In the midst of the worst economic time in this country since the great depression, it appears the fans of the Chicago Cubs want one last summer of love at Clark and Addison. Some Cub fans might be cutting back, but apparently it wasn’t on their season ticket plans. The Tribune reports:
Approval ratings: Despite the recession, the Cubs had a season-ticket renewal rate of 98 percent, according to Frank Maloney, director of ticket operations. The waiting list for season tickets recently went above the 100,000 mark.
Before we start hailing the Cubs as recession-proof (or in this case depression-proof), like some moron in the Cubs ticket office insisted back in mid-January. Let’s keep in mind the fact that back in the Great Depression the Cubs didn’t feel it at the gate in 1930 (following the stock market crash in the fall of 1929), but 1931:
The attendance figures are staggering. The ‘29 Pennant winning club drew 1,485,166; ‘30 wasn’t much different with the Cubs drawing 1,463,624. (Amazingly enough the Cubs wouldn’t draw that many fans again at Wrigley Field until 1969). By 1931 attendance fell to 1,086,422, 2 years later the Cubs bottomed out at 594,112. Still, the Cubs were one of the fortunate teams during these times thanks in large part to their popularity…
So as the Cubs start selling single game tickets, I am sure we will hear how happy they are with tickets sales and they have every right to be. Once again the Chicago Cubs and their employees should thank their lucky stars, most of us aren’t quite so fortunate.
If you’e heading over to the VWR this morning, lotsa luck.
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7 responses so far ↓
gaius marius // February 20, 2009 at 12:26 pm
i’ll say this much — this depression is breaking every rule for what is “recession-proof”.
drug companies and drugstores are getting hammered. hospitals are seeing slowdowns in patient traffic. food sales are flagging, growing but at a rate less than the population. food, for christ’s sake.
nearer the cubs — beer is getting killed, with sales off (-14%).
if the cubs do decently this year, it will be a testament to how well they’ve marketed themselves to the upper-middle class and the kids of same.
fwiw, ccd, i wonder how many people renew with the expectation of their tickets being a profit center. most people i know who buy the whole package pay for a big chunk of it by selling select high-demand games in the secondary market. i expect this year there won’t be much of a secondary market — i’m expecting to get out to the ballpark cheap-cheap-cheap later this year with the help of oversupplied scalpers. one season of that would be enough to seriously dent renewals, i imagine, but i suppose we’ll have to see.
wpbc // February 20, 2009 at 1:44 pm
I think you are right across the board on that scenario gm.
Tim // February 20, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Its been nice this year that the Cubs have not allowed those of us grandfathered into the Combo Plan (nights and weekends) to upgrade to a full season plan. I won’t have to worry about selling tickets to games I can’t attend because I’m part of the 85% that work for a living.
(How sad is it that Lee Elia’s 15% unemployment estimate is becoming more accurate every day?)
It will be interesting to see how the secondary market goes. This is theoretically the third contending year in a row. It may not be good enough to be over .500 to drive the demand at the end of the year. People may be saving their money to get at the potential clinching games and playoff tickets.
wpbc // February 20, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Much of this shows how much over consumption we were prior to this.
wpbc // February 20, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Incredible, absolutely incredible.
pmayo // February 20, 2009 at 2:52 pm
wpbc, did you see Kass’ latest column? The guys is really throwing heat lately.
oog // February 23, 2009 at 10:54 am
beer is getting killed
Say it ain’t so, gm.