A-Rod - Cubs "Rumor" Get a load of this!

by KYCards on Sep 23, 2007 7:15 PM EDT

Dear Diary, Are the Cubs becoming the Yankees of the NL??

I hope this is just a rumor, but this would be bad news to any NL Central team if this were to come true. From MLBtraderumors.com:

A-Rod, Partial Cubs Owner?
Deadspin's Will Leitch has an article in New York Magazine dissecting the Alex Rodriguez opt-out situation. Leitch, through a source, has a new piece of info for us sure to generate some discussion. He lists the Red Sox and Cubs as the teams most likely to lure A-Rod away from the Yankees, and lays out a unique Cub contract possibility: To read more check out: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

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Comments

Two things

this is tampering.
the player who can't win the big game going to the team that can't win the big game. Perfect.

Call up PJ Walters!

by Hardcore Legend on Sep 23, 2007 7:51 PM EDT reply actions

MLB

could never approve this, could they? I couldn't imagine the floodgates that would open.

"Show me a guy who takes his time on the mound and I'll show you a damned loser." - Leo Durocher

by mattyfrommo on Sep 23, 2007 8:09 PM EDT reply actions

Probably wrong...

But the Cubs being sold likely means that their penny pinching days are over. The Cardinals will have to work on their farm system, because they won't be able to outspend them, even if they wanted to.

by DiscoJer on Sep 23, 2007 8:15 PM EDT reply actions

Why not?

We have a bigger stadium? According to all the polling, we have a more popular franchise.

They maybe couldn't 'outspend' the Cubs but they could more than likely support a $140 M payroll if DeWitt wanted to.

Call up PJ Walters!

by Hardcore Legend on Sep 23, 2007 8:29 PM EDT up reply actions

I was prepared to make an argument about

the Cards v. Cubs, claiming that the Cubs bring in more revenue than the Cards. After some research, I no longer think that is true.

According to this site, which measures Fan Cost Index, it's only slightly cheaper to go to a Cards game than a Cubs game. The Cubs get extra revenue from parking, while the Cards don't see money from the parking around the stadium. The Cubs' concessions are cheaper, but they're also smaller, leaving the Cards fans with a better value. And since Busch III is so much bigger than Wrigley, it seems as though the Cards should be able to spend more than they do.

The Cardinals have the 3rd most expensive tickets in MLB, behind the Red Sox (1), and Cubs (2), and followed by the Yanks (4). The Royals are 30th in ticket prices.

Spantalones

by spants on Sep 23, 2007 9:31 PM EDT up reply actions

I meant

to qualify everything I wrote as being from 2006. I'm unsure what changes, if any, might indicate for 2007.

Spantalones

by spants on Sep 23, 2007 9:32 PM EDT up reply actions

TV Money is the big moneymaker

Cheeseburger in paradise.

by joker24 on Sep 24, 2007 12:53 AM EDT up reply actions

Keep in Mind

Money for baseball comes in from many angles and the rich teams are not rich due to attendance. If so, the Yanks would only be middle of the pack. Their attendance is rarely among the highest, parking is a nightmare, and their stadium is pushing 100 years old. (without many of the luxury box and other money-making stadium scams of the modern day. TV and Radio money are what make the Yanks the rich boys. My guess, the Cubbies are probably 3rd in TV revenue behind only the Yanks and the Mets. (If somebody has those numbers, they would be interesting to look at.) If nobody showed up to Yankees games, they would still be the richest team. (as long as they didn't stop watching them on TV.)

How about handin' me another helpin' of those mashed taters...thank you very much!

by Elvis on Sep 24, 2007 9:21 AM EDT up reply actions

Perhaps,

but you can't really deny that 3.5 million tickets in a season - in addition to souvenirs and concessions - is a way to rake in the dough. At $10/ticket that's $3.5 million. No ticket is that cheap. Ticket sales may not account for all of the Cards wealth, but attendance plays a part, otherwise owners wouldn't be trying to fill the seats.

I wonder if the teams that sell more tickets, and charge more for those tickets, have higher payrolls, and thus are more likely to enter the playoffs. I know the SFGiants charge out the wazoo for a ticket, but they're not often contenders.

I agree it would be interesting to see what the revenue is from radio and TV.

Spantalones

by spants on Sep 24, 2007 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions

Isn't $10/ ticket for 3.5 M tickets

$35 M?

Call up PJ Walters!

by Hardcore Legend on Sep 24, 2007 1:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Ha ha

yeah. I had just woken up. Apparently the math part of my brain was still dreaming.

Okay, so that further proves my point. :)

Spantalones

by spants on Sep 24, 2007 3:39 PM EDT up reply actions

And as an added bonus

I believe that TV revenue is not included as official 'revenue' when MLB calculates revenue for revenue sharing. Thus, the Cards donate into the revenue sharing system, and the Phillies recieve money.

by Valatan on Sep 25, 2007 6:59 PM EDT up reply actions

I would assume that the cubbies make more

from WGN than pretty much any non-Yankee team makes from their TV deal. Having pretty much every game they play be a national game has to be a huge advertising boost.

by Valatan on Sep 23, 2007 9:38 PM EDT up reply actions

The Cubs actually only have 70 games on WGN

most are on Comcast Sportsnet.

The Mets are on SNY (like Yankees YES).

The Cardinals could start their own baseball network if they thought to.

Call up PJ Walters!

by Hardcore Legend on Sep 23, 2007 9:44 PM EDT up reply actions

The one thing

that is fascinating about this is that the Cubs are generally not competitive. They don't win very often, so for them to be in the upper tier of ticket pricing among 30 MLB teams really says something about the demand for tickets. The Red Sox were a similar case until the last few years when they've been winning.

Oh, and as Hardcore mentioned, the Cardinals could totally create their own network if they wanted. They would have viewers nationwide.

Spantalones

by spants on Sep 23, 2007 9:49 PM EDT up reply actions