CHICAGO — It started as a limited promotion for a specialty theme night. Then the Chicago White Sox heard from their fans.
Everyone wanted a pope-themed hat.
“When things go bananas … that’s when it gets really fun,” said Brooks Boyer, Chicago’s chief revenue and marketing officer.
Fun is the overarching theme when it comes to stadium giveaways, and business has been good at major league ballparks this year.
An array of creative promotions — everything from the New York Mets handing out fake glasses and mustaches for a Bobby Valentine Disguise Night to the Texas Rangers giving away a Nolan Ryan bloody lip jersey — has played at least a small role in an MLB-wide average attendance of 29,618 through Tuesday’s games, the highest such number for a full season since 2017.
Bobbleheads remain popular — like the Brandon Nimmo Bull Riding bobblehead in Texas, or the butter-churning Nick Kurtz “Big Amish” bobblehead with the Athletics — but it’s not just those iconic figurines that are drawing big crowds. The Brewers handed out 25,000 bar dice sets to fans 21 and over on Saturday, and they had a crowd of 40,625 at American Family Field.
The pitch clock and other innovative rules introduced by MLB in 2023 are often credited for spurring fan interest. But it’s clear from the long lines — and occasionally astronomical resale prices on eBay — what a clever giveaway can do for ticket sales, too.
“I definitely think across the league, there’s been an increase in demand and desire, and even necessity, to do things that are outside of the box,” said Meagan Hermosillo, the director of marketing and promotions for the Arizona Diamondbacks. “For us, we can’t really do a standard bobblehead or a standard anything. It has to have some kind of unique factor if we want it to move the needle.”
The White Sox ended up giving the pope hats — shaped like the Pope’s miter, with the team’s sock logo in the middle — to everyone in the crowd of 38,113 for Tuesday night’s 5-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The tribute to Pope Leo XIV, a Chicago native and longtime White Sox fan, helped push the club’s season-long attendance to 1,460,383, surpassing its total of 1,445,738 for all of 2025.
The team leaned into the theme. There were signs posted in the ballpark that read “LEO KNOWS MUNE” and “LEO KNOWS KONERKO,” referring to current White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami and former slugger Paul Konerko. Sister Mary Jo Sobieck threw out a ceremonial first pitch, and former White Sox pitcher Donn “The Pope” Pall kicked off the game with the “play ball” announcement.
While planning the pope hat night, religious sensitivities were part of the conversation for the promotions committee.
“We haven’t done items that would be Pope Leo’s likeness,” Boyer said. “We wouldn’t do that without the permission of the Vatican. … We’ve been very careful. There is a little bit of nuance and finesse that needs to be done. And items, you know a lot of items may not be for everybody.”
Teams are eagerly jumping on the larger cultural moments for eye-catching promotions.
The Baltimore Orioles handed out a Tupac Shakur bobblehead in May. The New York Yankees gave out a “ KPop Demon Hunters ” bobblehead on Tuesday night, and they have a George Costanza calzone bobblehead - paying tribute to a 1996 “Seinfeld” episode - coming up on Aug. 27. Every MLB team except Toronto had a Star Wars Night this season.
Following in the footsteps of the minor leagues in many cases, it’s not enough anymore to just feature a popular player for a giveaway.
“You can see that teams are doing a much better job with their understanding (of) who they’re trying to target,” said Jim Strode, an associate dean and professor at Ohio University’s College of Business. “When I think of the ‘Seinfeld’ one, I’m thinking, you know, they’re targeting Gen X, they are targeting some, you know, younger baby boomers to try to get out to the ballpark.”
There is also what Lauren Anderson, the director of the Warsaw Sports Business Center at the University of Oregon, described as the “collector chase game.” There were multiple fans looking to buy additional pope hats at Tuesday night’s game, and there were several listings for the giveaway and the “KPop Demon Hunters” bobblehead on eBay on Wednesday.
“You want something that’s unique and cool and something that you can, you know, I’m one of 5,000 people to get these, I’m one of 10,000,” Anderson said. “I mean, there is also a bit of the game of people want something that’s limited so they can flip it and sell it, like on an eBay.”
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