The White Sox predicted that they "will sell 250,000 more tickets this season than in 2014 and end an eight-year slide in paid attendance," but they are "unlikely to pay any ticket fees" to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which owns and operates U.S. Cellular Field, according to Danny Ecker of CRAIN'S CHICAGO BUSINESS. The team projected that it "will sell 1.9 million tickets this year," its highest paid attendance figure since '12, when it sold 1,965,955. The Sox sold 1.65 million tickets in '14. The team's rent agreement with the publicly owned ballpark requires that it "project its final paid attendance every year in early June and estimated rent and ticket fees it will pay ISFA after the season." The Sox estimated that 130,000 of the 1.9 million tickets it sells this year "will be 'comp' tickets -- given away to sponsors or sold for less than $3 apiece." Thus, the final projected net ticket sales figure "will be 1,770,000, short of the 1.95 million figure the team must clear before it must pay ISFA a per-fan ticket fee." Under terms of the rental agreement, the Sox "pay ISFA $3 for every ticket it sells between 1.95 million and 2,425,000 and on a graduated pay scale beyond that" (CHICAGOBUSINESS.com, 6/11).
