Cubs to Suck Money As Much As They Suck on the Field

The Cubs aren't giving up their fight to get public money to help with their fixer-upper project at Wrigley, which was news to House Speaker, Michael Madigan, who apparently didn't get the memo.  But there was Tom Ricketts at a press conference yesterday surrounded by a bunch of Grabowskis, or rather, unionized Grabowskis, who are in favor of the Ricketts' plan because it means they will put about 1,000 of their brethren to work for a few years.

Tom may have made a misstep by bringing up his scheme right after an election when everyone is probably most aware of how fucked the economy and the budget are because of all the attack ads that assaulted us for the last two months, but he went right to work to spin things back in his favor.  He wanted to show us how the "regular" people of Chicago and Illinois will benefit from his plan, and not just how much money he and his siblings will make without any risk.

At this point, I think anyone reading this knows how I feel about using government money to fund this project at this time, so I'm not going to get into it again here, but let's see what that $200-$300 million would buy ($400-$500 million if you include what the Ricketts will chip in).

Chad Yoder at the Tribune put together a nice summation that I'll break down a bit.  First let's look at the pretty pictures:

The grand plan. Notice lack of room for another noodle.

I'm not a landmark expert, but considering the trouble they had putting in a damn sign, it will be all kinds of fun changing the facade of almost half of the existing ballpark. So, even if they get funding, this is still nowhere close to happening.

Cubs Alley commemorating the 1942 and 1949 seasons when they finished a combined 50 games under .500



Notice the sign above the Concourse that talks about the playoffs beginning. 

This must represent the future MLB when every team makes the playoffs.



Yoder also breaks down the components of the plan:

Triangle building development

The triangle parcel would be developed to include retail, concessions, parking, outdoor dining and team offices.  A hotel and Cubs museum are also being considered.  The corner of Addison and Sheffield would be slated for expansion, possibly including the Captain Morgan Club.

I'm going to start referring to it as the Bermuda Triangle Building since that is where our money will be disappearing.  We don't see much in the renderings about the Bermuda Triangle because they haven't fully figured out what amenities would separate us from our money most efficiently.  The nice thing is that a trophy case won't take up very much room at all.

The Cubs are talking about how much all of this will help increase the revenues of the neighborhood, but since the seating capacity of Wrigley isn't going to increase in this overhaul, there won't actually be any additional fans in the neighborhood spending money.  The Cubs are actually building competition for Sluggers, Casey Moran's, Bernie's, etc. and selling it as something that will be beneficial to those places.

There is a finite number of people that come in to the neighborhood on game days and they all have places they like to be, and when those fill up, they go to Yak-zies.  If everyone is flocking to the Bermuda Triangle as much as the Rickettseses are claiming they will, it won't just be Yak-zies that can feature easy seating.

Cubs Alley

Between the triangle lot and ballpark would be a pedestrian walkway including shops, restaurants and a Cubs merchandise store under a retractable roof. No tickets would be required and no cars would be allowed.

I like that they are calling it an alley because people get robbed in alleys all the time and after a stroll through Cubs Alley, you'll probably feel like you had your pockets picked.  Still, the picture looks nice and it is a bit of an homage to the Red Sox closing down Yawkey Way on game days.  A nice gesture would be to allow homeless people to sleep there since there will probably be a few state employees added to their ranks by the time this thing is completed.

Underground clubhouses

Expanded home and visitors clubhouses would be built under left and right field. The team will soon start testing how deep it can dig.  Plans include new batting cages, weight rooms and an expanded training room.

So, the Cubs have this grand plan, they are already asking for money from the state to help fund it, and they don't know if the plan is even plausible?  What if they can't dig very deep?  Then what?  A whole team of Sam Fulds?  Also, how about saving a bit of money and just slapping some new paint on the visitor's side and call it rehabbed.  Why do they have to get such a nice expanded space?

Improved concourse

Ramps inside Wrigley would be removed to make a more spacious concourse, including new floors, ceiling and lighting.  Above the concourse, facing Clark and Addison streets, outdoor rooftop patios with concessions would be added.

Now that I think about it, the ramps do take up a good amount of space within the ballpark.  They really could open it up by getting rid of them.  But have you already gotten to where I'm going with this?  How do we get to our seats from the nice expanded concourse that has no ramps?  At some point, a few thousand people will escape from the Bermuda Triangle, Cubs Alley and the wide open spaces of the concourse and will attempt to watch the game (especially considering the Upper Deck seats will probably break the three digit mark in price by then).  How are they getting up there?

All in all, the pictures look really nice and I'm sure the actual result would be significantly better than what Wrigley currently offers.  But at a cost of up to $500 million to make the renovations, Wrigley will officially become a money pit. 

All of the renovations that they are talking about are basically changes to the structure of the park.  I remember when I was in college the Tribune ran a story about testing that had been done on the foundations and key structural areas of Wrigley and found that the core of the park's structural integrity was good for another 50 years or so.  Well, that was 20 years ago and we've already seen concrete falling from the superstructure of the upper deck.  This plan doesn't mention anything about that.

This plan also doesn't address the cramped situations in the seats or the fact that a good number of the seats out in the corners aren't angled towards homeplate.  Believe me, if ticket prices get boosted the way the Ricketts are planning, people are going to want to watch the game without getting a strained neck.  So then what?  More renovations?  More borrowed money?  How many more hundreds of millions?

If Wikipedia can be believed, there is a proposal for a new Marlins stadium that will cost $515 million.  A proposed new stadium for the A's would cost $400 million.  I found a story from 2007 that put the estimate for a new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark at $450 million.

The Cubs are looking to spend about those amounts of money just to boost the parts of the ballpark that don't involve watching the games.  Probably because they know the games won't be worth watching for awhile.

Rich, Pat and Joe Vote No on Tom's Plan

It's looking less likely that I'll need to move out of the State of Illinois under protest.  It seems that not just bloggers in their mothers' basements are against Tom Ricketts' plan to get money from a state that is $15 billion in debt.  Some guys with some actual clout aren't big fans of the scheme either.

Mayor Daley has come out against the plan in typical Daleyesque eloquence:

“That would deny the next mayor — if I sign the agreement and say, ‘Go ahead’ — of the revenue they need to balance the budget,” Daley said. “And government needs money in order to balance budgets.

“We have to really talk about how you finance this without jeopardizing — whether it’s $5 million, $7 million or $8 million of — future growth….It’s a good concept. They’re well-intentioned….but that would really burden the next mayor. You wouldn’t want to do that.”

Don't hold your breath for Daley to support this plan.

The governor isn't out whipping votes for the Rickettseses either:

 
“We have top priorities in Illinois right now that must be dealt with,” Quinn said, adding that the Ricketts family’s proposal “would not be a top priority for me.”
 
He's not a little miffed that Michael Madigan, John Cullerton, and all 27,000 Cubs' season ticket holders knew about the plan before he did, is he?
 
“Apparently, they don’t think I’m as important as some others,” Quinn said. “I am important in this matter because I’m goalie for the people of Illinois to make sure they get their top priorities addressed.”
 
The governor added: “These are private owners of a baseball team. They spent almost $1 billion buying it. They knew what they were buying. To be coming to the people of Illinois for assistance now after an election isn’t a top priority… If they wanted this to happen, they should have talked about it before the election — not after.”
 
Oh, snap!  But the Ricketts will not be easily deterred.  They will continue to try to convince their representatives that the government would be wise to invest the money in the Cubs:
 
[Spokesman, Dennis] Culloton said team officials "respect our elected officials and will continue meeting with them and their staffs" to explain how the team's proposal "will create $200 million in additional private-sector investment, create 1,000 construction jobs" and hundreds of permanent jobs.
 
They are going to stick with it because if they learned anything from their father, it's that government spending is their friend.  Or something.  They weren't really listening to dad ramble on, but luckily there is a video of Dad Ricketts on YouTube:
 
 


So Papa Joe isn't on board either.  You have to start wondering whether anyone except the Ricketts siblings and possibly a solitary bleacher season ticket holder is still in favor of the plan anymore.

Wrigley Gets a Makeover (Without Using Government Funds)

Wrigley Field is getting all gussied up in preparation for the football game between Northwestern and Illinois this Saturday, and people aren't too happy about it.

First, let's take a look at the preparations, courtesy of @CubsInsider's twitpics:

Before: Red Marquee

God forbid anything happen that doesn't put a member of the Ricketts family front and center.

After: Purple Marquee!

Wayne, over at The Wrigley Blog, probably sums up the disapproving folks' attitudes best:

Not only are they temporarily defacing the landmark, they are also making sure they do it loudly; promoting and sponsoring it, complete with MasterCard billboards and Valspar paint cans. Because, you see - Wrigley Field isn't just a dandy place to watch a game, she is also a money making machine.


Exactly.  Which is why I am very much behind this little endeavor.  I am in favor of anything that adds money to the Cubs' pockets that doesn't come from me (whether directly or through the State of Illinois).  I am especially behind anything like what the Cubs are doing here, which is completely temporary.  This isn't adding luxury boxes or a jumbotron, it is all going to go away after this weekend and if the Cubs get some extra cash from Valspar and MasterCard in the process?  Fan-freakin'-tastic.

Besides, the exterior of Wrigley is nothing special anyway.  It's bland and ugly.  It is covered in crappy chain link fence where wrought-iron and open air used to be:
 

I think a few blown up photos of football players and helmets actually makes the exterior look better.
 
See?  I don't hate everything the Ricketts do.

------------
UPDATE
------------

Podcast buddy, Adam, has put his own unique spin on Wrigley's new look over on his site.  I guarantee you won't feel the purple marquee is nearly as offensive after checking it out.

Master of the House

Tom really needs to learn when to just shut the hell up.  With the state of the economy the way it is, any explanation that Tom throws out there in justification of his asking the state for up to $300 million is never going to play.  It just isn't and if he and his siblings had ever lived with worries about being able to pay bills and be able to put food on the table at the same time, they would know that.

So far, Tom has not come off looking great.  He's kind of reminded me of this guy:



But, in an effort to help improve his public image, Tom went on WGN radio yesterday to clear up a few things:

"The dollars are only coming from people who buy Cubs tickets, and only the increase over what they pay today."

Cubs fans (AKA: Fools)

Yes, the money comes from the money that is already being paid into the budget by the Cubs, but Tom leaves out the next question: Where does the money come from to replace that money in the budget? 

If I've been paying for a friend's lunch every day for years and I suddenly decide to use that money to spiff up my wardrobe, it isn't directly costing anybody anything.  But now my friend doesn't get lunch and he has two options: he can go hungry or he has to find someone else to buy his lunch.

Whatever money the Ricketts decide to keep out of the state budget will have to be replaced from somewhere or something is going to get unpaid.  Either Tom doesn't understand that (which I doubt), or he thinks we are too stupid to realize that (which is entirely more likely).

"It's easy to get upset about headlines or editorials, but you just got to dig a little deeper and understand what's really going on here. I think as people understand what the real facts are, they'll come to the conclusion that this is a good thing for everybody."

Yeah, we're probably overreacting to a state that is $15 billion in debt, state employees are going to get laid off, and people who contract with the state just plain won't get paid.  Unless Tom has some hidden "real facts" somewhere that we don't know about, there is nobody with a shred of ethics or morality that can suggest the Cubs ability to keep an aging stadium is a priority for the state.
 
I understand the Ricketts are in trouble.  They were suckered by Zell into paying more than this team should have been valued.  I'm sure their worst case scenario financial models came nowhere close to the shitstorm they now face.  At the time they were negotiating, no one thought both the team and the economy would crumble as quickly and as vastly as they did.  But exactly how is that the State of Illinois' problem?
 
The Cubs aren't going anywhere.  Even if the Ricketts have to cut their losses and bail, whoever the next owner will be won't be moving the team.  If the team ever wins a World Series and becomes a viable team on its own merits, then there is a risk that they will move.  But the Al Yellons of the world aren't going to follow this loser team to a ballpark that isn't Wrigley.
 
So, Tom, you should probably break out those secret "real facts" you have hidden behind your back because the ones we are aware of make you look like a giant douche who could give a shit about the people who live in this state.
 
"The increases (in the amusement tax) won't exist unless we fix up the park."
 
You won't be able to raise ticket prices until you fix the park?  HOW ABOUT FIXING THE MOTHERFUCKING TEAM!  You say you have $200 million to put towards this project?  PUT IT TOWARDS THE FUCKING TEAM! 
 
Instead of crying about not having payroll flexibility to do what you would like to do, just do it.  You obviously have the money if you really wanted to do that.  But instead, you preach patience to the fanbase that continues to support you in mind-boggling numbers so that you can speed up the timetable in which you will take even more money from the same fans... WITHOUT WINNING A GOD DAMN THING!
 
If Tom dedicated the kind of resources to making the Cubs a winner that he does to fixing the bathrooms, the fans would find the money and gladly give it to the Ricketts.  It wouldn't even be a question in most fans' minds.  But Tom wants all of the money without any of the effort or risk.  And then gets indignant when people call him on it.

If Illinois Gives the Cubs $200 Million, I'm Moving

Tom Ricketts wants $200 million from the State of Illinois to help pay for the spackle and urinal troughs at Wrigley Field.  This would be like if I asked one of the homeless people begging at the exit ramps of the Kennedy Expressway for a few thousand bucks to help pay for my Cubs tickets.

I guess Tom has no choice but to see if his elected officials can actually fuck the state budget's corpse a little more since there is no evidence to suggest that they won't.  I can't really blame him for trying to get the money that he could very well receive.  If he doesn't ask, the Cubs would have to pay the whole $400 million in renovations themselves.  If you had a stupid drunken rich uncle who is always pissing his money away on bad investments, wouldn't you ask him for money when you need it?

Perhaps I'm overstating things for the sake of humor.  Can it really be that bad?  Let's ask Dan Hynes, the State Comptroller who has never uttered a single humorous thing over the course of his entire life as far as I can tell.  According to his website on October 10th:

Illinois had $5.1 billion in unpaid bills at the end of December. Add to that $2.25 billion in short-term loans the state must repay soon, and another $1.4 billion in unpaid health care bills that have not yet been sent to the Comptroller's Office, and the state's effective bill backlog climbs to more than $8.75 billion.

That doesn't sound too good, but deficit spending is the way things work, right?  Aren't all those billions in debt just business as usual for a government that is in total control of it's cash flow?

"This ongoing fiscal disaster is threatening to permanently harm programs and services serving children, seniors and the disabled and if that is allowed to happen, this state will have failed our most vulnerable citizens," Hynes said.

Oh.  Well maybe we've hit rock bottom and things are getting better?

Suppliers of goods and services to the state, including health care providers and other critical social services are waiting 92 business days to be reimbursed – or more than 4 ½ months. That delay is almost double the 48 business-day delay at this time last year.

So... it's getting worse.

But talking about "critical social services" sounds so abstract.  Who is really being hurt by the state not being able to pay its bills? 

As a speech pathologist specializing in Early Intervention, Kris works with hundreds of little kids under three years old who require help to eat, walk, use their hands, speak, or learn problem-solving skills.  This includes kids who function high on the autism spectrum like kids with Asperger's Disorder.  It also involves the kids who have chromosomal abnormalities like Down's Syndrome or DiGeorge Syndrome like Ryan Dempster's little girl. 

She helps these little kids who have been dealt a bad hand at birth by contracting with the State of Illinois through their Early Intervention program that provides funding for evaluation and therapy.  The problem is, the State doesn't pay her very often.  Those estimates by Dan Hynes I quoted were pretty much dead on with how far the State gets behind with Kris' billing.

And it isn't just Kris.  All of her colleagues are experiencing the same thing.  Those who work for themselves better hope they had money set aside to meet their monthly bills, because you never really know when Illinois will cut them a check.  Those who run small businesses of therapists often have to resort to taking out loans to make payroll.  Many are nearing or at the end of their lines of credit since the state has been pulling this crap for at least two years now.

People just can't afford to stay in a profession where one might not get paid for the work one does.  That is a looming tragedy for thousands of children in Illinois who may soon face a shortage of trained therapists to provide the services that they don't get paid for.  And it will eventually hit us all in the pocketbooks.

Kids need these services before they are three years old.  Kris, who is incidentally way smarter than me, said that children have what is called neural plasticity. She further explained to me in small words and a few drawings that neural plasticity is the ability of the brain to make new neural connections. Essentially, if the brain has bad connections, before the age of three it is much easier to redirect the connections and correct the issue. After the age of three, the neural connections slow significantly, making correction of issues much more difficult and costly.

Yes, State of Illinois, I said it would be more costly.  How much more costly?  Well, lets ask Louis Rosetti, who developed the essential tool used to assess kids' language skills that is named after him and knows a thing or two about treating children who are delayed:

Louis Rossetti reports that cost analyses of early intervention programs in terms of both program costs and savings in the long-term indicate that one dollar spent on an early intervention program can save anywhere from three to seven dollars. He provides an excellent summary of this data:



At the least, measurable savings can be realized if parents are better able to meet the needs of their child at home, thus avoiding the need for institutional or more involved care. There are considerable savings in educational costs, as early intervention increases the likelihood of regular education placement. A saving is also realized for children who need long-term special education services if intervention begins early. In addition, parents of children with special needs are enabled to become more self-sufficient.

I don't know what the hell he is talking about either, but I do understand that it could cost anywhere from three to seven times more in the future to ignore little kids therapeutic needs before the age of three.

Maybe Tom Ricketts or any of the politicians that will almost assuredly give Tom the $200 million he's asking for would like to explain how better concessions at a baseball game are more important than kids with developmental delays.  Maybe they can guarantee that anywhere from $600 million to $1.4 billion will be added back into the state's treasury as a result of wider aisles and a Hall of Fame of Epic Failure at Wrigley.


I'm obviously particularly close to this situation, but when someone talks about "critical social services," this is the sort of stuff they are talking about.  The painful reality is that the people who get hurt most by things like this don't contribute millions to the campaigns of the people who make the decisions, nor are children able to vote, so they get screwed over and over again.

And it pisses me off.  I only hear about a small percentage of the kids that Kris sees, but when she talks about her day, it is usually heart-breaking to hear about all the children who did nothing wrong who struggle just to get through each day and realizing that the State of Illinois obviously could give a shit, because if they did, they would pay the people who are trying to help.

Giving the Cubs the money they want while the state is in this kind of financial crisis is just plain wrong.

----------------
UPDATE
----------------

Lots of people don't like the plan and/or think the plan has no chance in hell of passing:

• Bleacher Report
• Chicagoist
• Desipio
• Ed Sherman
• Examiner.com
• Exile on Clark
• Field of Schemes
• Sun-Times

Few people are gung-ho about it, but some believe the plan has some merits:

• A League of Her Own
• Bleed Cubbie Blue
• Cubbie Doctor's Examiner
• Phil Rogers

Finally, Tom went on the Score with Mully and Hanley to further rationalize his plan:

• Mully and Hanley

Those Cubs Convention Passes Aren't Going to Sell Themselves

The Cubs are having a surprising amount of difficulty selling passes to the Cubs Convention this year, which might not sound all that shocking, but it is.

Cubs fans love the Cubs Convention.  They love it more than Ryan Dempster loves doing his Harry Caray impression.  The Cubs Convention passes rarely last longer than a day, and in some years they have been known to sell out in less than half an hour after going on sale.

By comparison, hotcakes take forever to sell.  My point is, they usually sell pretty damn fast.

So it is practically unheard of that convention passes would still be available 10 days after they went on sale, but here we are 10 days after they went on sale and, what do you know? Convention passes are still available.  So I had a couple of minutes in the shower this morning and decided I would help the Cubs strategize on how to unload the remaining passes and came up with a few plans.

The Jim Hendry Plan

They can try closing their eyes and hoping that the current passes will perform as well as they have in the past even though we know deep down that they won't.

The Undercover Boss Plan

Just have Todd Ricketts buy the remaining passes and throw them in a garbage can.  If it works for hot dogs that no human should have to consume, it can work for passes allowing you access to an autograph from Tim Stoddard.

The Piss Off Yellon Plan

They could sell the remaining passes for $10 each as another tribute to Ron Santo, thereby pissing off Al to no end, because you know he already bought his for $60 in the first five minutes they were on sale.  He's already in the virtual waiting room for the 2012 convention passes.

The Dunking Plan

The Cubs can put Crane Kenney in a dunking booth and charge fans to try to knock him into the tank.  This would theoretically raise demand, and they could further incentivize purchases by doing a Buy One, Get One Dunk Tank Attempt Free promotion.  Ideally, the tank would be filled with sharks, electric eels, or ill-tempered mutated sea bass with laser beams attached to their heads.

You're welcome, Wally.

Ted Lilly's House Selling As Well as Koyie Hill Hits

Ted Lilly parlayed his time with the Cubs into a new $33 million deal plus a $3.5 million signing bonus with the Dodgers, so even though he isn't immune to the crappy selling conditions of the current housing market, he has a nice little cushion to get him by.

According to Bob Goldsborough (h/t Rice Cube), Ted has dropped the price of his Wrigleyville house to $2.1 million, which at this point is slightly less than the $2.15 million he paid for it in 2007.  Of course, the listing price is rarely what the owner will eventually get, so he's going to lose a few hundred thousand on the transaction at best.

Even when being a Cub is good for your career, it comes with a price.

The house looks pretty nice from the outside and it has plenty of amenities:

Built in 2006, Lilly’s brick and limestone house sits on a corner lot and has six bedrooms, 4 1/2 baths, a wine cellar, a wide limestone center entrance, a large gourmet kitchen, two roof decks, an attached 2.5-car heated garage and a private rear yard.

So if you know anybody with an extra $2 million or so lying around who is in the market for a house near Wrigley Field, Ted is ready to make a deal.  Just don't lowball him.  You don't want to make Ted angry.