Upper deck ticket holders are banned from going onto the main concourse and lower level at U.S. Cellular Field. Not just banned from the lower level seats (understandable), but…
–Banned from walking in walkways
–Banned from visiting the shops
–Banned from going to the White Sox hall of fame
–Banned from the center field batters eye
–Banned from enjoying the ballpark
They are only allowed to go to the attic-like upper deck. A vendor at the Cell told me that they have been doing the banning for three years now. Why? They say it’s for security reasons. Too many people go to the main level. What a freakin joke! They Sox can barely get their ballpark half full. There is plenty of room on the main concourse with its mall-like qualities of broad paveways.
The real reason why they don’t let upper deck ticket holders go to the rest of the ballpark is because they don’t want their ballpark to look empty. Where do you look to see if a ballpark is full or empty? You look to the upper deck.
The evidence of why the White Sox fear their ballpark looking empty:
1) Their ballpark IS empty.
In the past 10 years, they could only fill 49.4% of their park. And they didn’t even field a terrible team. They finished 2nd or higher nine of the ten years!
2) 6,660 upper deck seats eliminated.
They are so afraid of their ballpark looking empty, they chopped off the top eight rows after the 2003 season. At a time when ballparks are looking to add more seats. The Sox are cutting them back.
3) 300,000 cars see the upper deck daily.
The only inside part of the ballpark visible from the I-94 Dan Ryan Expressway is the upper deck. Surely, you cannot have thousands of cars seeing an empty ballpark during a game.
4) Force people to stay in the upper deck.
Level 500 visitors are not allowed to go anywhere else in the ballpark except the upper deck.
5) Sacrifice in-park shop sales.
They are so afraid that their park might look empty, that they are preventing 15,400 upper deck seats from going to a shop on the lower level. Of course, they never fill out the upper deck. But let’s say half the upper deck (since they can only fill half their ballpark. That’s 7700 fans that can’t go to the shops on the lower level.
6) Willing to make their fans feel like second class.
I have to admit as a Cubs fan I felt like an outcast at U.S. Cellular, but I really felt like an outcast by being prohibited to visit the rest of their park. And Sox fans have to endure the stereotype of being trailer trash. You’d think the Sox brass would want to uplift their fans, but instead they try getting their ballpark look a bit fuller by making the upper deckers feel like second-rate citizens.
The Cell is truly a prison.
UPDATE: Six years later I visit the Cell’s upper deck again and have a much different experience.
I should say the game I attended had 33,000 fans. Far from a sellout that security would say is too many people. And according to whitesoxinteractive.com, the ban has been in effect since 2002.
is it that they are afraid it will look empty or that they don’t want people to buy cheap upper deck seats and then go sit in the more expensive lower deck seats?
This is more evidence that the Chicago White Sox is the most self-conscious team in all baseball. That team has such a complex. I wish they just moved to Florida in 87.
The truth is if you buy upperdeck tickets you are a second class ticket holder. The most expensive upper deck ticket is $18 for a regular weekday game game. The cheapest seat anywhere else in the stadium is $27 for bleachers. You are saving almost $10 by sitting in the upper deck. It’s all about the benjamins. The main level concourse is open to the people who are willing to shell out more money. Even if the average upper decker bought some stuff at the lower level store it would never make up for the $10 pure profit that they make on selling you a better ticket.
I discovered this “100 level ticket holders only” rule when attempting to go to the bigger main shop on the lower level to buy a Tampa Bay Devil Rays hat. Not only did the Sox lose out on a sale, they also lost the ballgame!
My uncle, a big White Sox fan, explained the reason this way: If they allow upper deck fans onto the lower level, they will inevitably sit in the seats. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but at the Cell if the real ticket holder comes along and sees someone in their seat, this will probably cause a fight. Finally a reason given from a White Sox fan that actually makes sense.
Sure im 11 years late but this is a very ignorant and short sighted article. The real reason is because of the 2002 Kanas city incident where two fans snuk down from the upper deck and attacked the 1st base coach. 3,300 seats wer removed because fans sent feedback ove the first decade of Comiskey Park II’s opening that the upper deck seasts were too high. Old Comiskey Park’s last row of the upper deck was as high as the lowest row in the upper deck of the new ballpark.
And dont get me started on the “empty ballpark” concept. everything you mentioned here was just you making stuff up. This argument is still applied even today 11 years later. The neighbourhood isnt as gentrified as Fenway or Wrigleyville so it makes it harder for people to go to games, they only show up when they win like in 2006 and 2007 after they won the world series. MLB attendance has been going down for years so fans really only go to games nowadays if theres something to do in the neighborhood like at Wirlgey or Fenway. Even the Cleveland indians fail to fill their stadium depite their 90’s success as well as current success.
Omar, thank you for your comment. You make a good point. Perhaps the White Sox aren’t trying to make their ballpark look more full by forcing upper deck ticket holders to remain only in the upper deck.
Maybe it’s safety.
You stated the reason why the White Sox don’t allow people from the upper deck is because two fans from the upper deck snuck down to the lower level, and eventually attacked the first base coach.
Therefore, the White Sox don’t trust their upper deck fans.
In my article I stated how I felt like an outcast sitting in the upper deck, not allowed to roam to other parts of the ballpark. The White Sox purposely prohibit the upper deck fans from going to other parts of the park, because they simply don’t want the “upper deck fans” to be a part of the nicer parts of the park. Because upper deck fans are riff-raff not to be trusted.
Man. I’d rather have the rationale be the White Sox wanting to make their ballpark to look full. If that’s not the case, then the White Sox are just being classists, having prejudice against or in favor of people belonging to a particular social class. Yipes. That sucks.