Reinsdorf: Ticket prices were out of balance

ROSEMONT -- Jerry Reinsdorf was terse on several topics Wednesday night, but didnt mind a brief discussion on White Sox ticket prices.

The teams owner since 1981, Reinsdorf thinks the franchise has corrected ticket prices that were out of balance with the rest of baseball.

Last month, the White Sox announced they would lower prices on a significant number of season ticket packages and individual game tickets in an attempt to reconnect with fans after they conducted an extensive study on fan support. The team also lowered parking prices.

If you take the so-called good seats, the premier seats, they were the fourth cheapest in all of baseball, Reinsdorf said at Major League Baseballs owners meetings, which conclude Thursday. But then when you got into the lesser-quality seats, they were among the highest in baseball. So what we did was rebalance it. We raised the prices significantly on the inside seats and weve cut the prices substantially on the outside seats just to get where they ought to be.

Those surveys provided Reinsdorf and his decision-makers with ample evidence the product isnt why the White Sox failed to draw two million fans to U.S. Cellular Field last season for the first time since 2004. So what does Reinsdorf believe is the biggest issue the White Sox face?

Traffic, Reinsdorf said. The biggest problem is how long it takes to get to the ballpark.

Reinsdorf joked as he deflected comment on several other questions including his teams nucleus -- you want Rick Hahns extension? -- and a controversial trade that would send Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, John Buck and Emilio Bonifacio from the Miami Marlins to the Toronto Blue Jays.