The Chicago White Sox are well aware of the challenges they face as they look to rebound from a 121-loss season in 2024. As the team bottomed out, so too did attendance at home games.
It comes as little surprise, then, that the Sox are making a strong push to bring people to the ballpark for more than just nine innings of baseball.
“There’s no secret that we had a rough season last year,” White Sox chief revenue and marketing officer Brooks Boyer said. “We can’t control what happens between the white lines when grown men have a round ball and a round bat. That we can’t control. But what we can control is everything outside those lines.”
What’s happening outside those lines at Rate Field in 2025 includes a new collection of food and beverages, plus an extensive schedule of promotions and giveaways focused on commemorating 125 years of White Sox history.
Fans will remember the viral Campfire Milkshake that became the hot-ticket item a year ago. It was arguably the star attraction during a dismal season.
The Campfire Milkshake isn’t going anywhere. But White Sox concessions partner Levy Restaurants has concocted a new milkshake — the Celebration Cake Shake. The shake will feature birthday cake ice cream, confetti cake, a maraschino cherry and it’s topped with a pinwheel cookie designed to look like the pinwheels on the Rate Field scoreboard.
“We wanted to build off that success (with the Campfire Milkshake) and really introduce something new for the fans that they can really enjoy, really sink their teeth into,” Levy Restaurants chef Nick Toth said. “We also wanted to keep it nostalgic. Cold ice cream on a warm summer night at the ballpark is what we were going for.”
The shake will be available at the Topo Chico Hard Seltzer Cantina.
Levy Restaurants has also introduced several new options for the stadium club and the club level. That includes a collection of new sandwiches, a vegetable couscous salad, a patty melt and loaded brisket cheese curds, among others.
On the main concourse, fans will have the chance to try something different at the new Lucky’s concession stand, which was created by the Sox’s other concessions partner Delaware North and will feature Korean-inspired dishes. The Lucky’s stand will be at section 154.
Options include several different iterations of Korean dogs, a popular street food, plus several different bubble waffles and chili crunch noodles served in a classic takeout box. The Korean dogs include a Vienna Beef hot dog with various toppings. One, named El Diablo, is actually a mozzarella stick topped with Flaming Hot Cheetos. There’s also a sweet dog that includes marshmallows, Fruity Pebbles and sweet condensed milk.
The bubble waffles will have both sweet and savory options. The chili crunch noodles will be made warm during the chilly months at the beginning of the season and then served cold during the heat of summer.
“Last summer, in my travels, I noticed the Korean dog everywhere,” said Delaware North operations manager Jennifer Kribs.
Kribs said the concession stand at section 154 wasn’t always open last season. She believed there could be a market for more Asian cuisine at the ballpark.
“I love to describe the ballpark as a mini taste of Chicago,” Kribs said. “Our guests, not only from the state of Illinois, but visiting from all over, get to experience all the different cultures and cuisines.”
The Sox host the Los Angeles Angels for opening day on March 27 at Rate Field. The giveaway to the first 20,000 fans in the ballpark is a 125th anniversary plush blanket. It’s the first of many promotions this season, including an Ozzie Guillen bobblehead on Aug. 10 and a Ken Griffey Jr. bobblehead on Aug. 24.
A mid-July weekend will be dedicated to celebrating the 2005 Sox team that won the World Series. Buehrle’s statue will be revealed on July 11, there will be a player reunion and a Buehrle replica statue giveaway on July 12. A four-headed monster bobblehead featuring 2005 starting pitchers Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Freddy Garcia and Jose Contreras will be released on July 13.
“We’ve raised the bar on ourselves every single year on food and beverage, and we try to do the same thing with promotions,” Boyer said. “I’ll put up our promotional giveaways against anybody.”
