There were a couple of very noticeable differences at Wrigley Field Friday. For the first time in nearly 30 years, there were real, live, approachable faces in charge of the Cubs, a whole family of them, as the Ricketts family staged a grand introduction at the ballpark.
Archive for October, 2009
Tom Ricketts has one simple plan for the Cubs. “This will be the best franchise in baseball,” Ricketts said recently to a group of Daily Herald reporters and columnists. “It’s got the best fan base in baseball. It has the potential to be the premier franchise.”
“We do want to do things that increase revenues but only in the context of stadium improvements and improvements in the value of the experience of the game for fans.”
So what kind of Cubs owner will Tom Ricketts be, hands-on or hands-off? Yes. “Hands-on, yes, from the standpoint of being out in the stands, talking to folks, being part of the game from the fan perspective,” Ricketts said in a recent interview with Daily Herald reporters.
Meet the won-way Ricketts
Oct 31
Three years ago this month, in a prelude to a sale as it turned out, John McDonough took over as Cubs president and declared, ”It’s time to win a World Series.” Since then, time, a half-billion dollars in payroll commitments and McDonough have passed through an organization still waiting on a World Series with the urgency of a five-beer buildup at the back of the line for a Wrigley Field trough. Next!
Now that Tom Ricketts has control of the Cubs and Wrigley Field, he has plans to make immediate upgrades to the ballpark that turns 100 years old in 2014. Enough upgrades, he hopes, that Major League Baseball will agree to hold the 2014 All-Star Game at Wrigley.
Thomas Ricketts spent $845 million for, among other assets, a baseball team that in a good year will record a profit of around $30 million.
Laura Ricketts met a friend for lunch in Wrigleyville the same August day her family signed an agreement with Tribune Co. to purchase the Cubs. Her friend suggested they take a Wrigley Field tour to celebrate. They were sitting in the bleachers when the news reached another member of the tour via his BlackBerry. The deal was done, he announced. The Ricketts family had officially purchased the Cubs.