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Originally Posted by the urban politician
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Now just think how much richer they'd be if the Cubs were actually good. My God, just win a damn pennant this century. That's not too much to ask for, really
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Well it could be counter productive to that goal if they throw the baby out with the bath water and don't get the delicate mix right of preserving why they and Wrigley are so popular and instead jump to maximize every dollar short term. I think they run risk of because just another large market team that
has to win and charge insanely high ticket prices in order to contend. They risking a significant amount of a kind of unique aura and mystique (even if it is an aura sneered at by Sox fans and cynics) that I believe does translate into dollars even if they are dollars that are intangible.
Long term they may be seriously downgrading their brand with some of these moves and the fans will suffer as a result. And all for what. An extra 5 million per year of advertising? To their overall revenues and payroll this is a fraction of either that will not come near making the difference between being competitive or not.
Maybe I'm just a romantic or a naive. I just know I would so much prefer to look out at the view of the Lake View neighborhood on a beautiful summer day or night and look off at Lake Michigan between innings then being bombarded with a kiss cam and tacky 100 decibel beer commercials at my senses that make the ADD set happy. I'l be honest that I've been to a lot of stadiums with jumbo trons (pretty much every pro stadium other then Wrigley) and I can count on one hand the number of times video or information on the screen that I feel is the least bit compelling or information. I think if the Cubs really wanted to be at the forefront of technology they would instill free wi-fi in the stadium (with periodic adverts of some sort) given that people are looking at their smart phones and go them for instant information anyway these days.