By season's end, the Black Sox drew 2,721,818 fans to their new stadium, with an average attendance of 33,603 per game. That means the team sold roughly 96 percent of the available seats for its 81 home games.
Consistent with earlier findings earlier trends, there were dips in attendance when out-of-division rivals visited. Before August, crowds dropped below 34,000 only 9 times, and all but one of those games involved Pacific Division teams. The sole exception was a Monday game in May against Yellow Springs that drew 33,416.
An alarming trend occurred at the very end of July and early August - a time period that coincided both with a losing skid by the Sox, the re-injury to star first baseman Mark Simpson that sidelined him for the year, and publicity about the "pig poop dump" into the Little Calumet River.
That prompted Chicago's front office to drop ticket prices from $20 to $18 (last season's price point), and resulted in a return to the 34,000 attendance level for the Omaha series from Aug. 11-13. This, of course, was helped by the buzz surrounding Amayas Moelling's no-hitter on the 11th.
As expected, the worst month for attendance was September, when school was back in session and the Sox were clearly slipping out of postseason contention. The lowest attendance for any game was the season home finale against Des Moines, which drew 26,190 fans.
Team officials pronounced themselves pleased with the team's box office draw for the year, and likely will consider adding more seating capacity sometime in the future - assuming the Sox can continue attracting fans at the current rate.
Black Sox April Attendance
Date | Day of Week | Opponent | W/L | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|
04/01/40 | Sunday | California | W | 34,940 |
04/02/40 | Monday | California | L | 34,877 |
04/03/40 | Tuesday | Louisville | L | 34,896 |
04/04/40 | Wednesday | Louisville | L | 34,955 |
04/05/40 | Thursday | Louisville | L | 34,849 |
04/18/40 | Wednesday | Long Beach | L | 27,610 |
04/19/40 | Thursday | Long Beach | L | 28,592 |
04/20/40 | Friday | Twin Cities | W | 34,857 |
04/21/40 | Saturday | Twin Cities | W | 34,777 |
04/22/40 | Sunday | Twin Cities | W | 34,618 |
04/23/40 | Monday | Twin Cities | W | 34,896 |
Date | Day of Week | Opponent | W/L | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|
05/02/40 | Wednesday | San Fernando | W | 34,649 |
05/03/40 | Thursday | San Fernando | W | 32,911 |
05/04/40 | Friday | Vancouver | W | 34,763 |
05/05/40 | Saturday | Vancouver | L | 34,759 |
05/06/40 | Sunday | Vancouver | L | 34,778 |
05/07/40 | Monday | Vancouver | L | 34,813 |
05/11/40 | Friday | Yellow Springs | L | 34,787 |
05/12/40 | Saturday | Yellow Springs | W | 34,779 |
05/13/40 | Sunday | Yellow Springs | L | 34,862 |
05/14/40 | Monday | Yellow Springs | L | 33,416 |
05/15/40 | Tuesday | Nashville | L | 34,624 |
05/16/40 | Wednesday | Nashville | W | 34,069 |
05/17/40 | Thursday | Nashville | W | 34,839 |
05/30/40 | Wednesday | Valencia | W | 29,487 |
05/31/40 | Thursday | Valencia | W | 28,170 |
Date | Day of Week | Opponent | W/L | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|
06/02/40 | Saturday | Des Moines (GM 1) | L | 34,740 |
06/02/40 | Saturday | Des Moines (GM 2) | W | 34,742 |
06/03/40 | Sunday | Des Moines | L | 34,674 |
06/04/40 | Monday | Des Moines | W | 34,844 |
06/05/40 | Tuesday | Twin Cities | L | 34,669 |
06/06/40 | Wednesday | Twin Cities | W | 34,729 |
06/07/40 | Thursday | Twin Cities | L | 34,699 |
06/15/40 | Friday | Seattle | L | 34,689 |
06/16/40 | Saturday | Seattle | L | 34,660 |
06/17/40 | Sunday | Seattle | W | 34,779 |
06/18/40 | Monday | Seattle | W | 34,657 |
06/19/40 | Tuesday | California | W | 34,645 |
06/20/40 | Wednesday | California | L | 34.765 |
06/22/40 | Friday | Madison | L | 34,732 |
06/23/40 | Saturday | Madison | W | 34,780 |
06/24/40 | Sunday | Madison | W | 34,658 |
06/25/40 | Monday | Madison | W | 34,633 |
06/26/40 | Tuesday | YS9 | L | 34,757 |
06/27/40 | Wednesday | YS9 | L | 34,742 |
06/28/40 | Thursday | YS9 | W | 34,861 |
Date | Day of Week | Opponent | W/L | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|
07/06/40 | Friday | Omaha | W | 34,924 |
07/07/40 | Saturday | Omaha | W | 34,673 |
07/08/40 | Sunday | Omaha | L | 34,822 |
07/09/40 | Monday | Omaha | W | 34,875 |
07/20/40 | Friday | Nashville | L | 34,816 |
07/21/40 | Saturday | Nashville | L | 34,709 |
07/22/40 | Sunday | Nashville | W | 34,648 |
07/23/40 | Monday | Nashville | W | 34,776 |
07/24/40 | Tuesday | Valencia | W | 28,735 |
07/25/40 | Wednesday | Valencia | L | 32,842 |
07/27/40 | Friday | Portland | L | 34,675 |
07/28/40 | Saturday | Portland | L | 34,789 |
07/29/40 | Sunday | Portland | L | 34,748 |
07/30/40 | Monday | Portland | W | 28,385 |
Date | Day of Week | Opponent | W/L | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|
08/07/40 | Tuesday | Madison | L | 27,694 |
08/08/40 | Wednesday | Madison | W | 29,428 |
08/09/40 | Thursday | Madison | L | 27,350 |
08/11/40* | Saturday | Omaha | W | 34,898 |
08/12/40 | Sunday | Omaha | W | 34,794 |
08/13/40 | Monday | Omaha | W | 34,892 |
08/22/40 | Wednesday | San Fernando | W | 33,115 |
08/23/40 | Thursday | San Fernando | L | 32,868 |
08/24/40 | Friday | Louisville | W | 34,838 |
08/25/40 | Saturday | Louisville | W | 34,860 |
08/26/40 | Sunday | Louisville | L | 34,654 |
08/27/40 | Monday | Louisville | W | 32,016 |
Date | Day of Week | Opponent | W/L | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|
09/05/40 | Wednesday | Long Beach | W | 34,695 |
09/06/40 | Thursday | Long Beach | W | 30,769 |
09/07/40 | Friday | Hawaii | W | 34,662 |
09/08/40 | Saturday | Hawaii | L | 34,836 |
09/09/40 | Sunday | Hawaii | W | 31,100 |
09/10/40 | Monday | Hawaii | W | 26,243 |
09/22/40 | Saturday | Des Moines | W | 34,755 |
09/23/40 | Sunday | Des Moines | L | 34,716 |
09/24/40 | Monday | Des Moines | W | 26,190 |
*Ticket Price lowered from $20 to $18, beginning with Aug. 11.