WGN-AM in Chicago has been carrying Chicago Cubs baseball since the beginning – Tribune owned both the Cubs, WGN and the Tribune newspaper (and WGN TV). It made no difference if the cubs had zero chance of winning the season – the media hype of Tribune kept people buying tickets.
About 5 years ago, Tribune was the subject of a hostile takeover. Sam Zell took over the company and immediately landed in bankruptcy. Very early in the process, the Cubs were sold off, splitting WGN from the Cubs. WGN agreed to pay $10 million a year through 2014 for the rights to the game (but they can’t stream the games).
Tribune is now out of bankruptcy and they can’t afford this. Ratings of the games are down, the people who still listen to baseball on AM are dwindling – they’re losing their butts.
When Cumulus was deciding what to do about Limbaugh (and Hannity), I observed that WGN was the logical landing spot – except that a large portion of the Cubs home games are still played in the afternoon due to limits on night games at Wrigley field.
As comparison, KDKA (CBS) in Pittsburgh had the deal that they let the team hire the announcers, keep all the ad revenue and the station got free programming and the prestige and ratings boost of having the games.
In 2007, CBS decided that free was too expensive, and let Clear Channel’s WPGB-FM have the rights with its smaller footprint.
When that deal expired, the Bucs returned to KDKA-FM, which is an all sports format in 2012. WJR in Detroit similarly decided the Tigers weren’t worth it and left for WXYT.
I almost thought about going to a Cubs game until I looked at the ticket prices. Despite having dropped prices, a seat in the bleachers is still over $50, the highest in the country. Attendance is at a 15 year low.
Great insight, great story. However, this is a perfect example of a story that attempts to undermine all the good things POTUS has done for the economy, which has bounced back now, can’t you just feel it? Anyways, those $50 bleacher seats are a bargain, plus the concession prices are very reasonable too. We should be highlighting the good things, and stop being such ingrates.
Perhaps we could start a program to buy up the seats and hand them out to food stamp recipients for some extra income.
Free admission with the purchase of a $10 ball park hot dog on EBT card night at the stadium.
What would that do to the program of the owner donating upsold seats to charity and then writing them off at face value as a deduction?
And I can verify that. The group of blind people my dad belonged to got free tickets. I got to watch a Pirates baseball game at Forbes field right behind home plate. We had a great view.
Wow, in the ’70s I was at U Mich. We would go to the Tigers games to the crazy bleacher section because it was cheap and a fun rowdy crowd. I think it was like $5 and seats behind home plate were 15-20.
Why would anyone go to a game these days to watch a bunch of millionaires play despondently up until the playoffs. I only go to NFL or NCAAF anymore, stopped MLB, NBA, and college BB.
I recommend minor league baseball – $10 for the best seats right behind the dugout or homeplate. No fist fights in the stands because someone boos their favorite player. Most of the fans are wearing little league uniforms. It is a fun environment.