Ed Sherman interviews Steve Stone some more

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: Stone: Cubs fans will pay high price for Wrigley renovation, big salaries : Posted by Ed Sherman : at 5/4/2009 5:30 AM CDT on Chicago Business : Even though Steve Stone works for the White Sox now, he still keeps a keen eye on what's going on with the Cubs. : There are few people in town who have a better handle on the situation on the North Side. So when Mr. Stone talks, Cubs fans should listen. : Mr. Stone is enthusiastic about the prospective new Cubs owners, Tom Ricketts and his family. However, he has some major concerns about the new owners being able to keep ticket prices in line thanks to major player contract commitments and the inevitable renovation of Wrigley Field. : He thinks the fans ultimately will pay a major price. : Here's our Q and A with Mr. Stone regarding the Cubs. : : What are your feelings about an individual owning the Cubs as opposed to a company like the Tribune? : Mr. Stone: Let's take emotion out of it. With the exception of the Angels in 2002, who still were owned by Disney, every team who has won the World Series for as far back as you want to go, you'll see there's been a face or a couple of faces (as owners). You have Larry Lucchino and John Henry with the Red Sox, Jerry Colangelo with Arizona, Jerry Reinsdorf with the White Sox, Bill DeWitt with the Cardinals. You can say all you want about George Steinbrenner, but there's no question he wants to win. All those championship teams had faces attached to them. : It says to me that there's a leader who pulls it all together. That's why I think it's imperative for Tom Ricketts to own the Cubs as soon as possible. He's going to be the best thing to happen to that team. He loves the Cubs and he loves baseball. That team deserves an owner that loves the team. : : So then are you saying that the Cubs haven't won the World Series because of the Tribune Co? : It's fashionable to attack the Tribune. But let's look at what happened under their stewardship of the team. Under Tribune Company, Harry Caray came to the Cubs. They won on satellite and wrested the mantel of America's team away from the Braves. They won the division in 1984, 1989, 2003, 2007 and 2008. They went from not drawing many fans to selling out every game. So Tribune Company did some good things,. : Yet having said that and going with my premise that corporations don't win championships, they made some terrible personnel decisions. They made some bad baseball decisions. They made some bad decisions in a number of different areas and it impacted the team. : : You have voiced concerns about contract commitments the new Cubs owner will inherit. What impact will that have? : From 2003, Jim Hendry has the Cubs paying close to a billion dollars in salary or deferred salary. There are some big backloaded contracts. Alfonso Soriano is owed $106 million in the next six years. I thought the Milton Bradley contract (3 years, $30 million) was excessive. That will make it tough on the new ownership. : These long-term obligations are coming at a time when we know sponsors are cutting back. Who then is going to pay the freight? We know it's going to be the fans. What I fear for the Cubs fan is that there will be a tipping point where a mother and father will no longer be able to afford to take their family to Wrigley Field. When that day comes--and it will come--it's going to be a difficult thing to deal with. : : What are your feelings about what the new owner will have to do with Wrigley Field? : Every day Sam Zell holds on to that ballpark, you're one day closer to having to make a major renovation. All you need is one piece of concrete to drop on somebody's head, and you won't need to worry about keeping the name of Wrigley Field. It will be Smith Field or Roberts Field, or the name of whoever got hurt. : Nobody's talking about the $400-500 million it will cost to renovate Wrigley Field. If they have to play somewhere else, you're probably talking about losing $100 million per year. The fans who come to Wrigley Field every day might not want to come to U.S. Cellular or go to Milwaukee. You could do the renovation in sections so you can continue to play in the ballpark. But realistically if you want to do it right, you need to shut it down. : So now you have a team that you bought for $850 million, and throw in the renovation, and you have $1.4 billion in the deal. Tell me how you're going to get that back without the fans paying a tremendous part of that? : : Are there any other potential revenue sources? : The one thing I've shared with people who have been in pursuit of this team is that you're going to have to bring in people who are phenomenally creative in generating revenue outside the walls (of the ballpark). The Red Sox have been terrific at generating profits outside the wall. They own a NASCAR team and are involved in a PGA Tour event. : You're only limited by your imagination here. (Going outside the walls) is going to be essential if you want to keep ticket prices within reason. : : You paint a grim picture for ticket buyers for Cubs games. Is it really going to be that bad? : I had a caller on WSCR berate me for talking about the backloaded contracts. He said, "The only thing we care about is winning the World Series." I said, that's great and you should care about that. But I said to him, give me a call in 10 years. If you have children or grandchildren, and you have to tell them how beautiful the ivy was, and what it was like to watch a Cubs game at Wrigley Field on a summer day. And you have to tell them about it because you can't afford to go there anymore. When that day comes, call me back and tell me those backloaded contracts didn't mean anything. : The players come and go. The owners even come and go. It's the fans' game. It's the fans you have to protect.

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