This whole season is wrapped up in a one large basket of B.S.
There was an internet report that the Cubs are close to settling with the roof top owners on the team's new signage demands. In truth, there was nothing to settle. The Cubs and the roof top owners have an existing settlement contract. It was the Cubs who want to unilaterally change it. And it is the Cubs who used the roof top owners demands to "abide by" the existing contract as an excuse NOT to start any renovation of Wrigley Field. The two items are unrelated so this is merely team B.S.
The Cubs continue to throw around the "burden" of ownership of spending $500 million of their own, private money, into the Wrigley Field rehab project. But his martyrdom is also B.S. because the actual Wrigley Field repairs is a small fraction of the total project cost which includes an entire block across the street from Wrigley Field (with a hotel, health club, parking lot and commercial space). Outside the ball park is the most expensive part of the project. And the cry of being beat up by the city and neighbors is another excuse, considering the city gave the owners a large real estate tax break for the Wrigley repairs and green lighted a zoning variation to build a highly dense commercial development in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
The business executives and owners kept telling us that the team needs new revenue streams in order to be competitive. It cites the "bad" contract deals for local broadcast rights. But those contracts were known and accepted by the Ricketts during the purchase; and the same "smart" Tribune executives who structured those deals are still working for Ricketts. It is another excuse to defer away from the bad team creating bad ratings which is tanking Cub advertising revenues. The idea that the Cubs are "trapped" in bad TV deals until 2020 is weak considering the Tribune was able to field season after season of high payroll teams prior to the sale.
The story line continues to be that the young front office talent (Epstein and Hoyer) know what they are doing; they are the boy geniuses of baseball. Ricketts said they could win 83 games in their sleep. So why have the Cubs not come close to winning 83 games the past few seasons? Their Boston greatness has to be tempered by the fact that the Red Sox organization was already built up by Epstein's predecessor, and that the Red Sox ownership gave Theo a blank check to win. Here, in Chicago, there is no blank check. The baseball team is not a priority, but only a tenant at Wrigley Field's entertainment complex.
So it is really hard to watch the Cubs this season with all this B.S. surrounding the club. Unless you are a farmer with a million acres, the amount of manure generated by the team is monumental.
