I, for one, would like to see The World’s Largest Beer Garden put to rest. The urinals alone are enough to make me puke. The Bleacher Bums can have their homo-erotic “charm.” If for the very least, a move would quell traffic congestion and hopefully lower property values.
The only room in the city, from what I remember, would either be where the current stadium is now (it’s a dump, but it looks structurally sound, didn’t they do repairs off-season last yera?), or way up Lake Shore Drive or in the South Side (if one were to stay in the city); or possibly out in Schaumburg (it’s very highway accessible and it has different routes to the city, plus it’s pretty close). It can take the place of that eye sore Ikea. Then, we’ll see what true Cub fans remain.
You think that’s bad? I remember the Kingdome in Seattle having circular “trench” urinals. So taking a leak in a crowd meant a bunch of guys with their junk pointing right at you.
A winning Cubs team (defined as being in the postseason) brings about $4 million to the bottom line to the Tribune Company.
They are nowhere near close to being the most profitable unit of TTC, and their business segment, Broadcasting and Entertainment, is well overshadowed by their publishing segment ($1.5b in revenues against $4.1b in revenues, $436m in operating profit compared to $759m*).
Of these numbers, the Cubs count for, at most, $249m in revenue, $215m in expenses, and $34m in operating profits. For comparisons sake, the LA Times garnered $1.1b in revenues over the same period.
*Of course, profitability ratios are better with B&E.
The reason I say “at most” in the above post is because they lumped the Cubs in with their one radio station, WGN, to create a “Radio and Entertainment” group. And a breakdown of the group by operating units isn’t given. Sorry about that.
So 34 years ago, what is today the most valuable franchise in North America and generally considered #2 in the World was only $8.7 million. It staggers the mind.
Depends. Many times, the “return on investment” in a sports club is the enjoyment received from owning a sports club which has nothing to do with the bottom line. To quote Orson Welles in Citizen Kane:
“I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I’ll have to close this place in… 60 years.”
If you had a billion to spend on a ballpark, you would be part of the rich.
Isn’t this a good thing for fans of the team? I think one of the big reasons that the Cubs are such losers is that there’s not enough financial incentive to win.
There would be no boycotts of any significance. New Wrigley would sell more tickets than Wrigley, and not just because it’d have more seats.
The simple truth is that the new stadium would be much nicer and more pleasant to attend a game in, and people would get used to it, just as they got used to night games there.
