LRC Sleuths: Chicago Officials Claim 5 Million People Packed the Chicago Cubs Victory Parade Course

10,000,000

I think you are correct. There are 2.7 million in Chicago proper, and 9.73 million people in the Chicago Metro area. (For those keeping track, the 2.7 mil is included in the 9.73...) Anyway, to have 5-million in that area is highly unlikely.

There were only about 240k in the park with Obama for his huge election night in 2008.

A semi-blind guess says there were no more than 300k.

Old D2 Guy wrote:

I think you are correct. There are 2.7 million in Chicago proper, and 9.73 million people in the Chicago Metro area. (For those keeping track, the 2.7 mil is included in the 9.73...) Anyway, to have 5-million in that area is highly unlikely.

There were only about 240k in the park with Obama for his huge election night in 2008.

A semi-blind guess says there were no more than 300k.

To clarify - I was only counting the park and not the entire parade route.

Why does letsrun hate the Cubs?

870,000 attended the parade, the other 4,130,000 were waiting in line to opt out of the NYC Marathon.

New York is famous for its gross distortion of public events attendance, particularly NYCM and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Chicago is no different.

LetsRun.com wrote:

The LRC sleuths are famous for debunking the claims of the million people who watch the New York City Marathon in person.

Now it's time to turn to the Chicago Cubs victory parade.

ESPN.com reports:

"The Office of Emergency Management and Communications told the Chicago Tribune that an estimated crowd of 5 million packed the 7-mile parade route from Wrigley Field to Grant Park, where the party continued with a massive rally to celebrate the Cubs' historic win."

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17969819/chicago-cubs-fans-pack-city-celebrate-world-series-title-parade-rally

How many people do you think were really out there?

Let's assume that the parade route was totally packed, and each person had one foot x one foot of space.

I know nothing about the parade route but if it is 7 miles long that is about 37,000 feet. Let's assume it is 50 feet wide. So we are looking at 37,000 x 50 = 1.85 million people. So the quoted figure is nonsense

In reality I'd imagine it was more like 200,000 people.

More than "Popestock" in Chicago 36 years ago.

They started out the parade with 5 million but 4.5 million were shot and killed en route.

In the estimate, they are probably including every person in all office buildings near the route.

You forgot to count the team in your total. Tecnically they did attend. So add another 26 or whatever.

You win.

pop pop wrote:

They started out the parade with 5 million but 4.5 million were shot and killed en route.

I was in the middle of it and traveled to an appointment and went past Wrigley when it was starting, and watched it go by my office window when I got back.

5 million? Not even close, but I think a legitimate million was a pretty good guess. It was really deep by the ballpark and all the way down Addison. Downtown was nuts. LOTS of people watching from offices and roofs.The park for the rally was really full.

From a Tribune article

Metra had its most riders ever — 430,488 — July 3, 2007, for a Grant Park fireworks show, followed by 425,241 for the 2013 Blackhawks rally.

They were waiting for hours today at Metra stations. Good bet they had record day.So that's just the suburbs, knock off daily riders a good guess would be half or around 250k+. CTA trains were over flowing, parking lots were full so people were coming from all over the city limits and close suburbs.

They always say a million for the marathon and anyone who has run it knows that isn't true, even though it is crowded and great, but the marathon crowd is not close to what was there today. Today was the most I've ever seen downtown for an event and it isn't close. Around a million is a solid guess.

Parade route = 7 miles x 1760 yards = 12,320 yards long

5,000,000 people / 12,320 yards = 406 people per yard of horizontal distance.

Not possible.

End of thread.

Stats people have corroborated 3,000,000 at the Tournament of Roses Parade, the largest yearly gathering in the US. They looked at hotel occupancy, rental cars, airline flights, gasoline sales, fast food sales figues, etc. to correspond to claims.

the million man march had about 150,000.

Math is a skill not used by event promotions. Then they mix in a special sauce called lying and there you have it.

As someone who attended both the 2013/2015 Blackhawks parades, I can safely say this parade had wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more people. It was too crowded - my least favorite of the 3.

I can confirm that on my walk to work nobody had a clue where they were going. Sidewalks are for walking not standing and looking at your phone.

Novel idea, when you get off the train suburbanites, please have a plan. If your headed towards the lake look up at the buildings and walk directly towards the big ones.

THE POPULATION BOMB! THERE WILL BE FAMINE IN OUR FUTURE DESPITE ANY IMMEDIATE CHANGE! OUR EARTH'S POPULATION IS OUTSTRIPPING FOOD SUPPLY! WE ARE ALL DOOMED!