The Rosemont Cubs?

Jerry Reinsdorf has figured out he can more money charging premium fees even if it gets him fewer people than he would discounting tickets and filling up the ballpark.

 

The Cubs host 27 games a year against teams whose fan bases are within a 4.5 hour drive: Milwaukee, Cincinnati, St. Louis. One of those towns is 1.5 hours away, another is one of the most die-hard baseball cities in the country. Detroit is the only AL Central city within a 4.5 hour drive of the White Sox.

 

They've got a plan to do that now. The video board the rooftop owners are bitching about is part of it.

And if I was the Cubs I'd tell the rooftop folks to go fuck themselves. The day they stopped letting people who lived in the buildings access to the roofs of those buildings and started charging people for the privilege is the day anyone should have lost an ounce of sympathy for them.

I realize the Cubs now get some revenue back from the rooftops but fuck them anyway.

 

There's a poll on ESPN Chicago asking if people would go see the Cubs if they were in Rosemont. 56 percent say no. Fuck every last one of them. Fucking fair-weather tourists.

 

A-fucking-men.

 

Interleague play mitigates that somewhat in some years, but not this year for the Sox. They'll host the Cubs for two games, and that's it. However, they do host the Braves for a weekend series in July, and there are still a bunch of those fans nationwide.

 

I know they're the ones offering, but isn't there a better place than Rosemont to build a new park? Planes flying over, plastic fakey airport/hotel vibe? It would suck for baseball.

I suppose Cubs fans could create a tailgating atmosphere to make up for it, but I don't think Rosemont would be anyone's first or 100th choice for a baseball stadium.

 

The Cubs, not for the first time or first century for that matter, are marketing one horseshit ballclub this year and for the foreseeable future. That poll may irk some of the Cubs fans on this board, but it also indicates why the franchise would be foolish beyond belief to leave Wrigley for the suburbs. They'd have to win to draw. Going to Rosemont would be like buying a bank in Cyprus this afternoon.

 

More on the proposal:

Preliminary studies by village engineers convinced Stephens it was feasible to build a ballpark on a patch of land in a tax-increment-financing district just outside O'Hare Airport and still have room for parking and a complex if the Cubs desire. The location includes an "L" stop and a Metra station, but Stephens got most animated describing the 250,000 vehicles on Interstate Highway 294 that would pass signage on the outfield exterior.

"The advertising revenue gets kind of silly over there,'' said Stephens, who would let the Cubs advertise to their heart's content.

Additionally, Rosemont would charge only a 3 percent amusement tax on tickets, compared to Chicago's 12 percent. And if the Cubs want to add night games that are more lucrative?

"I'd say, 'Here's the site. You tell me what work we need to do for you to get there,' '' Stephens said.

The Cubs should say thank you all way to the bank — and possibly up the standings.

Every Cubs fan who values winning more than tradition should root for April 2 to arrive without a deal. From a baseball perspective, it's a potential game-changer. New revenue generated from unrestricted signage, an increase in night games and naming rights to a new stadium — combined with the amusement-tax reduction — could reach as high as $100 million annually, according to industry estimates.

"That's four Josh Hamiltons,'' Stephens kidded.

Or that could afford the finest pitching arms an improving minor league system lacks. Immediately, Cubs President Theo Epstein would get smarter and the baseball inevitably better.

Ricketts' promise to win a World Series trumps any vow he made to remain at Wrigley Field. Mayor Rahm Emanuel might want to remember that upon returning from his spring-break trip closer to becoming The Mayor Who Let The Cubs Leave Chicago. Even Stephens acknowledged only "a slight chance'' exists that will happen. But it was impossible to ignore the mayor's office re-engaging with the Cubs and Tunney late last week after the emergence of a solid Plan B for Ricketts. Plan C looks like DuPage County. The Cubs would be fools to eliminate any plan if April 1 passes with no agreement.

If that happens, Tunney will bear the brunt of responsibility. He's hosting a game of Let's (Not) Make A Deal. The Cubs want to fund a $500 million development in his ward, but Tunney keeps prioritizing rooftop owners who poach the product. If Tunney's not careful, they will be left with great views of Chicago's most famous vacant lot.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0324-haugh-wrigley-field-chicago-20130324,0,4823998.column

 

All true...

However, the downside is that it is in Gary, Indiana.

 

+1,000,000

 

All four of them?