For Sale?
The Wall Street Journal had a column today about troubles at the Tribune Company, and it went as far as suggesting selling the Cubs might be in the company's best interests. The Cubs, as we all know, are a cash cow for TribCo. They spent $21 million to buy the team back in 1981, and now the team is estimated to be worth more than $500 million. How much money the team actually brings in annually is disputed, and ten accountants would likely give you ten different answers. (I believe the official number lies somewhere in the $50 million range, but I could be wrong about that.) Doesn't matter anyways, as the Cubs hide their profits in other creative ways such as the Wrigley Premium Tickets scandal. They have first dibs on WGN TV and Radio, and they could be selling these rights for $1 for all we know. God bless Corporate America.
I'm not sure if selling the team would help the Trib, anyways. The theory is sell the Cubs for $500 million, then use that money to dig the rest of the company out of the hole. Would it help, though? Here's an idea, keep the Cubs and shrink down other areas, like the print division. Newspaper circulation is dropping like a stone across the country, especially among young people. I read the papers every day. Online, that is. By the time a physical paper crosses my path, it's largely old news. I don't need to look at yesterday's box score because I a) watched the game (or the mlb.com gamecast), b) read the game summary last night, and c) read a blog about it this morning. I know what happened and I know how it happened. If anything, I want you to provide insight as to why it happened. And that's where the papers are often lacking, especially in this town. Shock columnists like Jay Mariotti rarely provoke thought. They simply take shot after shot, spewing negativity the whole time without providing any constructive criticism. The occasional witty one-liner is about all I get from these guys, and that's about as useful as a bowl of Fruit Loops. Pure sugar.
It's not just the Sports section, either. National news and World news is downright laughable. I've got CNN for that, so don't even try. The papers, if they are to survive, should focus on local news and deeper analysis with outsider commentary. Mike Kiley can't very well write what he really thinks of Neifi Perez if he wants to maintain a cordial working relationship with the team. The moment he writes something bad, his interviews would dry up.
Listen, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that bloggers are better writers than newspaper journalists. They're not. It's not even close. There's a sea of crap out there, and for every good writer there's two-dozen hacks like me, if not more. One thing the blogs do have, though, is unfiltered immediacy. More and more mainstream media outlets are experimenting with blogs on their web sites these days, and I applaud them for their efforts. Now take off the reins and let them run wild. No space limitations, no worrying about what some lawyer might think, just use your talents and write, dammit. I've developed a new found respect lately for writers like Buster Olney. Before he started his blog at ESPN.com, I thought he was a stuffy, old school beat writer, incapable of little more than lazy, superficial analysis. You know, like Phil Rogers. Boy, was I wrong. His insights on the steroid scandal and day-to-day articles about life as a beat writer are pure gold. I'm looking at his more traditional articles in a new light now, and I've really come to enjoy his work. That's what the papers need to survive. Unfiltered immediacy.
Where was I? Oh yeah, the Tribune selling the Cubs. That's where this whole post started before I went into a huge tangent about how to save the newspaper business. (See what happens when you give an undisciplined fool such as myself access to a web site?) I just realized that I never actually gave my opinion on the sale of the team as a Cubs fan. Of course I'd love for them to sell the team. Sell, sell, sell! Sell to a maverick billionaire that cares more about team success than team profits. For some reason, I can't see Dennis FitzSimons tearing up at a victory rally the way Jerry Reinsdorf did after Konerko handed him the final-out-ball at the White Sox ticker-tape parade. So sell the team to someone who gives a damn. You've had your 25 years. Give someone else a turn to right the ship.