Tribune to sell Chicago Cubs<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>CHICAGO (AP) -- Tribune Co. said it plans to sell the Chicago Cubs at the end of the 2007 baseball season, putting one of its most valuable assets on the block as it simultaneously announced Monday that real estate magnate Sam Zell was acquiring the media conglomerate.Analysts have estimated that the Cubs could fetch $600 million or more. Tribune bought the team in 1981 for $20.5 million.</div>
This was pretty much expected. The only reason the Cubs ownership went on a big spending spree this past offseason was to raise the overall value of the team. It's also why just about every single one of those contracts is backloaded, so the old owners aren't the ones who are going to have to pay those contracts.
Bill Gates should own a team... or how about Donald Trump?Need more personalities and moguls in the sports business.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (AdropOFvenom @ Apr 2 2007, 01:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>This was pretty much expected. The only reason the Cubs ownership went on a big spending spree this past offseason was to raise the overall value of the team. It's also why just about every single one of those contracts is backloaded, so the old owners aren't the ones who are going to have to pay those contracts.</div>Most contracts are backloaded.And I doubt it's the ONLY reason, but like the Vikings a few years ago, it played a role in the free spending.The old owners are a company, not one man.
Mark Cuban please. I am writing a piece for my schools paper on this issue next week, I'll post it here when I do
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xpostxscript @ Apr 3 2007, 01:19 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Why not Vince McMahon? He's a billionaire.</div>4 Words:THIS IS THE XFL!!!!!!!!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jon_Vilma @ Apr 3 2007, 10:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xpostxscript @ Apr 3 2007, 01:19 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Why not Vince McMahon? He's a billionaire.</div>4 Words:THIS IS THE XFL!!!!!!!!</div>I don't care who you are. The XFL was fuckin' sweet.
Jerry Reinsdorf is going to try to block Mark Cuban. I don't understand what role he has in the front office of MLB, aside from owning the White Sox.
Vince McMahon doesn't even know how to run a Wrestling Promotion. He runs a Soap Opera. He would run the Cubs like the Toronto Maple Leafs run their hockey team. Fill it up with old, noteable past their prime players to sell tickets and merchendise and not care about winning.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (XxGhostxX @ Apr 3 2007, 02:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Vince McMahon doesn't even know how to run a Wrestling Promotion. He runs a Soap Opera. He would run the Cubs like the Toronto Maple Leafs run their hockey team. Fill it up with old, noteable past their prime players to sell tickets and merchendise and not care about winning.</div>Vince McMahon is a marketing genius, but I don't think his ego would ever allow him to hire Qualified enough people to put Complete Power in order to have a Successful Baseball Team. He'd try to be the next George Steinbrenner, but Steinbrenner has a hell of a lot more baseball knowledge so I don't think it'd ever work. He probably would turn the Cubs into the most profitable team in the league though.
Of course he would, but they would never Vince. Vince is a marketing genious, but he's a horrible at identifying talent. He has the worst wrestlers in the buissnes and everyone can agree with that. If you have seen TNA, NJPW, etc etc. You would see the difference in the wrestlers and the entertainment value. Vince McMahon being apart of "something" automatically gets 1000000+ consumers just by the name. And that's what he would do with the Cubs. He would fill them with old, past there prime BIG NAME players like Roger Clemons and Barry Bonds and maybe even Ken Griffey and insert a youngish guy like Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, Joe Mauer, etc. etc.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (XxGhostxX @ Apr 3 2007, 02:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Of course he would, but they would never Vince. Vince is a marketing genious, but he's a horrible at identifying talent. He has the worst wrestlers in the buissnes and everyone can agree with that. If you have seen TNA, NJPW, etc etc. You would see the difference in the wrestlers and the entertainment value. Vince McMahon being apart of "something" automatically gets 1000000+ consumers just by the name. And that's what he would do with the Cubs. He would fill them with old, past there prime BIG NAME players like Roger Clemons and Barry Bonds and maybe even Ken Griffey and insert a youngish guy like Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, Joe Mauer, etc. etc.</div>I'd like to think such a marketing genius would be able to recognize that fans love the homegrown talent and a great prospect to come from the farm would make you way more money then any big name veteran coming in. He'd have his fair share of overpriced veterans too, I'm sure though.As for saying the WWE has the worst wrestlers, maybe. But at the same time, I think he tries to play to what the fans want and that's more violence then pure wrestling. The heavy majority of fans don't give a damn about technical wrestling and just want Violence, and Vince gives them exactly that.
We already have a marketing genius. Our interim president of baseball operations John McDonaugh was the head of marketing for 25 years until Andy MacFAIL stepped down.
Here is the piece I wrote for my college's paper on Cuban:<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>With last week's sale of the Tribune Company to real estate mogul Sam Zell, the Chicago Cubs will be sold at the end of the season to help pay off some of the debts the Tribune Co. owes. Because Zell is also a minority owner of the White Sox, unless he sells his shares, he will be required under MLB rules to sell the Cubs.Analysts have predicted the team will sell for over $600 million. That's a far cry from the $21.1 million Tribune Co. put up to buy the team in 1981. It has been reported that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and former Suns and Diamondbacks executive Jerry Colangelo have expressed interest in purchasing the team.Between Colangelo and Cuban, Cuban seems to be the better owner. Colangelo may have built a World Series team in Arizona in only four years, but he piled on massive debts to do it. The team was also aided by inferior competition to get into the playoffs and was then able to ride shutdown aces Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson to take the title.Cuban, on the other hand, has turned the Mavericks from the laughingstock of the NBA into a title contender in just seven years since he officially bought the team midway through the 1999-2000 NBA season. Success is not measured only by titles. Consistent winning is the key. Arizona made the playoffs only a couple times and then tanked. In each of Cuban's first six full seasons as owner, Dallas has made the playoffs, including a trip to the NBA finals last year.Cuban would be a great fit because of his fan-friendly attitude. Most owners tend to watch games from their own private suite where no one can see them. At Mavericks games, Cuban can be seen sitting courtside with the fans, wildly cheering on his team, often wearing team jerseys and shirts.Only a fan of an enemy team (Cardinals, White Sox) wouldn't want Cuban as owner. Cuban gets the Cub thing: Wrigleyville, the Bleacher Bums, the ivy, the beer and the hot chicks. He likes having fun, but he also likes spending big money to win, as can be shown by his brilliant job building Dallas from a cellar dweller into a title contender.Cuban comes from the George Steinbrenner School of payroll: spend. He has the kind of money Steinbrenner has, and the Steinbrenner attitude on spending: You got the money, spend the money.In an era where baseball is flush in cash, a major-market team like the Cubs should throw around the money they have. The Tribune never re-invested the profits back into the team, despite giving good payroll. Cuban's attitude says he will take that next step and put the extra money into the team to make it a title contender.Thanks to the Tribune's $300 million offseason spending splurge, the new team owner will have to pay massive money to keep this team intact. Doing so would require committing $55 million to just four players (Alfonso Soriano, $17M/year salary, Aramis Ramirez, $15M/year, Derrek Lee, $13M/year and Ted Lilly, $10M/year) through the 2010 season. Not to mention a big contract coming for Carlos Zambrano, supposedly in the $17M/year range. Cuban will spend the money.However, it is unlikely Bud Selig will want anything to do with Cuban.The appropriately called 'maverick owner' has been fined several times for saying what he thinks of the NBA. Selig can't take it when writers blast him. Seeing how Cuban has blasted David Stern, who's to say he won't rip Selig apart? And who thinks Selig will stand for such behavior?Also standing in the way of Cuban getting ownership is Selig's right-hand man, White Sox majority owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Reinsdorf serves on the Executive Council and Ownership committee of MLB, which is the first step in getting prospective buyers approved. It's unfortunate that a White Sox owner gets to influence who owns the Cubs, but such is life, just as the 1994 MLB Players Strike that Jr. caused was.While doubtful MLB will want anything to do with Cuban, having him as owner would provide a true feeling on the North Side that there will be a season where the team is built to win the World Series.</div>
