Postseason gives White Sox chance to build up their base

CHICAGO » Kenny Heuer and his fiancée, Carrie Campbell, showed up dressed for the occasion.

He made his loyalties clear by wearing an Eloy Jiménez jersey for a game between his beloved Chicago White Sox and the crosstown Cubs at Guaranteed Rate Field in late August. She showed hers with an Ian Happ shirt.

For a couple with opposing allegiances, the hourlong drive from their home in La Porte, Indiana, was not an easy one.

“It’s been a rough ride up here so far,” Campbell said, laughing. “In good fun.”

While the Cubs set their sights on the future after breaking up their championship core, the fun could just be starting on the South Side.

The White Sox are in the playoffs for the second year in a row, a first for the charter American League franchise, with their sights set on the biggest prize after running away with the Central division. It won’t be easy, starting with a division series against the AL West champion Houston Astros.

But in a city where they’re often overshadowed by their neighbors a few miles north, they have a rare opportunity. With young and vibrant stars such as Tim Anderson and Luis Robert and Jimenez, not to mention reigning AL MVP José Abreu, the spotlight is on them.

It goes beyond a shot at the World Series. It’s also their opportunity to cash in and expand their base.

“They need to get known by more than just their core fans,” sports marketing executive Marc Ganis said. “And there’s a barn door that is wide open to them right now because of the Cubs, because of the rebuilding that the Cubs are in and the trades they made of almost all of their known stars.

Ganis, cofounder of Chicago-based consulting group Sportscorp, said the White Sox have a chance to increase local sponsorship, ticket sales, suite sales and other stadium revenues by 25% to 40% without having to cut into the Cubs’ fan base because of the size of the population. That hinges on their marketing and how far the team advances.

That means getting out in the community, having players cut commercials with local businesses like car dealerships and using social media platforms to show them having fun and shining a light on them in ways that don’t show between the foul lines.

A good example to him: Kris Bryant going undercover as a Lyft driver in 2015.

The Cubs were in a breakthrough season following a major rebuild that peaked in 2016 with their first World Series championship since 1908. Bryant was on his way to winning NL Rookie of the Year. But he wasn’t quite as recognizable as he would become.

The video shows Bryant behind the wheel, in sunglasses, asking unsuspecting passengers why his picture isn’t on the side of the ballpark as they drive past Wrigley Field. When he tells another rider he plays baseball, the guy asks why he’s not in the pros. And, of course, it captures their stunned reactions when their driver tells them who he is.

White Sox chief revenue and marketing officer Brooks Boyer said the organization is ready for the moment. They’ve been promoting the team’s youth and exuberance the past two years through their “Change the Game” campaign and were set to roll out TV and social media spots with players and sponsors.

Boyer sees the White Sox in a similar position to the Cubs in 2016, with a core of likable young players who appear poised to contend for years. And he wonders what might have been had fans been allowed in the ballpark in 2020 and if there were no attendance restrictions at the start of this season.

The White Sox drew more than 2 million fans seven straight years starting with the 2005 championship season, including a franchise-record 2,957,414 in 2006. Attendance in 2019, when they won just 72 games, was 1,649,775.

It ended up this year at 1,596,385. Once they started operating at full capacity on June 25, the White Sox averaged about 28,000.