WHITE SOX have new start time: 7-11

No more 7:05 p.m. or 7:35 p.m. games, of which there are about 50. They will all begin, for the next three seasons, at 7:11 p.m., courtesy of 7-Eleven, the convenience store giant, which will pay the team an average of a half-million dollars a year to be the name behind the time.

“It’s a fun way to insert our name into fans’ hearts and minds,” said Margaret Chabris, a 7-Eleven spokeswoman. “We think it’s worth way more than $500,000.” She said that 7-Eleven is talking to other baseball teams about sponsorship deals that would include starting their games at 7:11.

The shift to 7:11 at U.S. Cellular Field was not envisioned when the team and 7-Eleven were working on the details of a sponsorship deal that would have kept the starting times at 7:05 and 7:35. But team executives said that 7-Eleven wanted a new wrinkle to the more traditional sponsorship they were working on, which includes 25,000 giveaway coupons at each game. That could strain the Slurpee-making capacity of the 7-Elevens in the Chicagoland area. From NY Times article by Richard Sandomir, 10/11/06

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