The 2012 Cubs Convention is in the books and probably the biggest revelation all weekend was that the Cubs plan to build a patio on top of a 70-foot LED display in the right field corner before the start of the season.
As you can imagine, this did not play well at all with the “purists.” Assuming that is defined as “those who imagine that baseball used to not be about the money.” It got to the point where Al Yellon, King of Caring About Things That Don’t Matter in the Ballpark, got booed for saying something positive about the plan prior to asking his question.
If I had to sum up my reaction in one word, that one word would be: What the hell took so motherfucking long?
Why in the hell are the Cubs last or among the last to do anything that could be useful to them actually winning more baseball games?
They were the last to install lights. Forget about the arguments that day baseball wears the team down. They willingly gave up prime time ratings for mid-afternoon weekday viewers about 30 times a year. That had to have an impact on their ad revenues over the years and impacted their ability to spend on a winner.
Their practice facilities are medieval (though the Ricketts are also trying to address that 30 years after the Tribune should have). So the Cubs would occasionally go out and buy some expensive players like a real major league team and then hand them the training facilities of a poorly funded high school program. Hard to imagine how we haven’t won anything since before World War I since the exercise equipment also pre-dates it.
Bloomberg Sports had a booth at the Cubs Convention where they were showing off some of the data they have collected and how it can be used as they build the Cubs a computer program that does more than show whether or not one of their highly paid assets has eaten dinner. The rep mentioned that Bloomberg has worked with 22 other teams in building systems to help those teams make smarter baseball decisions. That means, assuming that Bloomberg is the ONLY group that does this sort of thing (which is unlikely), the Cubs are the 23rd team out of thirty to jump on board the statistical analysis train that left the station 10 years ago.
Now the Cubs are finally going to put in some sort of videoboard in the right field corner so that they can generate ad revenue in the park that they have purposefully been leaving on the table for years, and fans are going to bitch about it.
The hand-wringing about ruining the pristine nature of baseball perfection in Wrigley never ceases to amaze me:
I’m not sure what the Ricketts or President of Business Operations Crane Kenney were thinking when this decision was greenlighted, but the end result is an aesthetic nightmare as you can see above. The JumboTron…pardon me, LED board…looks horribly out of place when it comes to the rest of the Wrigley Field architecture. If anything, this seems almost like an attempt at incorporating a bit of Fenway Park into Wrigley Field’s historic architecture by raising the seating area and creating a patio area in right field. The seating arrangement above looks similar to Fenway’s Green Monster seats and nothing like the rest of the outfield seating area.
Well now I’m all turned around on the whole thing. I didn’t know that the patio would look horribly out of place. What fun would a World Series championship be if it took place in a stadium that had an unbalanced seating area?
Assuming the structure will not be actually built by M.C. Escher as this drawing suggests, I don’t see what is so terrible about it. Right now, that area is a bunch of chain-link fence and mostly empty bleacher box seats. Behold the wonder of 1970s-style fencing!
I have news for people. Wrigley Field is not a museum. It is a functioning major league ballpark whose job is to maximize revenues for the team so that it can have a strategic edge over the other teams that don’t make as much money. That is the system as it stands, so those are the rules the team should play by. Voluntarily leaving revenue uncollected because a few fans want to remember what Wrigley looked like in years past is stupid.
Wrigley was originally built without an upperdeck, that was added in 1927. The permanent bleachers weren’t added until 1937. Those additions were necessary to keeping Wrigley Field as the home of the Cubs. If they couldn’t have done those additions, then the Cubs would have had to move. But now, all of a sudden, any time the Cubs want to simply keep up with the economics of the game, they have to fight fans for the right to make a change in their own ballpark. It took a threat from the Commissioner of Baseball that the Cubs would not host home playoff games if they didn’t get lights to finally have have lights installed.
This videoboard will be saving you people money, don’t you see that? For every dollar that Ricketts can get from something like this videoboard or naming the bleachers after Bud Light, that is one less dollar he needs to take from your pockets in the form of tickets and concessions. Do you enjoy paying the same rate as the Yankees and Red Sox, but getting 20-30% less wins per year? Theo may know how to spend the money more efficiently, but the money is still going to get spent. You’re not getting a championship team for bargain basement prices. Not without a ton of luck, and the Cubs don’t excel at having luck.
I’ll tell you what, purists, I have an idea. You go start a fund drive to pay the Cubs the same amount of money they would generate from the patio and the video board, minus the construction expenses pro-rated over a set number of years (let’s say twenty) and go to Ricketts and say you’ll give them that money to leave the park alone. I bet he’ll do it. Hell, he might even do it if you even got close to the number just to save himself the hassle.
Otherwise, he probably has all sorts of corporate sponsors lining up to hand him money and you can all just get out of the way so he can pay for players better than Darwin Barney to win some damn baseball games for once.
Comments
100000x THIS
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]MO, I think you’re underselling how great the GB offense has been this year. I thought this game would be a repeat of the last meeting, where the Giants put up 450 yards on the GB defense (even more than last night) but still lost. I picked the Giants to win earlier this week before learning that the GB o-line was much healthier than I remembered.
I think Ryno is wrong about GB winning if the game was played 2 weeks ago. The WRs/Rodgers would have been clicking better but the oline was down 3 starters.[/quote]
Quite the opposite. I’m claiming the GB defense has been shit all year long, but the offense has been so good that it’s covered for some very poor defensive play. Yesterday the offense came out flat and couldn’t recover in time to surmount the usual defensive foibles.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
FWIW, I actually think the LED board looks cool and I’m excited to see it in person.
Rodrigo RamirezQuote Reply
It’s basically a glorified ad banner, of which there are already two in the park. It’s neither a cause for celebration nor derision.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
MB nailed it yesterday. It’s nice to see the Cubs come into the 20th Century, but I’ll be happy when they finally come into the 21st.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Matheny just stated that he was an advocate of letting the best hitters be the ones that come to the plate most often. I hope this approach to lineup construction catches on.
ACTQuote Reply
Great job, Tim. I couldn’t agree more with just about everything you said.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=ACT]Matheny just stated that he was an advocate of letting the best hitters be the ones that come to the plate most often. I hope this approach to lineup construction catches on.[/quote]Yes, please.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Rodrigo Ramirez]FWIW, I actually think the LED board looks cool and I’m excited to see it in person.[/quote]I do too, but I’m the kind of person who thinks anything in a modern ballpark would look awesome at Wrigley. No matter what you add to Wrigley, it’s still going to be an old ballpark. So add all kinds of shit that generates revenue and buy some fucking players that can win games.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I do too, but I’m the kind of person who thinks anything in a modern ballpark would look awesome at Wrigley. No matter what you add to Wrigley, it’s still going to be an old ballpark. So add all kinds of shit that generates revenue and buy some fucking players that can win games.[/quote]Absolutely. There’s a tasteful way to modernize.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]It’s basically a glorified ad banner, of which there are already two in the park. It’s neither a cause for celebration nor derision.[/quote]
I couldn’t agree more. It’s stupid for people to bemoan this addition mainly because the Cubs should maximize potential revenue. I would also remind everyone that under Trib Co’s misguided reign they were one of the top revenue teams in the NL and still didn’t manage that money properly to create a consistent winner. I’m not going to romanticize the pristine nature of Wrigley being defiled and I’m not going to slobber all over the Ricketts for increasing revenue until I see its impact on the field.
melissaQuote Reply
I’ll give Ricketts credit here. He’s taking advantages of things that weren’t taken advantage of before. I think more can be done and I expect more will be, but it’s a solid start.
mb21Quote Reply
I’ve seen that section of Fenway myself, and I think it will be great for Wrigley. “Purists” can blow me, I think it will be great.
Besides – imagine all the action Castro will get underneath those new bleachers? HEYOOOOOOOOOOOO
fatheaddesignQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I’ll give Ricketts credit here. He’s taking advantages of things that weren’t taken advantage of before. I think more can be done and I expect more will be, but it’s a solid start.[/quote]Yeah, but that’s really all it is–and it still leaves the Cubs far behind the two teams that should be their main competitors: BOS and NYY.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
I guess I’m kind of “meh” about the whole thing because I wanted to see a larger board with video replay capabilities. Seems to me if you are going to make alterations then you should strive for maximum benefit. That doesn’t seem to have happened here. I just don’t see this as being either you love what they did or you hate what they did.
melissaQuote Reply
[quote name=Gregg Tomlinson]I’ve seen that section of Fenway myself, and I think it will be great for Wrigley. “Purists” can blow me, I think it will be great.
Besides – imagine all the action Castro will get underneath those new bleachers? HEYOOOOOOOOOOOO[/quote]
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=melissa]I guess I’m kind of “meh” about the whole thing because I wanted to see a larger board with video replay capabilities. Seems to me if you are going to make alterations then you should strive for maximum benefit. That doesn’t seem to have happened here. I just don’t see this as being either you love what they did or you hate what they did.[/quote]I’m of two minds here. Part of me thinks that Ricketts is a total fanboy and buys the Wrigley mythos lock, stock, and barrel. But another part of me thinks Ricketts knows what he needs to do to the park, but he also knows how backasswards the fanbase is, so he’s taking this in baby steps.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
(dying laughing), cleaning out some pictures on my website and found this
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius](dying laughing), cleaning out some pictures on my website and found this
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
MO loves anything involving the word bunt.
jtsunamiQuote Reply
[quote name=jtsunami]MO loves anything involving the word bunt.[/quote]
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius](dying laughing), cleaning out some pictures on my website and found this
joshQuote Reply
It’s the bundt signal
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]It’s the bundt signal[/quote]For a moment there I thought you didn’t realize that Sky Pie is the One True Dessert.
joshQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]100000x THIS[/quote]
+1
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
[quote name=melissa]I guess I’m kind of “meh” about the whole thing because I wanted to see a larger board with video replay capabilities. Seems to me if you are going to make alterations then you should strive for maximum benefit. That doesn’t seem to have happened here. I just don’t see this as being either you love what they did or you hate what they did.[/quote]I get annoyed at Wrigley when I have to remember that the pitch count and who is up to bat and all that is on that strip on the upper deck. Maybe it’s just laziness, but I hate looking back at the big board and trying to interpret all that information while the game is in progress. The only other pro park I’ve been to is Busch, and there you get all the batting average, pitch speed, reminders of what the player has done today, and count information you are used to seeing when you watch it on television seemingly without having to try to see it. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t want to actually keep score to remind myself what Barney did last time he was up.
joshQuote Reply
[quote name=josh]I get annoyed at Wrigley when I have to remember that the pitch count and who is up to bat and all that is on that strip on the upper deck. Maybe it’s just laziness, but I hate looking back at the big board and trying to interpret all that information while the game is in progress. The only other pro park I’ve been to is Busch, and there you get all the batting average, pitch speed, reminders of what the player has done today, and count information you are used to seeing when you watch it on television seemingly without having to try to see it. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t want to actually keep score to remind myself what Barney did last time he was up.[/quote]
He most likely grounded out weakly to the 2nd baseman.
Rodrigo RamirezQuote Reply
[quote name=Rodrigo Ramirez]He most likely grinded out weakly to the 2nd baseman.[/quote].
GBTSQuote Reply
.
Dr. Aneus TaintQuote Reply
Dr. Aneus TaintQuote Reply
Dr. Aneus TaintQuote Reply
[quote name=Ivychat Chuck]@Aisle424 “the video board will save you money.” BUZZ!!! Wrong. Ticket prices are independent of stadium and other revenue. You know that![/quote]
In a vacuum, you are correct that prices of tickets would be based solely on supply and demand and have no relation to additional revenue streams that may or may not be available. However, I would argue that baseball ticket prices are not based solely on supply and demand. There is public relations taken into account.
Baseball is supposed to be something the whole family can enjoy, which helps to create new Cubs fans for each new generation. If the cubs ever went with straight supply and demand rules, the families would be priced completely out of Wrigley. They would restructure the grandstand and put all sorts pf luxury suites and other junk that would bring in way more money than a few terrace reserved seats for a Tuesday afternoon game in April.
They have to keep at least some of the prices in the park artifically low in order to keep the fanbase from dissolving to a few rich folks who will drop the team the minute there is something cooler in the city to do.
So when the Cubs can add something like this video board and get money from a different source, they may not feel as compelled to push the envelope on ticket prices so much in an effort to recover revenues they see flowing on the secondary market. Secondary market pricing is great when it exists, but now the Cubs are charging secondary prices for tickets that people might think twice about buying at half the price.
So, while it may not prevent ticket prices from going through the roof when the Cubs are good, it can certainly put a ceiling on prices when the team is bad.
Aisle424Quote Reply
[quote name=Rodrigo Ramirez]He most likely grounded out weakly to the 2nd baseman.[/quote]Yeah, but I need to know. It’s probably OCD, or just because I’m so used to knowing.
joshQuote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]In a vacuum, you are correct that prices of tickets would be based solely on supply and demand and have no relation to additional revenue streams that may or may not be available. However, I would argue that baseball ticket prices are not based solely on supply and demand. There is public relations taken into account.
Baseball is supposed to be something the whole family can enjoy, which helps to create new Cubs fans for each new generation. If the cubs ever went with straight supply and demand rules, the families would be priced completely out of Wrigley. They would restructure the grandstand and put all sorts pf luxury suites and other junk that would bring in way more money than a few terrace reserved seats for a Tuesday afternoon game in April.
They have to keep at least some of the prices in the park artifically low in order to keep the fanbase from dissolving to a few rich folks who will drop the team the minute there is something cooler in the city to do.
So when the Cubs can add something like this video board and get money from a different source, they may not feel as compelled to push the envelope on ticket prices so much in an effort to recover revenues they see flowing on the secondary market. Secondary market pricing is great when it exists, but now the Cubs are charging secondary prices for tickets that people might think twice about buying at half the price.
So, while it may not prevent ticket prices from going through the roof when the Cubs are good, it can certainly put a ceiling on prices when the team is bad.[/quote]Are you implying that Twitter isn’t a proper forum for communication?
joshQuote Reply
From Gordo:
Rodrigo RamirezQuote Reply
She was even more notorious for one or two other things…
ACTQuote Reply
[quote name=ACT]She was even more notorious for one or two other things…[/quote]
This whole thing is weird to me. Theo just stated that it’s important to pay your scouts well and offer them a premium working environment. Yet, they are being told to share hotel rooms and take the El?
Rodrigo RamirezQuote Reply
[quote name=Rodrigo Ramirez]This whole thing is weird to me. Theo just stated that it’s important to pay your scouts well and offer them a premium working environment. Yet, they are being told to share hotel rooms and take the El?[/quote]I have to admit this is low on my list of items to give shits about.
joshQuote Reply
[quote name=josh]I have to admit this is low on my list of items to give shits about.[/quote]
IDK, if they are pinching pennies here, what does it mean for the roster?
Rodrigo RamirezQuote Reply
[quote name=josh]Are you implying that Twitter isn’t a proper forum for communication?[/quote]
not for something long-winded like that it isn’t
Aisle424Quote Reply
Guess what Aisle 242 – A Cubs’ World Series victory won’t pay your mortgage or otherwise “affect your life” either. Some Cubs fans (me, for instance) enjoy the old girl just as she is (or was), without the whore’s glitter. If a World Series victory was the be all and end all, I would root for the Cardinals.
GregQuote Reply
[quote name=Rodrigo Ramirez]IDK, if they are pinching pennies here, what does it mean for the roster?[/quote]I would say it implies they’re going to spend low on players they think are undervalued. Guys like David DeJesus and Andy Sonnestine, and avoid overpaying big name free agents like Albert Pujols.
Besides, those are luxury items for non-players. I’d be happy to see the team maximize the amount they can spend on actual baseball stuff.
joshQuote Reply
[quote name=Greg]Guess what Aisle 242 – A Cubs’ World Series victory won’t pay your mortgage or otherwise “affect your life” either. Some Cubs fans (me, for instance) enjoy the old girl just as she is (or was), without the whore’s glitter. If a World Series victory was the be all and end all, I would root for the Cardinals.[/quote]Personally, I’m against batting gloves. All that “modern technology” is distracting.
joshQuote Reply
[quote name=josh]Personally, I’m against batting gloves. All that “modern technology” is distracting.[/quote]I also insist that Ronald Regan be president when it happens, so I can relive 1984 the way it should have been.
joshQuote Reply
[quote name=Greg]Guess what Aisle 242 – A Cubs’ World Series victory won’t pay your mortgage or otherwise “affect your life” either. Some Cubs fans (me, for instance) enjoy the old girl just as she is (or was), without the whore’s glitter. If a World Series victory was the be all and end all, I would root for the Cardinals.[/quote]That’s stupid too, you should root for the Yankees. Also, you are not a Cubs fan if you don’t care if they win anything. You are a Wrigley Field fan, which is fine, but don’t equate the two.
Aisle424Quote Reply
[quote name=josh]Personally, I’m against batting gloves. All that “modern technology” is distracting.[/quote]Or fielding gloves. The only people who should be allowed to wear gloves are catchers. And even they should just wear thin gloves–no mitts. Base-ball should just go back to the way it was in the late 19th century.
ACTQuote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]That’s stupid too, you should root for the Yankees. Also, you are not a Cubs fan if you don’t care if they win anything. You are a Wrigley Field fan, which is fine, but don’t equate the two.[/quote]For that matter, one team always wins. Not one World Series has ended in a tie. If you derive pleasure so long as one team wins the World Series, then 1994 notwithstanding, every summer has a rainbow of joy at the end.
joshQuote Reply
[quote name=Greg]Guess what Aisle 242 – A Cubs’ World Series victory won’t pay your mortgage or otherwise “affect your life” either. Some Cubs fans (me, for instance) enjoy the old girl just as she is (or was), without the whore’s glitter. If a World Series victory was the be all and end all, I would root for the Cardinals.[/quote]Whores wear glitter now?
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]That’s stupid too, you should root for the Yankees. Also, you are not a Cubs fan if you don’t care if they win anything. You are a Wrigley Field fan, which is fine, but don’t equate the two.[/quote]
Fuck Wrigley Field. Burn it to the fucking ground. Of all the things to make a totem of.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
(dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Rodrigo Ramirez]This whole thing is weird to me. Theo just stated that it’s important to pay your scouts well and offer them a premium working environment. Yet, they are being told to share hotel rooms and take the El?[/quote]Sounds fishy to me. Gordo could be embellishing here to get some kind of critical story out of this puffball event.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
[quote name=Greg]Guess what Aisle 242 – A Cubs’ World Series victory won’t pay your mortgage or otherwise “affect your life” either. Some Cubs fans (me, for instance) enjoy the old girl just as she is (or was), without the whore’s glitter. If a World Series victory was the be all and end all, I would root for the Cardinals.[/quote]If the old girl is wearing raggedy clothes and isn’t bathing you’d probably prefer the whore. If the old girl is behaving like it’s 1952 you’d probably have more fun with the whore and all that glitter. If the old girl smells like piss you might mistake her for a urinal. And once you do that, you’re going to find a new girl. Whore or not. Glitter or not glitter. You’re just not going to fuck around with some chick you just peed on.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]Whores wear glitter now?[/quote]
Not the old school ones. They still wear corsets and petticoats. Those are the only whores I enjoy.
Aisle424Quote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]Not the old school ones. They still wear corsets and petticoats. Those are the only whores I’ve recently enjoyed.[/quote].
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]If the old girl is wearing raggedy clothes and isn’t bathing you’d probably prefer the whore. If the old girl is behaving like it’s 1952 you’d probably have more fun with the whore and all that glitter. If the old girl smells like piss you might mistake her for a urinal. And once you do that, you’re going to find a new girl. Whore or not. Glitter or not glitter. You’re just not going to fuck around with some chick you just peed on.[/quote]Don’t presume to tell me which girls I just peed on I shouldn’t fuck around with.
Aisle424Quote Reply
This thread has entered the Pizza Hut MILF Alien Porn zone.
Aisle424Quote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]This thread has entered the Pizza Hut MILF Alien Porn zone.[/quote]BUZZ!!! Wrong.
mb21Quote Reply
Besides, those Pizza Hut MILF Aliean Porn threads didn’t have a family picture like this one in it:
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]This thread has entered the Pizza Hut Nazi MILF Alien Porn zone.[/quote].
Suburban kidQuote Reply
[/quote]
Suburban kidQuote Reply
The videoboard is not officially official yet.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/10047787-418/cubs-to-seek-city-approval-for-proposed-wrigley-changes.html
Aisle424Quote Reply
New post
http://obstructedview.net/chicago-cubs/articles/cubs-arbitration-elgible-players.html
BerseliusQuote Reply