As much as I’d personally like to see all 81 games be day games simply because I like the anticipation of the sun, but am willing to deal with other weather (BTW, the NHL Winter Classic wasn’t quite as cold as the 2004 opener, when the Bucs blew out Maddog and the Cubs 13-2).

This is all about revenue. The Cubs mis-spoke a few years ago when they lobbied night games for the reason of in-park attendance increases. Part of that though now is due to a much better team.

It’s ad revenue and…..something else that’s likely going to be in the works that we haven’t talked about as much lately; an all-Cubs TV network, ala the YES-Network the Yankees [the dreaded, evil empire, money grubbing, capitalists] have.

I’m speculating Ricketts and the Cubs will be going forward with “CUBS-TV”. With that comes the need for more night games. And, IMO there’s another intangible here. More night games acclimate players better to what they’ve been used to since low-A ball.

Saturday’s (and many Sunday’s) can stay day games like Al mentioned. It’s one sure way to stay connected with Wrigley’s roots. And especially since they’re hot recently, there will be the impetus for more FOX national games, even though many of us loathe their broadcasts.

I’d much rather see increased revenue generation from more night games than “Under Armour” outfield doors, defacing of almost-looks-original-brick behind the plate & down the LF line and most worse of anything that could happen: Video Board(s).

The Cubs have to pull out all the stops in lieu of real skyboxes. Regardless of how bad the economy is and will continue to be for the next 18 months or so, it will get better, things will turn around. The Cubs must position themselves as best as possible if anyone is going to want to stay in that fabled old ballpark significantly past its 100-year anniversary.

I’d like to see the overall limit on night games raised to 36, but I would also like to see the ban on Friday night regular season home games lifted. I’d like see the Cubs play 6 Friday night home games. Fans from far away could take Friday off of work, get up at a decent hour and drive 8 hours to Chicago, if necessary, to see a night game on a Friday. Having some Friday night games would take care of the “play on a Thursday night in St. Pete, play on a Friday afternoon in Chicago problem” that cropped up last season.
 
 I think if you go over about 36 night home games in a regular season that you are taking too much away from the daytime baseball tradition at Wrigley. I don’t believe that daytime tradition has had a negative effect on team performance or revenue in recent years.

46 night games…..or 16 more games would be a good transition with a cap of let say 52 (White Sox), this will put the Cubs a little over half to almost 60% of their home games under the lights.

It has always been about business and eyeballs….come on….

I look at it as a product thing, a eyeball thing, a revenue thing and a team competitive thing.

If salaries weren’t out of control, all costs would come down, right? Ad revenue wouldn’t need to be a focus because it would cost less to buy time if other costs were lower… Regardless of whether or not it’s a day game or a night game, the cost of getting a hot dog, a beer, a bag of chips on top of the cost of the ticket is stupidly prohibitive. Bring down the player’s salaries (why does Manny need to fight $10 million up front money? I don’t get it), bring down ticket prices, put a great product on the field and enjoy the games again… that’s what I’d like to see. As for night games, I think adding more is a mistake (call me a sentimentalist – the Cubs should be playing day ball). As for the players sleeping in the clubhouse? That’s too freakin’ bad… they’re getting paid to do their jobs, so do the job for six months, find ways to work through the energy lulls and stop complaining.

Would I turn down the opportunity to make more money? Depends on how much I was already making. If I’ve got a player’s salary and I’m making $10 million a year, what the hell do I need with another $5 million? I can live on $10 million for a few years and be very comfortable the rest of my life! If I’m making $100k and struggling to pay the mortgage and the credit card debt, then no – I wouldn’t turn down the money. My thought is that the players should be paid on a performance basis… base salary and spiffs based on performance. Nobody – and I mean NOBODY – ‘deserves’ to make the kind of money sports stars are making. As I’ve mentioned before, though, we, as ticket-holders, are the idiots who provide the salaries to these babies…

College students, people who have families, etc are legit ones. But in the past 2-3 years the Cubs have never had a problem filling the seats. Thats something Chicago does really well: support their teams. Well, unless that teams is located in an area where you can hear gun shots during the seventh inning stretch

Ouch….did I just say that?

Shoot me now….but the aftermarket for Cubs tickets is sky-high. If the Cubs wanted, they could charge $70-$90 for a bleacher seat for Premium Games and sell out.

Yes, this could cut out the “loyal” Cub fan. Yes, the loyals would strongly protest, but many “ticket buyers” are reaching into the Cubs’ pockets and taking what would be profits away from the Cubs by selling their tickets at a premium price.

Personally, I think the Cubs would cut their throats if they did this, but the point still stands….others are profiting from reselling tickets.

tickets can keep going up in price and I will keep buying them and going to the games. there is nothing like Wrigley in the bleachers in the Summer

selling 104,000 tickets on Saturday, setting a franchise record for the number of tickets sold in a single day.

Cubs and White Sox games are sold out.

In addition, the team announced that six games were already sold out for individual game tickets. This marks the first time in team history that a regular season game other than opening day has sold out on the first day of availability. The games that are sold out are April 10 and 11 versus the Chicago Cubs, May 8, 9 and 10 versus the Cubs and June 13 versus the Chicago White Sox.

source

I wonder how much this scenario affects the situation. If there was a CUBS Tv, wouldn’t you expect it to play an afternoon game live and then again at 7 or 8 central time that night? This would likely increase viewership for the game, both from people who would watch because it was on at night and those who listened to the game at work and then watched it at night (double advertising opportunities).

with why there’s an ordinance anyway. Is it the neighborhood that doesn’t like night games? If so, what’s the issue?

And, yes, I’d like to see a marginal increase in the number of night games as well. I think it would make the team more competitive and, quite frankly, I think the number of night games will inevitably increase at some point anyway.

But do you Al, or anyone have a hi-res version of the picture used for this post??? Have to say its one of the best I’ve seen

Thanks

 I will be stopping by to meet you this summer finally, I intended to all last summer, but never got bleacher seats

I think the discrepency between day and night games is the main culprit for the Cubs futility. Actually, it’s probably more mental than physical rest that causes problems. I realize my post has nothing to do with the above blog, but I wanted to put in my two cents!

“What the (redacted) am I supposed to do, go out there and let my (redacted) players get destroyed every day and be quiet about it? For the (redacted) nickel-dime people who turn up? The (redacted) don’t even work. That’s why they’re out at the (redacted) game. They oughta go out and get a (redacted) job and find out what it’s like to go out and earn a (redacted) living. Eighty-five percent of the (redacted) world is working. The other fifteen percent come out here. A (redacted) playground for the (redacted).”

indeed it is … I like the day games.