It's All In Your Attitude

As mentioned the other day, The Source leaked a few rumors about the Cubs. One that was not discussed on this page is something that has to be considered as a reasonable possibility. That is: Tribune Company will sell off all their non-Chicago assets and leave a core company consisting of the Chicago Tribune Newspaper, WGN TV, and WGN Radio.

Such a structure would preserve Col. McCormick's original company, maintain perceived local synergies, preserve the cross-ownership waiver that allows the Trib to own broadcast and print media in a single market, and save the Tribune millions of dollars in taxes on the sale of the Cubs.

In such a company, a strong business case can be made that the Cubs should remain one of their assets.

A reasonable case could also be made that this would not be all bad for the fans of the Cubs given one, huge if...

There was an article in the LA Times suggesting that the big spending of the Cubs could affect the sale price of the team. Some believe that having good players will increase the value by reducing the number of empty seats that were seen in Wrigley Field last September. Others argue that, beyond the high salaries created by the new contracts reducing the available cash flow on which a purchase price can be calculated, a new owner won't want to be tied into long term contracts of players he doesn't want. There's merit to all those arguments. But there is still a clear, strong desire by Denis FitzSimons and his management team to stay an independent company under current management. And that fits with the rumor from The Source.

So, let us say Trib management is running the Cubs under the guise of eventually undertaking a local retrenchment strategy. The spending on Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez would have to be explained by something other than increasing the value of the team or "going for it" in 2007 and leaving the cleanup costs to the next owner.

One of the reasons the Trib has been a horrible owner is that there has been no one from the top who has demanded a winner be put on the field. Before Denis FitzSimons fired Andy MacPhail, when was the last time anyone heard a Tribune exec say anything about the Cubs and winning? Other than the insulting statements of Jim Dowdle, probably never. The Trib execs have always viewed the Cubs as a synergistic source of programming for their broadcast media outlets and as a venue for in-house corporate entertainment.

(Aside: The Brother-In-Law is an ex-Tribune Entertainment exec. Once, while in Chicago for a group meeting, he and his Trib Entertainment co-workers all played in a company softball game. The game was held at Wrigley. Each employee received a Cub jersey with their name stitched on the back. Everyone received their jersey in the Cubs' locker room where the jerseys were hanging in the player's lockers. Nice perk, especially for him as he's a Yankee fan.)

The real problem isn't the Trib itself, it's the attitude of the execs. Last week, the Trib ran down the performance of corporate ownership as stewards of baseball franchises. For the most part, the corporate owners were successful. The Trib was one of the least successful of all the corporate owners.

A big reason is that the successful one seem to have had public executives with large egos running the teams, or, at the least, been a public face for the team. Guys like Ted Turner and Michael Eisner come to mind.

What has always been missing from the Trib is that guy. The ego-maniacal owner that wants to win at all costs because he is trying to bolster his ego by winning with his fancy yacht (small coincidence that Ted Turner won an America’s Cup and a World Series). You look at Stanton Cook and Jim Dowdle and Denis FitzSimons. These men did not have the kind of public egos you see in Mark Cuban, Ted Turner and George Steinbrenner. The one group wants their name in the paper. The other group wants you to buy their paper.

That’s the biggest reason we all should hope for a change. As Disney Chief Executive Michael Eisner once said, "The problem with a company like ours is, if you run [the sports teams] for the shareholders ... you couldn't pay the salaries."

But does the change have to be a sale? Could the change we need simply be one of attitude? Are the Trib execs capable of such an attitude change?

Let's go back to The Source's rumor and envision a company comprising the Cubs, WGN TV, WGN 720 AM, and the Chicago Tribune paper. Let's also assume that Denis FitzSimons would stay in charge of such a scaled down operation.

Denis has taken a pounding on all fronts the past year. To say his mettle as a leader has been questioned would be an understatement. Now, I'm sure Denis has a tremendous ego. You don't get to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company without one. How might such a person respond to nationwide dismay at their leadership?

Maybe by winning a yacht race with a boat that’s perceived as a gilded dinghy.

Could it be that the spending on Soriano and Ramirez, plus whatever else might be on the horizon could be a huge middle finger to everyone who said that FitzSimons was a Dead-CEO-Walking?

If it is, this page would readily support such actions. This page doesn’t hate the Trib, it just hates the cavalier attitude their management brought toward the Cubs and winning over the past 20 plus years.

Were that to change, a sale would be unnecessary. We fans would have the ego maniac in charge that we've always needed. If Denis FitzSimons wants to give a big F-You to Barrons and Business Week and Forbes and do so by bringing the World Series to Wrigely, we'd all be on board for the ride.