After winning the 2005 World Series, the White Sox were one of the hottest tickets in the majors in 2006.
But it will cost a few dollars more in 2007 to see what could be the Mark Buehrle/Jermaine Dye farewell season, especially if you want to sit closer at U.S. Cellular Field.
Individual tickets that go on sale to the public on Feb. 16 will increase from $2 in the upper deck sections to $3 in the lower box sections.
The increase comes one year after the Sox won 90 games but finished third in the competitive American League Central. Despite falling short of the postseason, the Sox drew a franchise-record 2,957,411 fans to U.S. Cellular.
They ranked third in the league in home attendance–their highest finish since 1993 when they won the AL West.
The Sox also set a franchise record with 52 sellouts, including 22 consecutive full houses from July 5-Aug. 17. The Sox drew 75 home crowds of 30,000 or larger.
Their 26.2 percent increase in home attendance was second in the majors to AL champion Detroit (28.2). They played to 89.9 percent capacity at U.S. Cellular.
Now they believe 2007 will attract strong demand despite the trade of 17-game winner Freddy Garcia and the possibility Buehrle, who has won 97 games over the past six seasons, and Dye, who finished fifth in the 2006 AL most valuable player balloting, could leave as free agents after this season.
The Sox already have earmarked nearly $104.6 million to 18 players for 2007. But they will receive about $9 million from Philadelphia and Arizona as part of the compensation in trades involving Jim Thome and pitcher Javier Vazquez.
The general public will get a chance to buy individual game tickets only after a process that allows season ticket-holders the first opportunity to buy individual game tickets through an online sale Monday, followed by Ozzie Plan (13-game) ticket-holders Tuesday, Sox Pride Club members Wednesday and whitesox.com registered users Thursday.
The general public can purchase tickets Feb. 16 at whitesox.com, 866-769-4263 and at Chicago-area Ticketmaster outlets.
The 2007 home schedule includes premier pricing for Opening Day against Cleveland (April 2), the Yankees (May 15-17, June 4-7), Minnesota (July 6-8), Detroit (July 23-26) and Boston (Aug. 23-26). Individual tickets to those games range from $25 for upper reserved seats to $44 for lower box seats.
Only season and group-season ticket package holders can purchase individual tickets to the Cubs games June 22-24. Those games have the highest-priced tickets, from $30 for upper reserved seats to $64 in the premium club and premium lower box sections.
But fans still have an opportunity to buy season tickets. Last March, the Sox cut off season-ticket sales at nearly 21,500 after riding the momentum of their first World Series title in 88 years.
Fans still can purchase Split Season (27 games) tickets and the Ozzie Plan, which allows them to attend two games a month, an opportunity to attend an opening week game, a game against the Cubs and a choice of any other regularly priced game–all subject to availability.
