According to insiders, the Chicago Cubs are about to be sold for the most money ever paid for a baseball franchise. No ... correction ... the most money every paid for ANY sports team.
As a life long fan, nothing thrills me more than hearing, in begrudging amazement, the whines of other fans (especially Sox fans), who just cannot understand why the losingest team in baseball history -- 100 years without a World Series crown -- can be so damned popular. It drives Sox Coach Ozzie Guillen to public rage. How can this team keep filling the stadium when teams with impressive winning records play ball in half empty stadiums.
Part of the reason is that while the Cubs are not historic winners, they are still playing baseball like it is a game and not a business -- and playing it in a good old fashion "ball park" instead of a high tech stadium with fireworks, ancillary entertainment and gimmicky contests to attract audience.
I only hope t
he next owners will have some clue to what makes the franchise so valuable and stick with the winning formula. Image the return on their investment if the Cubs actually pull off a World Series.
Sox angst is easy to understand. Sure, they do a lot of "na na na" when the Sox win the World Series, or the City Series, but they don't get it. Sox fans love winning. Cub fans love their team.
The record breaking sale of the Chicago Cubs proves that winning does not produce revenue. Attendance and viewership does.
If Jack Brickhouse and Harry Carey were around for this sale, you would not have to guess to much to know what they would say. "Hey! Hey!" "Holy Cow!"
As a life long fan, nothing thrills me more than hearing, in begrudging amazement, the whines of other fans (especially Sox fans), who just cannot understand why the losingest team in baseball history -- 100 years without a World Series crown -- can be so damned popular. It drives Sox Coach Ozzie Guillen to public rage. How can this team keep filling the stadium when teams with impressive winning records play ball in half empty stadiums.
Part of the reason is that while the Cubs are not historic winners, they are still playing baseball like it is a game and not a business -- and playing it in a good old fashion "ball park" instead of a high tech stadium with fireworks, ancillary entertainment and gimmicky contests to attract audience.
I only hope t
he next owners will have some clue to what makes the franchise so valuable and stick with the winning formula. Image the return on their investment if the Cubs actually pull off a World Series.Sox angst is easy to understand. Sure, they do a lot of "na na na" when the Sox win the World Series, or the City Series, but they don't get it. Sox fans love winning. Cub fans love their team.
The record breaking sale of the Chicago Cubs proves that winning does not produce revenue. Attendance and viewership does.
If Jack Brickhouse and Harry Carey were around for this sale, you would not have to guess to much to know what they would say. "Hey! Hey!" "Holy Cow!"
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