here, but not other sites? Where did everyone go?

This might catch me some flak, but honesty reigns: NSBB can be a very polarizing message board at times.

 

There are, without a shadow of a doubt, many extremely intelligent, humorous and well-spoken people that post on NSBB. There's also a fair amount of elitism and a subtle bullying streak aimed towards specific members and people who aren't as well-versed in "advanced" baseball. Not saying that NSBB is a bad place - quite the contrary. It's just flawed like people in general and everything else on earth.

 

And of course I can't say for certain that people who used to post here regularly did leave due to the above ... but I can say that if I were to leave, it would be a factor.

 

Witnessing the alternatives first-hand, NSBB is the best Cubs board I've found.

 

I couldn't agree more.

[cubsfan1947]

Not to rag on this site, but you can't necessarily gauge interest in the team by the obvious decline in interest here at NSBB.

Why is there such a decline in interest here, but not other sites? Where did everyone go?

This might catch me some flak, but honesty reigns: NSBB can be a very polarizing message board at times.

 

There are, without a shadow of a doubt, many extremely intelligent, humorous and well-spoken people that post on NSBB. There's also a fair amount of elitism and a subtle bullying streak aimed towards specific members and people who aren't as well-versed in "advanced" baseball. Not saying that NSBB is a bad place - quite the contrary. It's just flawed like people in general and everything else on earth.

 

And of course I can't say for certain that people who used to post here regularly did leave due to the above ... but I can say that if I were to leave, it would be a factor.

 

Witnessing the alternatives first-hand, NSBB is the best Cubs board I've found.

 

I couldn't agree more.

Me too.

[tfarks]

I see we've gotten off topic but I love this board. I used to post a lot of football and baseball on message board. I usually just read and think to myself about the comments being made, as the old arguing online thing got old for me a while ago.

 

This board is one of the few places I can read about sports without rolling my eyes constantly. To clarify I mean figuratively, I don't actually roll my eyes at the monitor. That would just be weird.

[Soul]

It's interesting. There are a few factors in play here that are probably coming together at the same time to lower the interest in the Cubs a little bit. It'll come back up.

 

As for the game threads, I thought the decline had something to do with the game chat being instituted, and more people using that. Also -- people around here know that 2010 is kind of a holdover year for the Cubs, I believe. I don't think that's going to be true for more mainstream Cub fans. Maybe that accounts for the disparity.

 

Also -- and don't take this wrong -- IMHO game threads really are supposed to be an emotional dumping ground for fans. To me, that's at the very heart of what they are. They're bitch threads. Take that away, and many people just aren't going to post anything. Now, if that's the way we want to go on NSBB, then that's fine. I've tried to keep my own bitching to a minimum this year. But it's also going to lower the traffic on the threads overall, IMO, because that's what many fans want to do. They want to bitch and moan somewhere.

[CUBZ99]

Not to rag on this site, but you can't necessarily gauge interest in the team by the obvious decline in interest here at NSBB.

Why is there such a decline in interest here, but not other sites? Where did everyone go?

This might catch me some flak, but honesty reigns: NSBB can be a very polarizing message board at times.

 

There are, without a shadow of a doubt, many extremely intelligent, humorous and well-spoken people that post on NSBB. There's also a fair amount of elitism and a subtle bullying streak aimed towards specific members and people who aren't as well-versed in "advanced" baseball. Not saying that NSBB is a bad place - quite the contrary. It's just flawed like people in general and everything else on earth.

 

And of course I can't say for certain that people who used to post here regularly did leave due to the above ... but I can say that if I were to leave, it would be a factor.

 

Witnessing the alternatives first-hand, NSBB is the best Cubs board I've found.

 

Agreed.

 

Tim and the other mods have a nearly impossible job on this site. On one hand I'm sure they want to have intelligent baseball discussion, but on the other hand control the bullying etc. So no matter how they address situations someone is left feeling snubbed.

 

The high caliber of posters on this board, and the minor league discussions (raisin, craig, OO, toonster, etc.) will likely keep me addicted.

[jersey cubs fan]

I noticed that Pat and Ron only thought 35,000 were at the game tonight. The Cubs have sold 93% of their home seats this year which isn't bad, but it doesn't compare to the last couple of years. What is the reason? Cubs are playing bad or it isn't summer break yet or the economy?

 

The same thing happened the last time they went a season without making the playoffs. Everybody assumes Wrigley sells out regardless, however, after 2004, interest declined. Numbers are skewed since they sell so many tickets in February, but when it's June and the team isn't good people don't actually show up to the games, leaving millions of dollars of revenue on the table. The economy just makes it that much worse.

[daske17]

I noticed that Pat and Ron only thought 35,000 were at the game tonight. The Cubs have sold 93% of their home seats this year which isn't bad, but it doesn't compare to the last couple of years. What is the reason? Cubs are playing bad or it isn't summer break yet or the economy?

 

The same thing happened the last time they went a season without making the playoffs. Everybody assumes Wrigley sells out regardless, however, after 2004, interest declined. Numbers are skewed since they sell so many tickets in February, but when it's June and the team isn't good people don't actually show up to the games, leaving millions of dollars of revenue on the table. The economy just makes it that much worse.

 

I recently heard somewhere that the secondary market for Cubs tickets has practically dried up. Which just goes to show that more than a fair share of tickets sold in February go directly to brokers and not direct fans. As much as I want the Cubs to succeed and sell out every game, I also want brokers to go bankrupt and disappear.