Would a World Series win really be good for Cubs Nation?

[CubColtPacer]

The Cubs will almost certainly lose some national interest if they win the WS. The excitement level for them will start to decline after the year they try to defend the title.

 

At the same time, I'm talking about people who aren't necessarily fans of the Cubs. These are fans who tune in to see if the Cubs can do it or not, or if they are going to fall on their face like usual. Some end up rooting for the underdog Cubs, some don't. A few might actually go out and buy Cubs caps. That's about the limit though of what they do that actually benefits the Cubs franchise.

 

At the same time, winning will push some fans from being casual fans into buying more tickets and merchandise. For the people who have been embarrassed to be fans before, now they will wear all their merchandise with pride.

 

So national interest in the Cubs would be way down (especially around playoff time if the Cubs made the playoffs again, a lot less people care about a possible Yankees/Red Sox series this year than in 2003/2004 when everybody was watching to see if the Red Sox could get past the Yankees) but the fanbase would be stronger.

[Mizzou]

Would a World Series win really be good for Cubs Nation?

 

Do We Really Want This Team to Make the Playoffs?

 

Great threads lately. What's next? "Do we really want to win today?" "Would having sex with Jessica Alba really be a smart idea?" How about "Should I Really Accept This Raise I'm Being Offered?"

[Derwood]

on a side note, everyone who was annoyed when all their co-workers suddenly had brand new Sox caps 2 years ago are going to really hate the number of fair-weather Cubs fans who suddenly appear in October.

[Derwood]

Any opinion that is different than my own is completely absurd.

 

there, fixed that for you

[Backtobanks]

Would a World Series win really be good for Cubs Nation?

 

Do We Really Want This Team to Make the Playoffs?Great threads lately. What's next? "Do we really want to win today?" "Would having sex with Jessica Alba really be a smart idea?" How about "Should I Really Accept This Raise I'm Being Offered?"[/quote]

 

To answer your questions:

Yes

Yes

Yes

Definitely yes

Of course

[snoodmonger]

The idea our popularity is so predicated on our struggles is absurd.

 

The only thing that will change is that our losing will cease to become a national story. Or at least less of one. There are still plenty of "Will Boston revert to the'Old Boston'" stories floating around. And those stories are just as abusrd as the question posed here.

 

We won't lose fans. Perhaps, in future visits to the playoffs, we will have fewer fans of other teams pulling for us because they feel sorry for us, but those aren't fans. Those are people picking a rooting interest over a finite period of time. (The "If I had to pick a team this postseason, I guess I hope the Cubs win because it's been so long" crowd.)

[Little Slide Rooter]

OK, Ill admit, the wording and conception was poorly executed. However, Im not saying that die hard Cubs fans will all jump ship as soon as they finally win the big one.

 

Its that the Cubs will go from being a franchise loved throughout the country to just being another baseball team. Hey, Id make the switch in a heartbeat, however as I said, a huge part of the history and mystique of the Chicago Cubs Franchise is the draught, and if it were to hit 100 years, that would not only be legendary, but incredibly marketable.

[TruffleShuffle]

it would be really good for me, and i don't care who else it would be good for

[Andy]

I don't want topics deleted, but I always cringe when I hear the term "True Fan"

'I'm not a true fan, I'm just here for the chicken wings' was posted like two weeks after I registered here but is probably still one of the top 5 things I've ever read here.

[danonwaveland]

Would a World Series win really be good for Cubs Nation?

 

I don't know. Let's win the thing and find out.

 

_______________________________________________________

Sandberg>Mazeroski>Morgan

[Cubfanintheknow]

OK, Ill admit, the wording and conception was poorly executed. However, Im not saying that die hard Cubs fans will all jump ship as soon as they finally win the big one.

 

Its that the Cubs will go from being a franchise loved throughout the country to just being another baseball team. Hey, Id make the switch in a heartbeat, however as I said, a huge part of the history and mystique of the Chicago Cubs Franchise is the draught, and if it were to hit 100 years, that would not only be legendary, but incredibly marketable.

 

I could give a rat's behind what other people think about my baseball team. Why should you care? And why would you want to market 100 years of futility?

 

I'm with the sizeable crowd who believes this is an incredibly stupid thread.

[GhostRunner]

The OP has a valid argument, albeit a poorly-worded one, and it's a point that I've thought about and mentioned here years ago.

 

I don't think that the amount of fans or the "quality" of the fans would change too much - there are already massive numbers of bandwagon Cubs fans that come out of the woodwork during seasons like this. But winning the World Series, something that all a long-term Cubs fan's frustration is predicated upon, would cause a dynamic shift in the character of the team.

 

Someone here will no doubt snark about me claiming that a sports team has a character, or a feel, but it's that emotional makeup that comes along with being a fan of the club. We all know the history, we all know that people have been born, lived, and died without seeing the brass ring get pulled, and for better or worse a large part of the identity of being a Cubs fan stems from that emotion.

 

It's the sea change in historical and emotional context that a WS win will bring that sparks questions like the OP's. It's really got nothing to do with volume of fans or whether bandwagon fans will come or go. It's the fact - like it or not - that being a Cubs fan will suddenly be seen in a different light in the event that they break the losing string.

[beowulf28]

Obviously most people didnt notice that I mentioned that the true fans would love it and stay true, however the world wide Cubs fans who simply find the team "trendy" would stop caring, not that they matter to us, however from a marketing stand point, it could hurt.

 

And what I'm saying is this is ridiculous.

 

"True fans" is a stupid phrase. The theory that many fans find the team trendy because they lose is stupid. The theory that marketing would decline if they won is asinine.

 

 

It's a stupid topic that should be deleted.

 

Immediatly, it would skyrocked, however, in the long runs, people outside Chicago would not care as much, and wed become another hated big money team like the Yanks and Red Sox.

 

First, I'm from Wisconsin, and have always been a Cub fan. There are many of us here, and we would not stop being Cub fans because we'd win. I would agree with a previous poster who'd want the Cubs to contend every year, and have people hate us because we have a lot of money to spend every year. (Please bring in Mark Cuban!). And who cares about the bandwagon jumpers, and the people who'd hate us because we'd become a big money team like the Yankees and Red Sox!

 

I would give several organs (not vital ones, please!), and maybe an eye to win the WS!

[Brian]

I know I would buy a "100 years of suck" t-shirt !!!!

[DivineBovine]

I can't even fathom all this talk about losing being good for a team. Cubs have fans in spite of their pathetic record, not because of it. The only people the "lovable losers" label matters to is the media and casual baseball fans who really don't care about the team. Fans want the team to win.