Every Wednesday, The Athletic’s MLB writers will be looking at a key what-if scenario from baseball’s history. This week: Mark Cuban and the Chicago Cubs.
The Chicago Cubs can rationalize almost every decision or deflect most controversies with one well-rehearsed line: But we won the World Series. That accomplishment will be listed on Theo Epstein’s Hall of Fame plaque. Players experienced a life-changing moment in a city where the 1985 Bears and Michael Jordan’s Bulls still capture the imagination. The 2016 championship flag flying at a renovated Wrigley Field is a lasting civic achievement for the Ricketts family of Omaha, Neb.
The Cubs used that sense of history and urgency to justify the acquisition of All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman, who began the 2016 season away from the New York Yankees while serving a suspension under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy. Even if people expected another parade down Michigan Avenue by now, this generation of Cubs players accomplished what Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ron Santo could not during their Hall of Fame careers. In terms of a scoreboard, the Ricketts family can point to the $845 million deal with Sam Zell’s Tribune Co. in 2009, which included the team, Wrigley Field and a 25 percent stake in a regional sports network. The franchise’s most recent franchise valuation from Forbes: $3.36 billion.
Cubs fans probably don’t want to play the what-if game that much, because changing one element could’ve theoretically made this Year 113 without a World Series title. Even Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner who once tried to buy the Cubs and bring new ideas to MLB about technology and the future of digital media, doesn’t view himself as a white knight here. But this hypothetical exercise is a way to think about how much the Cubs have changed their identity and why they are in this awkward transition period.
“I’m glad the Rickettsgot it,” Cuban said last year on 670 The Score, the Cubs’ flagship radio station. “They’ve done a great job. They’ve won a World Series, and that’s the pinnacle of what everybody thought could never happen, so I’m really glad the Ricketts got it. I think they’ve done a phenomenal job. I would’ve had fun, but all’s well that ends well for both sides.”
It’s tempting to suggest that Cuban, the billionaire “Shark Tank” investor, would’ve ordered Cubs officials to sign Bryce Harper to fix a broken offense after the 2018 season. Perhaps Cuban, who has his own IMDb page and more than 8.4 million followers on Twitter, wouldn’t have authorized the Yu Darvish trade with the San Diego Padres last winter. Steve Cohen’s recent takeover of the New York Mets and the sustained success during the Guggenheim era at Dodger Stadium has spotlighted the importance of ownership.
It’s also worth noting that not meddling in baseball operations is a strength of Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts, who made the home-run hire with Epstein in 2011 and oversaw a relatively smooth transition of power to Jed Hoyer. It’s generally a good idea to remove emotions from the equation and try to make the best long-term decisions without worrying about what’s trending on Twitter at that moment. It will be that way with Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Báez. Look at how Albert Pujols’ 10-year, $240 million contract worked out for Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno.
Building a baseball organization that makes the playoffs five times in six seasons is a different enterprise than chasing NBA stars and finding the right supporting cast. Ricketts, who saw the future value in the farm system and made investments in infrastructure and personnel, essentially did what Cuban said he would do in a blog post that published on Jan. 6, 2009.
“My dedication to winning could also make my job of gettingapproval (from MLB) much harder,” Cuban wrote on Blog Maverick, explaining his exit from the bidding process. “Some people thought it meant that I would spend on players like I did in my early days with the Mavericks, back before I learned that sometimes GMs put keeping their jobs ahead of trying to win championships.
“I had no intentions of trying to outspend the Yankees or Red Sox. There was no reason to. I didn’t have to beat either of those teams unless I made it to the World Series. The only teams I had to be better than were those in the National League, and more importantly, those in my division. There were no big spending rivals close to home, so the AL East could spend themselves silly.
“My plans were to spend to win, not to spend for spending’s sake. IMHO, the money I could save being in the 2nd tier of payroll could be invested in scouting and development. I made this clear to any and all of the owners that I spoke to across the league. Of course that didn’t stop some from trying to convince some owners otherwise.”
Crane Kenney, the former Tribune Co. lawyer who worked with Zell on the transaction, developed a rapport with Ricketts and remains in power as the president of business operations. Kenney, who is now in his 28th season in the Cubs organization, outlasted John McDonough, who would go on to oversee three Stanley Cup winners with the Blackhawks. Kenney’s tenure spans multiple baseball regimes from Andy MacPhail to Jim Hendry to Epstein and Hoyer.
The Cubs had the NL’s highest payroll in 2019, when they failed to make the playoffs in Joe Maddon’s lame-duck season. They knew there would be consequences as David Ross took over as manager, star players neared free agency and Epstein eyed his next challenge. There have also been moments when it seemed like the on-field product could be a secondary consideration or limited by the franchise’s interests in real estate, media/sports-betting deals and a special purpose acquisition company.
In terms of legacy, the $1 billion Wrigleyville redevelopment project preserved an iconic stadium without losing its charms or alienating its customers. In last year’s fan survey for The Athletic, which drew more than 2,500 responses to a series of Cubs questions, more than 92 percent of fans graded out the Wrigley Field renovations as an A or a B. In that same survey, more than 78 percent of respondents gave the Ricketts family a B or better as Cubs owners.
The Cubs did make a massive bet on 3 million fans coming to games at the Friendly Confines every season and eventually turning Wrigley Field into a year-round destination. That’s not a miscalculation as much as where the industry is trending. Teams are trying to copy a Fenway Park model or a Wrigleyville blueprint, whether it’s Ballpark Village in St. Louis or the Atlanta Braves moving to a stadium/mall/office park in Cobb County.
Every team in professional sports is dealing with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cubs chose to lay off 100-plus employees last year.
Given Cuban’s multimedia background, maybe the new Cubs channel would look different than Marquee Sports Network. The days of the WGN superstation, however, are over. MLB’s blackout restrictions are complicated and short-sighted. Technology and viewing habits are constantly changing. Whatever is coming next, the Cubs want to be in control of their content.
Looking back at Cuban’s analysis of the Cubs’ financial picture, it seems clear that the team would eventually dissolve its TV partnership with Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Bulls and White Sox who has a long business relationship with the Wirtz family that controls the Blackhawks and shares the United Center.
“In particular, a lot of the ‘intelligence’ that I would be a big-time spender seemed to come out of Chicago,” Cuban wrote in 2009. “The ‘conventional wisdom’ of people that I talked to around the league suggested that Jerry Reinsdorf (was) going to be my primary obstacle to getting approval from MLB should I buy the Cubs.
“Contrary to popular belief, I think I have a good relationship with Jerry. I know I have a good relationship with all the people I deal withat the Bulls. We are probably on the same side of NBA issues 99 (percent) of the time. I honestly don’t know what if any information was coming from Jerry, or his position on my owning a team. He was very cordial to me andmade it clear that he would be happy to talk to me about anything at any time, although we never did get the chance to chat.
“My sense of the entire situation was that whoever the new owner of the Cubs would be, it was in the Sox best interest for things to stay business as usual. Published TV ratings and other published measures showed that the Cubs were more popular than the Sox, yet before I even started looking at the Cubs, I knew from my discussions with people in the NBA that the Cubs and Sox were treated as equals in their business dealings.
“That was great for the Sox, not so good for the Cubs. I’m guessing the people in the Sox organization knew that if I bought the team, particularly at the price point that was being suggested in the papers, there was no way I would just accept parity in future business dealings. I was going to have to try to negotiate the very best deals possible for the Cubs, even if it was at the expense of the White Sox.”
The Cubs lost an incalculable amount of goodwill in 2019 after Splinter News published racist and anti-Muslim messages from Joe Ricketts’ email account. Joe Ricketts, the TD Ameritrade founder, helped bankroll his children’s purchase of the Cubs but generally stays out of the team’s day-to-day operations.
The Cubs brand has helped the family accumulate political clout and advance their individual agendas. Pete Ricketts is in his second term as the Republican governor of Nebraska. Cubs board member Todd Ricketts, a major fundraising official for Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, remains the finance chairman of the Republican National Committee. Cubs board member Laura Ricketts is an influential figure within Democratic circles.
In a polarized country, it is increasingly difficult to stick to sports or find the political sidelines. (See: MLB’s decision to move this year’s All-Star Game out of Georgia to Coors Field in Denver.) At a time of social unrest and cultural reckonings, it is even harder to find a perfect solution. Cuban’s Mavericks organization, for example, was exposed in a 2018 Sports Illustrated story for enabling a toxic workplace environment.
If winning isn’t everything, it definitely helps the team’s finances and public perception. The Mavericks are nearing the 10-year anniversary of their NBA championship and can continue building around a 22-year-old superstar in Luka Doncic. Cuban sounds too busy to wonder what could have been with the Cubs.
“No regrets at all,” Cuban told Danny Parkins last year on 670’s old McNeil & Parkins show. “The reality is, when I was going (after the Cubs), my kids were really young. Now they’re 10, 13 and 16 and they’re too much fun. And between 82 games for the NBA and 162 games (with the Cubs) — plus the playoffs for both — I would’ve missed a whole part of them growing up that I’m glad I’m not missing.”
(Photo: Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images)
