Posts tagged ‘Cubs.com’

The sale of the Cubs is off to sickening start and it looks like this 200-car freight train isn’t grinding to a halt anytime soon. Not that the sale (or non-sale, depending on which Cubs beat writer’s turn it is to retype the press releases) is really that exciting. We’ve been massaged into thinking that Mark Cuban has an outsider’s chance at ownership…and more recently that selling the Friendly Confines to a state agency will keep Wrigleyville alive and hopping long enough for our kids to enjoy it.

And soon we’ll have another topic that lights up the WSCR phone lines. “Ronnie Woo-Woo Launches Bid to Raise 5 Million for ‘Woo-Woo Field.’” The more ludicrous, the more papers are read, and the more web pages are viewed.

The latest Crane Kenney dictation typed-up for the papers offers yet another example of these stall and soft-sell tactics. Here’s a quote from
the latest twist in the story from Cubs.com:

Kenney said having the Illinois Sports Facility Authority, which currently controls U.S. Cellular Field, home of the crosstown White Sox, handle Wrigley’s operations would make the most sense, because it would keep the Cubs at the ballpark.

“That’s the transaction we liked the most, because rather than sell everything to someone who sorts the pieces out later … it would require the Cubs to play at Clark and Addison [Streets] for the foreseeable future,” Kenney said. “Then, when we sell the team, that restriction would go with it. They can’t move the team and can’t talk about playing in Glenview, [Ill.], or Arlington Heights, [Ill.], or anywhere. They’re going to be where we all want them to play, and that’s important for the city. We’re the third-largest tourist attraction in the state, and we want to see that continue.”

Theory #1, AKA Most Obvious

The Tribune doesn’t care where the Cubs play in 2015. They could care less. And more importantly, any potential new Cubs owner knows it would be catastrophic to move the Cubs out of Wrigley. Even Macy’s wouldn’t biff it up. But instead of acknowledging that basic truth, we have to hear rumors about the Cubs moving to Schaumburg. Stop wasting my time, and tell me what Tom Skilling thinks about all of this. Bob Rohhhhrman!

Theory #2, AKA Follow the Money Trail

This is the larger stretch in this entry, so bear with me. I’ve been catching up on The Wire so I’ve got more of these theories than usual. The Tribune Company will stall the heck out of this deal (as they already are) to sell papers and to improve popular opinion of themselves. But why would the World Beaters that want to keep the team at Wrigley Field until 2040 want to be responsible for changing the name of Wrigley? Because that’s the cake and the eat it, too. And it’s the thousandth tipoff to the only real motivation this company has: $

Selling the stadium, as Jeff Gordon calls it, to the ISFA is only a way for Sam Zell to get a bigger bang for his buck, one way or another.

Hmm.