Cubs TV Deal Stuff

[Guest]

Going to be lazy and just link to Brett's summaries instead of the actual articles

 

http://www.bleachernation.com/2015/01/09/a-couple-confirmations-on-the-cubs-new-tv-deal-and-other-bullets/

 

Main takeaway - deals have opt outs so we can work out a longer term deal before 2019 if possible

 

Hopefully the ratings are crazy good next year

 

Even though this is not entirely comparable, I am going to assume it will similar to the situation from 1998 and 2003. In both cases it was relatively easy to get tickets early in the year, and it wasn't until the second half, when people really realized something good was happening, that you started to see 40,000 seats sold for games. And it was the following season that really saw the biggest demand for tickets in February. I am going to guess ratings will have a little boost early in the season, but unless things really click immediately, they will take a while to pick-up. And it may not be until 2016 when you see a real boost, assuming 2015 ends up being good.

 

Don't totally disagree, but this year has more hype than those had leading in. 2003 did have Dusty, but this year Maddon and Lester have created a lot of Cubs hype. I'd think 07 is a more apt comparison. 98 didn't have much in the way of hype or expectations going in, though I remember being excited about the Morandini (lmao) and Rodriguez additions.

[jersey cubs fan]

Don't totally disagree, but this year has more hype than those had leading in. 2003 did have Dusty, but this year Maddon and Lester have created a lot of Cubs hype. I'd think 07 is a more apt comparison. 98 didn't have much in the way of hype or expectations going in, though I remember being excited about the Morandini (lmao) and Rodriguez additions.

 

Right, it's probably somewhere in between the two. On one hand, there is more hype, on the other hand, 2007 was a couple years removed from back to back great seasons. 2014 is coming off five straight horrific seasons where people have fled the bandwagon, attendance and ratings are way down and people have more and more choices to spend their entertainment dollar, including more people who have cut the proverbial cord than was the case last decade.

 

So you have more hype this year but it is starting from a point of greater apathy as well.

[Guest]

Don't totally disagree, but this year has more hype than those had leading in. 2003 did have Dusty, but this year Maddon and Lester have created a lot of Cubs hype. I'd think 07 is a more apt comparison. 98 didn't have much in the way of hype or expectations going in, though I remember being excited about the Morandini (lmao) and Rodriguez additions.

 

Right, it's probably somewhere in between the two. On one hand, there is more hype, on the other hand, 2007 was a couple years removed from back to back great seasons. 2014 is coming off five straight horrific seasons where people have fled the bandwagon, attendance and ratings are way down and people have more and more choices to spend their entertainment dollar, including more people who have cut the proverbial cord than was the case last decade.

 

So you have more hype this year but it is starting from a point of greater apathy as well.

 

I think we should have a decent indicator soon with the Cubs Convention and then single game ticket sales. IIRC, they have had relative trouble selling convention tickets the past few years, right?

 

Actually I think they might have sold out already.

[jersey cubs fan]

I don't think cubs convention will tell us anything.

 

 

Only a certain segment of weirdo die hards attend that thing and they were probably still hanging around despite the general apathy. A one-off sellout of a three day event coming directly on the heals of the Lester hype is something different from people actually tuning in to 3.5 hour baseball games every day in May.

[Guest]

FWIW:

 

2002 - 8th in average home attendance (2.7M, 34,513/game, 87.2%), 6th in average overall attendance.

2003 - 6th (2.9M, 37,032/game, 93.6%), 3rd

2004 - 6th (3.1M, 39,138/game, 98.9%), 3rd

 

2006 - 6th (3.1M, 39,040/game, 94.9%), 5th

2007 - 6th (3.3M, 40,153/game, 97.7%), 5th

2008 - 7th (3.3M, 40,743/game, 99.1%), 4th

 

2014 - 11th (2.7M, 32,742/game, 79.6%), 8th

 

So, without knowing how bad the no-show issue was in 2014 compared to 2002, paid attendance was pretty similar, but a greater capacity in 2014 (and a lesser percentage of seats sold).

 

Also noticed halfway through that I probably should've included the capacity rank, as the landscape in that regard changed over the years. Oh well.

[J.R.]

The Sheraton is sold out, but you can still buy individual passes AFAIK.

[Guest]

The Sheraton is sold out, but you can still buy individual passes AFAIK.

 

Chicago Cubs @Cubs · 43m 43 minutes ago

#CubsConvention weekend passes and Sheraton hotel packages are sold out. A few W Lakeshore hotel packages remain: http://atmlb.com/1Dt3q3y

[J.R.]

How about that!

[Derwood]

The Sheraton has been sold out since before Christmas

[Cubswin11]

The D'Backs just signed a new TV deal worth somewhere between $1-1.5 billion, according to MLBTR

[treebird]

local peoria news said tonight that my59 waoe is picking up the 45 cubs games from wgn this summer.

 

hurray hurray!

[Banedon]

local peoria news said tonight that my59 waoe is picking up the 45 cubs games from wgn this summer.

 

hurray hurray!

 

Awesome! I kinda figured, cuz they've done a lot of that kind of thing with the Cubs and Bulls before. I wonder how many we'll be left without then?

[Keyris]

local peoria news said tonight that my59 waoe is picking up the 45 cubs games from wgn this summer.

 

hurray hurray!

 

Awesome! I kinda figured, cuz they've done a lot of that kind of thing with the Cubs and Bulls before. I wonder how many we'll be left without then?

 

Nice! I will finally be able to watch some games at home. :D :D

[ctcf]

Guys apparently Derwood is too busy to care about this thread so let's all talk here.

[Guest]

Guys apparently Derwood is too busy to care about this thread so let's all talk here.

 

lmao

 

seriously tho on topic, the ratings today should be absurd for a day game

[Banedon]

Guys apparently Derwood is too busy to care about this thread so let's all talk here.

 

lmao

 

seriously tho on topic, the ratings today should be absurd for a day game

 

You gotta imagine that MLB network is gonna horn in on this too.

[halplm]

Guys apparently Derwood is too busy to care about this thread so let's all talk here.

 

lmao

 

seriously tho on topic, the ratings today should be absurd for a day game

 

You gotta imagine that MLB network is gonna horn in on this too.

 

They are apparently going to show Kris Bryant's at-bats live.

[SouthSideRyan]

Couldn't find a separate topic on the radio deal, but CSN just reported that we're likely heading to The Score next season. Apparently had a 1 time opt out after this season to leave for The Score. Sox are moving to 890.

[UMFan83]

Couldn't find a separate topic on the radio deal, but CSN just reported that we're likely heading to The Score next season. Apparently had a 1 time opt out after this season to leave for The Score. Sox are moving to 890.

 

Awesome, we will get extra coverage on that station now.

[Banedon]

Couldn't find a separate topic on the radio deal, but CSN just reported that we're likely heading to The Score next season. Apparently had a 1 time opt out after this season to leave for The Score. Sox are moving to 890.

 

Yeah, they got the info from Feder...

 

http://www.robertfeder.com/2015/06/23/wls-wins-white-sox-radio-rights/

 

Apparently the Cubs WBBM deal has a one time "out" after this season, so this was pretty clearly a strong possibility.

[seanimal]

interesting. why would the sox move?

[Irrelevant Dude]

Hopefully the Cubs will get the same pre/post game coverage that the Sox had on the Score. I have to admit that I'm a little jealous of the Sox moving to 890 though. That frequency has the strongest, clearest signal of anything on the AM dial for me.

[Banedon]

interesting. why would the sox move?

 

Maybe The Score didn't want them anymore? They would rather have the Cubs?

[UMFan83]

interesting. why would the sox move?

 

Probably were offered more money.

 

Apparently WGN was in the running for the Sox too...would have been funny to have the Cubs on 670 and the Sox on 720 after the last 10 years of it being reversed.

[apete6]

interesting. why would the sox move?

 

The Score may not have bid on the Sox. The CBS group owns both 780 and 670 and this might have been their plan all along--using 780 as a 1 year bridge for the Cubs until the Sox deal expired so they could eventually get the Cubs on the Score.