What began as a limited stadium promotion has quickly turned into one of the most unexpected full-ballpark giveaways of the season.
The Chicago White Sox announced they will distribute commemorative “Pope hats” to all fans attending their August 11 game at Rate Field—a Biblical shift from the promotion’s original design.
Initially, the hats were only available through a special ticket package. But as soon as the promo was announced, White Sox fans (and, we assume, Pope fans) raced to buy them, and the package quickly sold out.
So, rather than treat the game like a hard-candy Christmas, the Sox went the other way and decided to make the hats a stadium-wide giveaway.
Thou shalt not mislead fans into buying false tickets
Of course, giving a high-demand promo item away to all fans is the right thing to do – especially for a team that is struggling on the field and at the gate. But fans who purchased the original promotional ticket obviously felt shortchanged by this announcement. But the Sox have them covered, as those fans will receive a yet-to-be-announced bonus item to make up for the fact that their “special ticket” suddenly turned into a not-so-special ticket.
But what could that item be? Bottles of White Sox holy water? Communion wafer nachos? Papal jorts? Only time will tell. The Sox have said they will communicate directly with those ticket buyers in the coming weeks to let them know what their mystery giveaway will be (and the world will surely find out shortly after that). But if you want our vote, we say Papal jorts for the eternal win.
But that’s not all – $5 concessions for everyone, too
In addition to everyone at Rate Field walking around in Pope hats blessing each other, there’s yet another big promotion that night: it’s $5 Tuesday. A limited selection of ballpark foods, including basic nachos, popcorn, hot dogs, Polish sausages, pizza, soft drinks, and even Miller Lite drafts will be just $5. With a deal like that, it will probably feel more like Christmastime than August.
What’s the ticket status for this game?
As of this date, there’s no shortage of tickets still available (although surely fewer than most other Tuesday night Sox games). Ticketmaster has lower-level tickets available for as little as $35, and uppers for $29 (and, as you’ll read in our Ultimate Guide to Rate Field, there is absolutely no reason to sit in the upper deck). Those prices from the White Sox are less expensive than the cheapest tickets on SeatGeek and StubHub, so even though it makes sense to always shop around, we think Ticketmaster will be your cheapest option.
If you were hoping to get in on the “bonus mystery giveaway”, well, you’re too late for that. Those tickets, as of now, are still listed as sold out. But who knows … maybe the Sox will make more available if the bonus item proves popular.
Doubleheader Digest
If you are thinking about coming to Chicago for this game, here’s what else is going on in Chicago at that time. Note: this Sox game is on a Tuesday, but we will list the events from the previous weekend as well as the following days for your reference. But there are some big events happening during that week.
For the full calendar, check out our Ultimate Sports Calendar for Chicago.
Saturday, August 8
Indiana Fever @ Chicago Sky, United Center, 2:00pm CT
Foo Fighters, Soldier Field, 5:30pm CT
Cleveland Guardians @ Chicago White Sox, Rate Field, 6:10pm CT
Sunday, August 9
Cleveland Guardians @ Chicago White Sox, Rate Field, 1:10pm CT
Bay FC @ Chicago Stars, Northwestern Medicine Field, 6:00pm CT
Santos Laguna @ Chicago Fire, SeatGeek Stadium, TBD
Wednesday, August 12
Cincinnati Reds @ Chicago White Sox, Rate Field, 6:40pm
J. Cole, United Center, 8:00pm CT
Bottom Line
Happily, life is full of second chances. If you wanted to get a Pope hat ticket but were shut out, you now have another chance. And just think of all the places you can wear that hat after the game is over. There’s … well … hmmm. We’ll have to get back to you.
