You give the Cubs an inch and they will take a mile. The city of Chicago and the city of Mesa should be well aware of this fact. Be real careful negotiating with these guys. Remember a couple of years ago when the Cubs got the city to signoff on bleacher expansion and more night games when they made promises to the neighborhood including parking and a stop light. Yeah, you know what happened. The Cubs got their night games and the new bleachers. They didn’t deliver on their end.
Now Crane Kenney is sending up the smoke signals that the Chicago Cubs want 50 night games:
Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney told a group in Florida that he hopes to increase the number of night games at Wrigley Field from 30 to 50.
“Players like a routine,” Kenney explained to the Marco Island Sunrise Rotary Club, according to a report on the Marco Island Sun Times newspaper Web site. He said additional night games would relieve the team of playing some day games after arriving home from trips in the early-morning hours.
UPDATE 5:30 – Mike Lufrano the Cubs VP of Community Affairs was put in the awkward position of trying to calm neighbors following the statement from Kenney above. So here’s what Lufrano told a group of neighbors at his mandatory meeting with the neighborhood:
“We’re not asking for anything,” Lufrano said. “We’re not looking for anything this year.”
The most important words in there are “this year”. There is no doubt that the Cubs are positioning themselves for an increase from 30 to 50 night games. At some point a bit of restraint and some concern for the neighborhood would be a real good thing to have. It’s apparent that will not happen under the Tribune and Kenney’s guidance, here’s hoping that Tom Ricketts or whoever buys the Cubs takes an interest in being a good neighbor.
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22 responses so far ↓
uncle dave // March 25, 2009 at 3:07 pm
You give the Cubs an inch and they will take a mile.
Yeah, this can hardly be a surprise. Remember when it was “oh, the neighborhood will be fine, it’s only 12 games” or whatever? It seems like this is always the way these things work — MegaGloboCorp GmbH wants to do something unpopular, the neighborhood fights it, and there’s finally a compromise that looks like a win for the little guy until they lose momentum and eventually wind up with a string of defeats and no positive outcome from the process at all.
Semi off-topic: I will pay cash money for one of them old “No Lights at Wrigley Field” shirts, even if it’s a replica.
wpbc // March 25, 2009 at 4:06 pm
I put my hands up Uncle Dave, I put my hands up. There has become a trend in this country to ask the government for everything if you are a business. The corporate welafare state that we currently live in is filled with guys like Kenney who had felt no social responsibility to the tax payers who they ask to give them concession after concession. As a matter of fact in the end it turns out they want to take your house, your wife and your first born. It’s really disgraceful IMHO when companies act like this. The Cubs under Kenney have gotten really bad. Tom Tunney has worked very hard to have a good relationship between the the Cubs and the Wrigleyville neighborhood, unfortunately Kenney has not been working at doing anything in return for the community, as a matter of fact he has decided to tell them they are not good Cub fans if they don’t support his ideas.
uncle dave // March 25, 2009 at 6:59 pm
The Cubs under Kenney have gotten really bad.
[...]
At some point a bit of restraint and some concern for the neighborhood would be a real good thing to have. It’s apparent that will not happen under the Tribune and Kenney’s guidance, here’s hoping that Tom Ricketts or whoever buys the Cubs takes an interest in being a good neighbor.
Yeah, it would be nice if they would be a good neighbor, but I’m not holding my breath. We’re going into the 22nd year of night baseball at Wrigley now, and that means we’ve seen 22 years of residents moving into the neighborhood knowing that there was night baseball and expecting the pain in the ass associated with night baseball to be part of the deal (and possibly embracing it).
Considering the original group of Wrigleyville residents (and Alderman Hansen) weren’t able to hold on to the day-only arrangement, and the group that opposes night baseball has been worn down and diluted over the years, I’m willing to wager my left nut, a sixer of OS talls and a combo from Buona (dipped) that getting approval for a full slate of night games will be a doss relative to what they went through back in ‘88.
And I’ll even throw in the proposition that the club won’t do the right thing by their neighbors for free.
pmayo // March 26, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Holy facelift! Looking swank around here.
wpbc // March 26, 2009 at 2:48 pm
not sure if i like it or not pmayo. any thoughts from any of you guys would be appreciated…
pmayo // March 26, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I like it. It’s a much cleaner look, for sure.
uncle dave // March 26, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Two thumbs up. Front page looks a bit lonely without the links, though — maybe shorten the page, or bring the links back at the right margin.
Otherwise, I dig it.
wpbc // March 26, 2009 at 4:50 pm
I’m trying the links on their own page so I could add several that we used to have on the old page that i find useful during the season. Yeah, the sidebar is a bit sad right now. I’ll work up something…
T.J. Brown // March 26, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Why would the Tribune Cubs people be negotiating for night games beyond 2009 if this sale to Ricketts is in such good shape?
uncle dave // March 26, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Yeah, the sidebar is a bit sad right now. I’ll work up something…
Pitchers’a girls whut ain’t got no clothes
jackfsu // March 26, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Site looks great CCD.
Did you get that e-mail I sent you?
wpbc // March 26, 2009 at 9:34 pm
thanks Jack, i did. i’ll get something back to you soon…
wpbc // March 26, 2009 at 9:35 pm
thats a great question tj
MB21 // March 27, 2009 at 5:25 am
I like it too. This is a nice template.
gaius marius // March 27, 2009 at 7:21 am
this looks a hell of a lot better than 1060w ever did!
wpbc // March 27, 2009 at 7:51 am
this is the ‘less is more’ template…
pmayo // March 27, 2009 at 8:37 am
wpbc, and gm, be interested to get your takes on this: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/shysterball/article/the-franchise-value-bubble-is-poised-to-pop/
We’ve been batting it around over at ACB, but none of us are really sure what to make of it.
MB21 // March 27, 2009 at 8:47 am
Yeah, and that’s what makes it so nice. When I had ACB re-designed last fall I told the guy I wanted it to be clean. I didn’t want a bunch of unnecessary junk or colors screwing things up. Maybe if I had found this template I could have converted it to EE without paying anybody. Oh well. I never said I was smart.
wpbc // March 27, 2009 at 9:22 am
that’s a really well done piece at hardball times. i’m not a financial whiz, so you should take whatever I say with a big grain of salt…
I think the value of pro sports franchises has been inflated for a while now. (the hardball times article explains very well many of the reasons…including publicly financed stadia). I think that this economic meltdown is a turning point in our lifetimes. Among many many things that will not be same, I no longer think we will see people knowingly pay more than an assessed value for something, because they assume the item they are buying will be worth that in 1, 2 or 3 years. Those assumptions are no longer appropriate and probably never were (think housing). People were burned by these assumptions…big time.
Now think about the Cubs sale, and Mark Cuban in particular. Cuban was not bidding on the Cubs for what he thought they were worth today (last summer Forbes assessed the Cubs value at $642 million). Cuban wasn’t bidding twice that for the Cubs of today. He was bidding twice that with the idea that in five years they would be worth what he bid thanks to the business decisions he was going to make with Cubs broadcasts outlets, advertising, sponsorships, and turning Wrigley Field into a 365 day a year money maker. Well all of that changed in a quick blink of an eye last October. Now Cuban or any new owner has to question how long it will be until the Cubs are worth what he spent on them. When we look back on this, Cuban stepping aside from the process may have been the smartest move.
I spoke this morning with a friend of mine who recalled that the depression destroyed her parents lives…they were never the same. The reason I say this is not to scare but to say: lessons that come from economic events like this last for a generation. People don’t spend their money as freely, people appreciate different things. I think we are in the midst of a huge change in how people spend (money or credit). There was reason some of our Grandparents put their money in mattresses, they didn’t trust the banks. Something that I never understood until last summer and fall.
So how does this all relate to baseball and ownership? We are in the midst of a huge decline in entertainment spending. This decline may last for an extended period as people begin to realize that $500 to take the wife and kids to the ballpark is better spent on something else. Baseball will have to correct it’s pricing structure with regards to the paying customer. Baseball is going to see shrinking dollars from gate receipts, concessions, advertising, sponsorships, and the corporate suite rentals. When these things happen, the clubs will be worth less (I don’t think it’s 75% less as the article claims), but it will be a substantial number.
wpbc // March 27, 2009 at 9:23 am
I like what you did md. You can see I copied the links idea!
wpbc // March 27, 2009 at 9:24 am
but i don’t have the calendar…I guess I get what I pay for.
MB21 // March 27, 2009 at 10:44 am
I got rid of the calendar. Too much of a hassle. I thought I’d work on getting the links to automatically post, which I’m sure is possible with some coding, but I lost interest.