TV Contracts

[Lamp81]

Interesting piece in the Tribune today about why Bob Brenly and Dan Plesac both declined the Cubs, this offseason. Apparently the Cubs deal with WGN expires after 2014, and Brenly or Plesac couldn't get guaranteed contracts past that date.

As it stands now, both Cubs and Sox play their games on WGN, WCIU, and CSN. WGN America also shows the WGN games to the rest of the country, which IIRC, they are the only remaining Superstation to do so.

What's the Sox contract with WGN? If WGN lost the Cubs, would they broadcast more Sox games? What local TV stations would make a play for the Cubs, WCIU26, WPWR50, or WCPX38? I doubt the stations with affiliate agreements would be able to carve out enough space for a local sports team (ABC7, FOX32, etc).

The only strong possibility I woul see is that WCIU26 ends their agreement to air WGN produced games and maybe air their own packages of Cubs and Sox games.

Certainly if Tribune Co was still majority owner of the Cubs, WGN would retain the team, and probably pay them below market rates for it.

[Lip Man 1]

Lamp:

I strongly doubt the Cubs will EVER end their relationship completely with WGN TV and WGN radio. Not going to happen.

I strongly recommend reading in total this interview I did with Bob Grim, the director of broadcast operations for the White Sox. He answers many of the questions that you are posing:

http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/r...ory=11&id=3669

Lip

[FielderJones]

Originally Posted by Lip Man 1

I strongly recommend reading in total this interview I did with Bob Grim, the director of broadcast operations for the White Sox. He answers many of the questions that you are posing:

http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/r...ory=11&id=3669

What year is that interview from? Is it possible that the sports broadcasting landscape in Chicago is changing due to the breakup of the Tribune Company? I'd be interested if Bob Grim has any seen any changes on the horizon.

[Lip Man 1]

Fielder:

The interview if I remember correctly is from 2008. That's a good question I'll contact Bob and get his thoughts. I don't know if he's at spring training or not so I don't know when he'd be able to answer.

Lip

[Moses_Scurry]

Is there any possible way the Sox will get one of those fat TV contracts that have allowed the Rangers, Dodgers, Angels, etc to go crazy with the free agents? Or will they be one of the last teams to climb on board, thereby erasing the benefit? Who will be the next team to get a TV deal and start spending like crazy? Mets?

[Lip Man 1]

Moses:

There's always a chance depending on how the Sox are able to position themselves but to get a contract like the teams you mentioned? Probably very unlikely.

Mets are a good guess by the way although I don't know when their deal expires.

Lip

[palehozenychicty]

Originally Posted by Moses_Scurry

Is there any possible way the Sox will get one of those fat TV contracts that have allowed the Rangers, Dodgers, Angels, etc to go crazy with the free agents? Or will they be one of the last teams to climb on board, thereby erasing the benefit? Who will be the next team to get a TV deal and start spending like crazy? Mets?

They already have Sports Net New York.

[PKalltheway]

Originally Posted by Lip Man 1

Lamp:

I strongly doubt the Cubs will EVER end their relationship completely with WGN TV and WGN radio. Not going to happen.

Certainly not with WGN radio, but I don't believe it's out of the realm of possibility with the TV side. There's just too much money to be made off of these new TV deals. If it doesn't happen in 2014, I could see it happen once their contract with CSN Chicago is up in 2019.

However, the Yankees and Mets have their own networks and still broadcast a number of games on local stations (especially the Mets on WPIX), so I guess there's precedent. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

[doublem23]

I wonder if the Cubs might try and have their cake and eat it too, pulling their games off WGN locally in leiu of a more lucrative deal in the Chicago market while still using the superstation might of WGN America to broadcast nationally.

[russ99]

If the Cubs pull out of CSN and start their own network/channel, as has been long speculated, I wonder if CSN could handle the loss of the Cubs and still be financially viable as they stand now.

Maybe we could see some kind of split-off with the Reinsdorf owned Sox and Bulls partnering with the Hawks (which they have in the past) to start their own network.

IMO, that would have a lot more pull with advertisers and subscribers than a Cubs-only network, despite their nationwide fanbase.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by russ99

If the Cubs pull out of CSN and start their own network/channel, as has been long speculated, I wonder if CSN could handle the loss of the Cubs and still be financially viable as they stand now.

Maybe we could see some kind of split-off with the Reinsdorf owned Sox and Bulls partnering with the Hawks (which they have in the past) to start their own network.

IMO, that would have a lot more pull with advertisers and subscribers than a Cubs-only network, despite their nationwide fanbase.

The Sox/Bulls marriage seems pretty natural but is it a given the Hawks would side with them and not the Cubs? Lot of familiarity between the two front offices and the Hawks seem to be natural "rivals" for the Bulls in that their seasons run pretty much head-to-head.

That said, the Bulls and Hawks are small fish in this sea; the elephant in this room is the Bears and what they would decide to do. Obviously you won't get their actual games but man, you can fill a lot of timelots up for a big chunk of the baseball off-season with exclusive football programming.

I also don't think it's unreasonable to think the 4 (Cubs, Sox, Bulls, Hawks) teams in town may one day just launch a channel together just without Comcast as a part-owner. Keep all that revenue for themselves.

I gotta feeling the Cubs are going to watch whatever the Dodgers do and emulate their model if successful. Anybody know what the hell they plan to air on their new channel in the approximately 93.5% of the year that is not live baseball?

[Lip Man 1]

I suspect it will be a lot of what YES does. From a baseball standpoint they have Yankee documentaries, shows highlighting all time great players (Yankeeography), great seasons, have sports related talk shows and the like.

The Dodgers like the Yankees have the film and tape archives available to do a lot of these.

Lip

[soxfanreggie]

First: I wonder how much footage we could acquire from other teams. It might be road footage, but if the Yankees have a ton of it, we should be able to get some. This is also the day and age where people are finding things in attics and basements. Throw out some offers to fans - trade footage your family may have for some seats - club, suite seats, a team meet and greet. Same for the Bulls and Hawks. Hire a media person specializing in that to assemble whatever they can and then assess from there how much they have acquired.

Also, another option is to throw on some games from local teams in the state. If their games aren't being broadcast elsewhere, throw on some of them.

[Lip Man 1]

Spoke with Jeff Szynal the Sox Hall of Fame curator and historian last night. Jeff said when he took over in 1984 they did find some items and film pieces on the Sox that he wanted to transfer to (then) VHS tape for preserving.

However that material was stored in an area of the original Comiskey Park that wasn't good for preserving film and when they tried to transfer them the majority had deteriorated to the point where you just couldn't see anything.

Such a shame.

Wonder what that material originally was? Maybe season highlights from those great teams of the 1960's or perhaps stuff from 1972.

Lip

[Lamp81]

I was watching MLB network a couple of weeks ago, and I believe they had some footage of Goose Gossage in Comiskey Park. What struck me about the footage was the infield was artificial and outfield was grass.

I had read about this era and seen photos, but couldn't recall seeing it on Video before. Maybe this footage was from the opponent telecast.

Outside of the saving on a little bit of mowing, whey would the Sox have done this? It looked like they still had the full dirt infield, and not just the dirt sliding pits that other stadiums had.

Obviously it didn't last long, but this seems to make no sense, you'd eith want all artificial or all natural not some hybrid. Did any other teams try this?