Mark Cuban Bids $1.3 Billion on the Superstation Generation

All the hoopla of the sale of the Cubs reached a nexus on today’s episode of Cubscast, when we reported the news that bids by both John Canning and Don Levin were not accepted by the team. What we didn’t know at the time we recorded the episode was that Mark Cuban reportedly bid $1.3 billion, which seems to be far and away the highest bid on the club. It stinks that my hometown favorite Don Levin is seemingly out of contention, but I have to believe that after looking over all the Cubs’ assets and liabilities, $1.3 billion wasn’t even close to the actual current value of the Cubs team, Wrigley Field, and a quarter of Comcast Sportsnet Chicago.

This shouldn’t shock us…we already knew that Mark Cuban really, really wants to own the Cubs. It’s the number on the napkin that he slid over the table that is shocking. This amount is over twice the dollar amount that the Red Sox were purchased for just a few years ago — which I love because there is no way that Red Sox fans (those World Series winning jerks) (kidding) can comprehend why the Chicago Cubs would be worth twice as much as their team. Imagining their confusion is entertaining — those fans are absolutely right to scratch their heads and quizzically ask the rhetorical question — Nomah? Then again, the World’s Greatest Network wasn’t originated in Boston. Thankfully.

Mark Cuban isn’t operating in Nomah dollars (circa 2005) or 2008 dollars, because as I mentioned the Cubs aren’t worth this much now. Cubs fans are worth this much now, though, which is something I think Cuban understands better than most. Come November after a World Series appearance, fans are going to raise the team worth significantly, but what I like about his bid is that it’s clearly a commitment to see the investment through. And this is an investment in Cubs fans as much as the team or a stadium with a manual scoreboard.

The history shows that in 20 years whatever amount the Cubs are purchased at is going to look like a bargain. That is due to constant increases in the number of Cubs fans that spend money. Because the team piped all those day games through WGN to kids (including Cuban) all over the country in the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s, the goose is going to keep laying the golden egg for another few years or so. As each wave of these fans reaches adulthood, it’s bringing countless millions more in revenue to the Cubs. I’ll be interested to see what happens after the Superstation Generation no longer is growing because of the rise of the very station that Cuban is bidding on.

If he does end of winning this auction for the Cubs, Mark should consider selling his stake in Comcast Sportsnet Chicago and trying to get 100 games a year back on WGN. I guess that’s more of a 2028 concept, though.