Chicago Cubs fans, we need to talk.
There’s a serious situation brewing before us, and the pocketbook of the Cubs’ owners is officially at stake. The Ricketts family, owners of the fourth highest valued Major League Baseball Franchise – the Chicago Cubs, are going for broke.
How could such a situation occur you ask? You could say these unforeseen circumstances were pushed along in part from the truncated 2020 season. A “biblical scale of losses across the league” as one would put it…or specifically how Tom Ricketts explained it, saying all teams went out and borrowed cash. Meanwhile, hundreds of employees with the Cubs lost their jobs and the Ricketts even mentioned the selling of equity in the team in the long run just to stay afloat. It was hard not to feel sorrow for such financial pain while we were all bunkered down and worrying about a self-proclaimed Tiger King.
Yet, we were told not to worry. The 2021 season returned, and for a brief period, all was well in Wrigleyville with the Cubbies back on top of the NL Central in June. Alas, a losing streak doomed the team and it was shortly thereafter a sad farewell to the likes of Kris Bryant, Javy Baez and Anthony Rizzo among others occurred. We should have seen it coming though – the Cubs’ President of Business Operations Crane Kenney told us himself that the team would indeed be losing money again in 2021.
Cubs Biz President Crane Kenney says on The Score that Cubs will lose money this year, but losses are going down with more attendance. Cash will not be a limiting factor in midseason moves, though.
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) June 7, 2021
At this point you may imagine it’s tough to be the owner of the Chicago Cubs: consecutive seasons of losing revenue, spending over $575 million on the Project 1060 to revitalize Wrigley Field and the surrounding neighborhood properties the Ricketts family owns…there’s so much money being spent without recouping those funds. It even sounds like the Ricketts are going to finally be able to spend the money to put in that sportsbook at the stadium. Again, all this generous spending just for the sake of us Cubs fans.
But fear not, Cubs fans — after buying the team back in 2009 for $845 million dollars, the latest evaluation has the team’s value to be worth $3.36 billion dollars! All this equity can surely save such a down on their luck ownership from facing yet another tumultuous year of potential losses with the current lockout already cancelling games. Hell, even if that’s not enough maybe they can take some financial lessons from the Atlanta Braves who reported a whopping $568 million in revenue in 2021. Yeah, the Cubs didn’t win the World Series like the Braves did but maybe there’s some hope in there they could learn a thing or two!
There are ways to climb out of the red we’ve heard about so very often recently, maybe to the point where they can invest in a core that can be competitive for a pennant or two. Unless say, a Premier League team were to go up for sale for the asking price of 3 BILLION POUNDS. Well lucky for us, such a situation has occurred and the prestigious Chelsea FC has gone up for sale with the Ricketts reportedly in the running for purchasing the club.
To run in the red and spend all this money to keep the Cubs moving while still finding the pocket change to again, SPEND 3 BILLION POUNDS, and buy a Premier League team? One can only wonder how much money the Ricketts had to borrow this time around to make it happen.
Obviously, it can’t compare to what they had to borrow during the biblical losses of 2020. Maybe when it’s all said and done the Cubs can settle in with a payroll to compete with the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers of the world. After all, what’s the harm in running one major franchise in the red when you can have two? Maybe one day the Cubs can afford nice things, just maybe. As the old saying goes, “There’s always next year”.
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