McCormick Place as a venue for SoxFest ... It has potential

Pitcher Michael Kopech and his wife, Vanessa Morgan

This was the first year SoxFest was held at McCormick Place, and speaking just about the venue and the setup, I'd give it mixed reviews.

First, the good part: I really like the fact that there are three hotels attached to McCormick Place, and that fans had a choice of accommodations. Access to McCormick Place was easy. You simply walk across a footbridge, and you don't even have to go outside into the January cold.

There also are good dining options within reasonable walking distance for after the fest, which is nice because, well, you don't eat that well at SoxFest itself.

However, here's the problem, SoxFest was more cramped and crowded than it ever was when it was at the Chicago Hilton on Michigan Avenue, the previous venue.

The Sox really pumped up the idea that they were holding SoxFest at the "largest venue in North America" or whatever, but then they only rented a very small portion of the space available. I felt as though I could have walked for miles through the empty space at McCormick Place this past weekend, and I thought to myself, "Couldn't the Sox have used this area?"

That's especially true because it was standing room only at the main stage for almost every seminar the whole weekend. There were maybe 200 seats there, and the Sox actually needed about 500.

The "White Sox Museum" was a nice idea, and it was used as a secondary stage for seminars. Only problem? There were maybe 100 chairs in there. They needed at least double that, especially for Chuck Garfien's podcast featuring pitcher Michael Kopech and his wife, actress Vanessa Morgan.

And don't even get me started about the food court. I ate my lunch sitting on the floor Saturday, and so did everyone else I know who attended the event. The McCormick Place food court was not open; the Sox no doubt wanted all the profits, so they set up their own food vendors. And they were approximately 500 tables short of what they needed to accommodate the crowd.

Autograph stages were too close together, and walkways were jammed as lines to see headliners such as Kopech, Frank Thomas and Eloy Jimenez snaked around the convention hall.

The Sox obviously sold more tickets to this event than they did in years past, and that's fine considering the bigger venue.

Problem is, they didn't use the venue properly. That main stage needed to be somewhere else. It was practically right next to the museum, and those attending seminars in the museum were routinely disrupted by what was going on at the main stage. It just didn't make sense.

I guess there is one good thing for the Sox in this scenario: Their posts on social media showed the overflow crowd and long lines in the conventional hall. They can stake their claim that there was a lot of interest in SoxFest this year, and that's not completely wrong. The area designated for SoxFest was packed with fans.

However, if they really want to have a great event, they need to rent more space. McCormick Place, as it turns out, is an inspired choice as a location, but for crying out loud, they need to make better use of the venue.