Worth More Or Less

Discussion of the eventual sale of the Chicago Cubs continues to bubble up. A lot of the speculation revolves around the spending spree that the Tribune is on and why they are spending so much on baseball players when the refuse to spend on reported and editors. One of the theories is that better players, and better on-field performance, will drive up the value of the franchise. Derived from that is the idea that winning a World Series title in 2007 would drive up the value of the franchise even farther.

That line of thinking makes Carl Spackler look smart.

One of the reasons people, especially local people, want to buy the Cubs is because they realize what being the person to finally make the Cubs a winner would mean. It means statues. Beatification. Lionization. Cannonization. It means being more popular than Barrack Obama, more powerful than Richard Daley, and having more influence than Oprah (aside: does anyone remember that her last name is "Winfrey" anymore?)

It means the world's biggest ego trip.

What happens if the Trib manages to win prior to finalizing a sales price? Denis FitzSimons gets the ego trip and the “buyer” gets to be second fiddle. No portraits on the Bigsby & Kruthers building. No cover of Time magazine. No profiles in Sports Illustrated. Nothing but being another Buzz Aldrin.

If the Cubs win before the sale, the sale price will go down.