Bill Wirtz to buy the Cubs?! (WSI Rumor/Gammons unconfirmed)

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Reinsdorf owning the Blackhawks doesn't sound so hot either.

 

Say what you will about Reinsdorf, but there have been exactly 7 championships for Chicago teams in the four major sports in the last 20 years. All 7 have been Reinsdorf's teams.

 

The Chicago Fire won 2 titles in the early part of the decade....

 

Wasn't Reinsdorf the goalie on both of those teams?

[USSoccer]

Reinsdorf owning the Blackhawks doesn't sound so hot either.

 

Say what you will about Reinsdorf, but there have been exactly 7 championships for Chicago teams in the four major sports in the last 20 years. All 7 have been Reinsdorf's teams.

 

The Chicago Fire won 2 titles in the early part of the decade....

 

Wasn't Reinsdorf the goalie on both of those teams?

 

He was the backup keeper, but luckily Zach Thorton stayed healthy.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Reinsdorf owning the Blackhawks doesn't sound so hot either.

 

Say what you will about Reinsdorf, but there have been exactly 7 championships for Chicago teams in the four major sports in the last 20 years. All 7 have been Reinsdorf's teams.

 

The Chicago Fire won 2 titles in the early part of the decade....

 

Wasn't Reinsdorf the goalie on both of those teams?

 

He was the backup keeper, but luckily Zach Thorton stayed healthy.

 

Right. :wink:

[Banedon]

Reinsdorf owning the Blackhawks doesn't sound so hot either.

 

Say what you will about Reinsdorf, but there have been exactly 7 championships for Chicago teams in the four major sports in the last 20 years. All 7 have been Reinsdorf's teams.

 

The Chicago Fire won 2 titles in the early part of the decade....

 

Soccer just missed the four major sports cutoff....it was REAL close though... :D

[shawndgoldman]

I've emailed both WEEI and Peter Gammons to see if he did actually report this yesterday evening. We'll see what happens.

 

The fella that posted this over at WSI (Fenway) gave me the info i requested right away, so i don't think he's making it up. Whether or not Gammons is actually onto something is another story...

[USSoccer]

Reinsdorf owning the Blackhawks doesn't sound so hot either.

 

Say what you will about Reinsdorf, but there have been exactly 7 championships for Chicago teams in the four major sports in the last 20 years. All 7 have been Reinsdorf's teams.

 

The Chicago Fire won 2 titles in the early part of the decade....

 

Soccer just missed the four major sports cutoff....it was REAL close though... :D

 

The Fire probably consistently outdraw the Blackhawks. I'd argue that they are the 4th major sports team in the city...

 

EDIT:

 

Average attendance for the Fire:

 

98-17,887

99-16,016

00-13,387

01-16,338

02-12,992

03-14,005

04-17,153

05-17,238

 

Hawks:

 

98-17,330

99-16,274

00-14,997

01-15,569

02-14,795

03-13,253

 

 

The Fire easily outdraw the Hawks.

Edited April 20, 2006 by USSoccer

[Banedon]

Reinsdorf owning the Blackhawks doesn't sound so hot either.

 

Say what you will about Reinsdorf, but there have been exactly 7 championships for Chicago teams in the four major sports in the last 20 years. All 7 have been Reinsdorf's teams.

 

The Chicago Fire won 2 titles in the early part of the decade....

 

Soccer just missed the four major sports cutoff....it was REAL close though... :D

 

The Fire probably consistently outdraw the Blackhawks. I'd argue that they are the 4th major sports team in the city...

 

I'd argue there are only 3 major sports in the city... 8)

[USSoccer]

Reinsdorf owning the Blackhawks doesn't sound so hot either.

 

Say what you will about Reinsdorf, but there have been exactly 7 championships for Chicago teams in the four major sports in the last 20 years. All 7 have been Reinsdorf's teams.

 

The Chicago Fire won 2 titles in the early part of the decade....

 

Soccer just missed the four major sports cutoff....it was REAL close though... :D

 

The Fire probably consistently outdraw the Blackhawks. I'd argue that they are the 4th major sports team in the city...

 

I'd argue there are only 3 major sports in the city... 8)

 

See my edit. The Fire draw over 15K on average, and more than 17k the last 2 seasons. That's major, IMO.

[Banedon]

Reinsdorf owning the Blackhawks doesn't sound so hot either.

 

Say what you will about Reinsdorf, but there have been exactly 7 championships for Chicago teams in the four major sports in the last 20 years. All 7 have been Reinsdorf's teams.

 

The Chicago Fire won 2 titles in the early part of the decade....

 

Soccer just missed the four major sports cutoff....it was REAL close though... :D

 

The Fire probably consistently outdraw the Blackhawks. I'd argue that they are the 4th major sports team in the city...

 

I'd argue there are only 3 major sports in the city... 8)

 

See my edit. The Fire draw over 15K on average, and more than 17k the last 2 seasons. That's major, IMO.

 

Hard to argue with that. I honestly didn't realize they drew that well.

[1908]

Gammons and WSI are the scoops here, let's think about that for a second.

Did anyone else hear Gammons mention this even? Seems the source is a post on WSI only. Not worth our time.

[goonys evil twin]

See my edit. The Fire draw over 15K on average, and more than 17k the last 2 seasons. That's major, IMO.

 

And what do they have 15 home games a year? Drawing less than a quarter million over the course of a season is hardly major. Granted, the Blackhawks probably struggled to get 500,000 in this era, but it still blows away the Fire.

[USSoccer]

Hard to argue with that. I honestly didn't realize they drew that well.

 

I didn't either, really. I figured they'd draw about 12. Their new stadium in Bridgeport is going to be a hit, methinks.

[USSoccer]

See my edit. The Fire draw over 15K on average, and more than 17k the last 2 seasons. That's major, IMO.

 

And what do they have 15 home games a year? Drawing less than a quarter million over the course of a season is hardly major. Granted, the Blackhawks probably struggled to get 500,000 in this era, but it still blows away the Fire.

 

It's a little rough to punish the numbers based on the fact that it's a 30 game season. The league is still growing, so as more teams come into MLS I'm sure the table will grow.

[goonys evil twin]

See my edit. The Fire draw over 15K on average, and more than 17k the last 2 seasons. That's major, IMO.

 

And what do they have 15 home games a year? Drawing less than a quarter million over the course of a season is hardly major. Granted, the Blackhawks probably struggled to get 500,000 in this era, but it still blows away the Fire.

 

It's a little rough to punish the numbers based on the fact that it's a 30 game season. The league is still growing, so as more teams come into MLS I'm sure the table will grow.

 

Right, they're still growing. But they aren't major.

[ToupeeOnFire]

I would argue that there are only three major professional sports.

 

Edit: Nevermind, I see somebody already made my point. :)

Edited April 20, 2006 by ToupeeOnFire

[imb]

what the hell is a bill wirtz

[Fred Hornkohl]

what the hell is a bill wirtz

 

Just another bug on windshield of professional sports. :wink:

[Andy]

Knowing Wirtz...

 

Knowing the Cubs...

 

There's no possible way if the Cubs went on sale that Wirtz would pony up the money. He can't even pay for a competent hockey team. Think about that for a second.

[USSoccer]

See my edit. The Fire draw over 15K on average, and more than 17k the last 2 seasons. That's major, IMO.

 

And what do they have 15 home games a year? Drawing less than a quarter million over the course of a season is hardly major. Granted, the Blackhawks probably struggled to get 500,000 in this era, but it still blows away the Fire.

 

It's a little rough to punish the numbers based on the fact that it's a 30 game season. The league is still growing, so as more teams come into MLS I'm sure the table will grow.

 

Right, they're still growing. But they aren't major.

 

Despite the fact they outdraw the supposed 4th major sport, and have a national TV deal?

[Jehrico]

I don't think there's any substance to the rumor, but if it is true, we need to do a grassroots movement and spread the word through the Chicago market that, if the Trib sells the Cubs to Wirtz, all Cubs fans will boycott any and every other business facet of the Trib. The Trib isn't doing very well right now, the last thing they need to do is alienate a large chunk of what would be their remaining customer base while selling the Cubs.

[UMFan83]

Reinsdorf owning the Blackhawks doesn't sound so hot either.

 

Say what you will about Reinsdorf, but there have been exactly 7 championships for Chicago teams in the four major sports in the last 20 years. All 7 have been Reinsdorf's teams.

 

The Chicago Fire won 2 titles in the early part of the decade....

 

Soccer just missed the four major sports cutoff....it was REAL close though... :D

 

The Fire probably consistently outdraw the Blackhawks. I'd argue that they are the 4th major sports team in the city...

 

EDIT:

 

Average attendance for the Fire:

 

98-17,887

99-16,016

00-13,387

01-16,338

02-12,992

03-14,005

04-17,153

05-17,238

 

Hawks:

 

98-17,330

99-16,274

00-14,997

01-15,569

02-14,795

03-13,253

 

 

The Fire easily outdraw the Hawks.

 

As much as I enjoy the Fire (and I do), lets now compare total revenues, including major TV deals, licensing, etc.

[UMFan83]

Gammons and WSI are the scoops here, let's think about that for a second.

Did anyone else hear Gammons mention this even? Seems the source is a post on WSI only. Not worth our time.

 

Well WEEI is a Boston radio statio, most Boston fans could care less about speculating who is going to buy the Cubs. The person that posted it on WSI lives in Boston and for some reason has an affinity towards the White Sox and loathes the Cubs (which is funny because the teams are operated in a similar fashion - save the winning). So he thought it was relavent to share. From the sounds of things on WSI, he mentioned it in passing, perhaps on a different topic all together.

[USSoccer]

 

As much as I enjoy the Fire (and I do), lets now compare total revenues, including major TV deals, licensing, etc.

 

Can we use 2005's numbers? :P

 

Seriously, though, I think the economic health of MLS is in much better shape than that of the NHL right now. MLS just got a sweet TV deal, attendance is up and nearly every team is getting or has their own stadium now.

[srbin84]

 

As much as I enjoy the Fire (and I do), lets now compare total revenues, including major TV deals, licensing, etc.

 

Can we use 2005's numbers? :P

 

Seriously, though, I think the economic health of MLS is in much better shape than that of the NHL right now. MLS just got a sweet TV deal, attendance is up and nearly every team is getting or has their own stadium now.

 

The NHL shattered their attendance records this year.

[circlechange]

Reinsdorf owning the Blackhawks doesn't sound so hot either.

 

Say what you will about Reinsdorf, but there have been exactly 7 championships for Chicago teams in the four major sports in the last 20 years. All 7 have been Reinsdorf's teams.

 

The Chicago Fire won 2 titles in the early part of the decade....

 

Soccer just missed the four major sports cutoff....it was REAL close though... :D

 

The Fire probably consistently outdraw the Blackhawks. I'd argue that they are the 4th major sports team in the city...

 

EDIT:

 

Average attendance for the Fire:

 

98-17,887

99-16,016

00-13,387

01-16,338

02-12,992

03-14,005

04-17,153

05-17,238

 

Hawks:

 

98-17,330

99-16,274

00-14,997

01-15,569

02-14,795

03-13,253

 

 

The Fire easily outdraw the Hawks.

Easily? Did you look at your numbers? Granted the Fire must have had a better 04 and 05, but it was back and forth for a while.