David

Yeah, we did some of that. Of course, that won't be an issue again for a long time. IIRC David did offer up some of his tickets in those years for free on the board Hell, I even did that this year, I'm pretty sure.

well, my contention really is that STH A doesn't actually exist so the cubs aren't bothering to try to parse him out. I can assure you you're wrong; we sold most of our tickets in that range, and actually had to compete with other STH selling their tickets low as well if we wanted to move them. Basically we wanted people to be able to use the tickets. Almost all of the most popular games we were going in some combination anyway, so most of what we sold were "regular" tickets. Combine that with the decision or realization of nobody friends or family-wise being able to attend often times being close to the game itself, so even with an awesome team you were selling them at minimal profit margin-levels to get them sold. well, yeah, but nobody is making big money off those games, right? we sold about 40ish. of those, the games we could sell for the most profit, we did, but there was an awful lot of face or below, especially early on.

So if STH A sells 80 games and makes, I dunno, a grand off of his tickets an STH B sells 80 games and makes something like ten grand, do you think both of them are getting kicked out by the Cubs? well, my contention really is that STH A doesn't actually exist so the cubs aren't bothering to try to parse him out.

Don't agree at all. 2013-14 sucked. Those of us that had them those years did so for the payoff of having them when they were good. It was money lit on fire. Donate that horsefeathers, homie. Yeah, we did some of that. Of course, that won't be an issue again for a long time.

But that is the point. They aren't selling to friends for face. They aren't giving a couple to family here and there. They are selling every ticket they can for profit, probably every premier matchup, obviously every world series ticket, clearly all the special packages, and they are doing so for maximum return. If you put a Chicago address on the account, don't show up to games and sell virtually all your tickets plus the extra allotment for the highest dollar you can get, you are in it for the profit. If all you wanted to do was see a game or two a year why not just buy those on stub hub yourself? If it's to guarantee yourself a seat if they make the world series, then you should probably go to the world series. The guy was in this to profit, not cover his costs, and the team did not like it. Well, yeah. I completely agree. But I still think the profit tells you very little about their intentions. It's the sheer quantity that kinda drives both things. It's just that the sheer quantity tells you none of those things you mentioned are happening. I just doubt they have much reason to look to see if they are being sold for cheap on StubHub since those people don't really exist (people selling in high volume for very cheap). And yeah, I'm not debating any of the bold nor have I felt he was wronged at any point. As soon as he said he sold all but 8 games, well, the intentions are obvious (although I'm not even sure how that's worth the hassle...especially knowing what StubHub is like and what the return is like).

Don't agree at all. 2013-14 sucked. Those of us that had them those years did so for the payoff of having them when they were good. It was money lit on fire.

It's not as simple as saying the market determines, if some people are just selling to get rid of them while others are putting more effort into pricing them properly, and dipping into other packages to keep making more. On any given day he may not get any more money than anybody else gets. But if you do it right and sell aggressively and for all the right games, you can make a lot more than a typical season ticket holder that just doesn't want to take a bath. Exactly. Dude's talking about "the market" like Kramer talks about writing things off; it's not like the seller HAS to sell their tickets for an insane mark-up just because they can. Basically you're doing that at your own risk if you do it too much. Whether it's the number of games or the money made, both are subjective calls by the Cubs, and, personally, I think the idea of them cracking down on someone they think is making too much/basically acting as professional scalper makes a heck of a lot more sense than doing it because he didn't go to enough games. I wish the people that do this actually existed (on StubHub that is). Sure, people will sell to friends (or maybe like other NSB posters in our cases) for face or less, but that just isn't happening on StubHub or any other such marketplace.

Mike? Kyle This.

I would put my life savings on Harbaugh staying at Michigan in the short term (at least the next 2-3 seasons). Seriously even if you offered him $15m a year, I don't think he bolts. Those jobs will still be there in 3-4 years and I don't believe he thinks he's accomplished anything yet coaching his alma mater (no playoffs, no OSU wins) but he's getting close. If the Bears parted with Fox this offseason, I think we are looking at Josh McDaniels or Vic Fangio as the best possible options. Shanahan

There doesn't seem to be much smoke for Fox being on the hot seat. I sure hope he is, but it seems like far from a certainty to me.

I very little doubt it. Not that it's a remotely realistic scenario. Nobody is pricing their tickets significantly below what the market allows. Some more aggressively to make sure they sell them, sure, but nobody is selling a high demand game for face on StubHub just out of the goodness of their heart or intentions. I just don't see why they'd even look at how much he got. Because it would be easy for them to do so and spot some pretty obvious selling trends to help them make their decision to give someone the boot. Otherwise it amounts to little more than, "well, this guy is doing something that almost all STH's do, but we're going to kick him out because4 he sold X number more games than the next guy." Money is doing pretty much all of the talking here. The market determines what those tickets sell for. It's not like there's some skill to selling them for more money (maybe a little figuring out how to time the market along the way, but that's about it). It's the game and the section determining how much people are getting for them. And a little bit of luck, but that gets washed up when you're selling that much volume. If this guy sold 80 tickets on stubhub (so, basically, almost all of them), his profit margins are almost certainly within spitting distance of anybody else who sold 80 tickets in his section. It's the fact that he sold 80 tickets that put him there (plus that package) and got him in trouble. Aside, I really don't get why you're hung up on how they're deciding what number is too many. It's safe to say that even by subjective standards, most people would say selling 80/88 is a hell of a lot of selling. And the Cubs obviously can make these subjective calls as much as they please.

I very much doubt that. I very little doubt it. Not that it's a remotely realistic scenario. Nobody is pricing their tickets significantly below what the market allows. Some more aggressively to make sure they sell them, sure, but nobody is selling a high demand game for face on StubHub just out of the goodness of their heart or intentions. I just don't see why they'd even look at how much he got.

I'm not talking about single game profit. If they have the ability to track all of your season ticket movement through Stub Hub, they can determine what your true intentions are. There is clearly verbiage in the contract for season tickets that says that if you are behaving as a baseball ticket broker with your season tickets, you will lose your tickets. Sure but all they need to look at is how many he sold. How much he profited isn't really all that relevant. If he sold 81 games for face value (plus the pack or whatever), I'm sure he'd be in the same boat.

Care to share how much you profited off the sale of your season tickets this year? I would almost bet that the amount you made on your tickets was a much larger factor in you losing your season ticket account over selling all of your tickets. And I ask this because I could totally understand someone losing their season tickets if it gives any appearance that the sole purpose of the use of those season tickets is to make a living/ridiculous profit. I think it's great that sports teams are able to monitor/control that type of behavior, as it wasn't what season tickets was designed for. There are so many people waiting for tickets that would truly use them for what they were designed for, and they are getting hosed by those who only have the tickets because they want to expand their wallet. I would bet quite a few other people did lose their season tickets in this fashion. But I'll also bet that the Chicago Cubs are using due diligence in making sure the people they are taking away season tickets from are deserving so. I highly doubt how much he profited has much of anything to do with it. The market determines that. Everyone selling will price them as high as they can get.

lmao. i thought maybe there would be something about the hazing stuff in the actual entry, but not even.

I'm trying to do this off the top of my head... Davis, Edwards, Rondon, ??? (Uehara?)

[tweet] [/tweet]

Is there a waitlist? I'm pretty sure there are over 100k people on it.

He sold all but 8 games out of 89. I really don't think it's that strange. And it's not a new development. Maybe it's completely subjective or maybe they have some sort of threshold re: percentage of games sold, or maybe there's some sort of formula that takes things like seniority and crap into account too. They've been doing it for years and they said they were doing it and they never made any distinction about whether they were sold through StubHub or other ways. They just clearly don't want people buying them with the primary intent of making money off of them/selling them. As others have mentioned, maybe the out of towners that are selling most/all so they can have access to playoff tickets can talk to their rep and see how at risk they are for this type of thing.

[tweet] [/tweet]

Dodgers are still scary. Was really hoping they'd lose both of these guys. At least they're not in our division.

Yeah...the lack of depth still bothers me, though. Seems like Hammel on his option would be a great option right about now. But whatever. Still have Brooks, Zas, Ryan Williams, and others in AAA. And I doubt they're content with just that going into the season. I would be content with Monty being the 5th starter but I expect they'll add a couple more starters. Was that list of names supposed to be comforting?

Yeah...the lack of depth still bothers me, though. Seems like Hammel on his option would be a great option right about now. But whatever.

[tweet] [/tweet] I got a little excited as I read "Justin..." and then I'm like who TF is justin wilson (he actually looks like a decent reliever)

No-man's land is a good description. Their problem is the same as it was last year, they have a remarkable amount of depth with decent players, but nothing in the way of star power. Last year their top fWAR-getters were Martinez at 3.3 and Carpenter at 3.2, and they're hurting Carpenter's value by moving him to 1B. For reference, the Cubs had 8 players with > 3.3 fWAR, and Contreras played a half season at a 4+ win pace too. Fowler doesn't really address the core problem either, and the FO appears to be tentative to make a decisive move that could backfire on them, which is kinda what they need if they're going to be a consistent playoff team over the next 2-3 years. Reyes and to a much lesser extent Diaz offer a little bit of hope for that starpower, but if they don't come through then they're going to be in 85 win purgatory with as good as the Cubs, Nats, Dodgers, and Giants are. I was listening to the radio this morning and they were talking about how the Cardinals were still going to be right in the thick of the division race in 2017 and it was annoying me. Same kind of thing going into 2016 when the Cubs were miles better than the pack and they still had to say stuff about how the division definitely wouldn't be a cakewalk - well, it was pretty much exactly that. Is clinching with like 3 weeks left good? Like they still don't realize how wide the gap is. Sure, if things went very wrong for the Cubs and very right for St. Louis, there might be some degree of drama to the race. That's about it. Also maybe it's just me but I don't feel like the Giants belong in that bunch...though they are an NL team that I'd put ahead of the Cardinals.