Dear Mr. CoF
Thank you for your tremendous support of the Chicago Cubs as we embark on a new era under the Ricketts family ownership. As I have done in the past, this letter will cover a number of topics, including our 2010 ticket pricing, the process for renewing your season tickets and a seat relocation option made available for the first time ever.
New Ownership
On October 27, 2009, the Ricketts family became the eighth owners in the 133-year history of the Chicago Cubs. They are the first family owners in 30 years and have taken control of the organization with a clear mission: win a World Championship for the most deserving fans in sports. Already, the benefits of new ownership can be seen in the form of capital commitments to Wrigley Field (described later), hiring top management talent such as Rudy Jaramillo, increasing resources for player development and new programs to improve your experience at the Friendly Confines.
Tom Ricketts and his family grew up as Cubs fans and they know what it means to be dedicated to the team and our beloved ballpark. Importantly, they are putting their resources to work to improve both. The family has committed all profits from the team will be reinvested in the ballclub, our player development system and Wrigley Field for the foreseeable future. As a result, your support of Cubs baseball will directly impact the quality of the ballclub and the condition of Wrigley Field more than ever.
Team Performance
Coming off of our 97 win performance in 2008, we expected 2009 to be an even better year. On Opening Day, we fielded a team with eight All Stars from the previous year, the 2008 Rookie of the Year and the 2008 Manager of the Year. Like you and almost every member of the media, we expected to win the National League Central division for a third consecutive year and play for a World Championship in October. We did not reach our goals however and finished with a disappointing record of 83-78. Not long ago, there might have been some comfort in playing above .500 and finishing in second place. Those days are over.
Success will only be defined by winning a championship and we are committed to finishing the job. There were bright spots in 2009. The pitching staff put together a solid year, led by our starters who produced 94 quality starts—the second highest total in the NL. The bullpen ranked second in the NL in opponents’ batting average and fifth in save percentage. Rookie Randy Wells paced the team with 12 wins and a 3.05 ERA. Offensively, Derrek Lee had a tremendous year, finishing with 35 home runs, 36 doubles and 111 RBI. The work has begun to improve the ballclub for 2010 and we expect to return to the playoffs next year.
Since Lou Piniella took over in 2007, our overall record of 265-219 ranks second in the National League (only Philadelphia has been better). Our home record of 145-97 is best among all NL teams during that three year span.
Wrigley Field Improvements
With the support of the Ricketts family, we are investing substantially this off season to improve Wrigley Field. Our concession operations are being reviewed and you will see new product choices and new points of sale in 2010. A new club will open on the left –field side of the mezzanine suite level and the Captain
Morgan’s Club will be reconfigured to provide more sheltered seating and additional outdoor space. Much-needed expansion plans are underway for both our men’s and women’s washrooms and many of those that are not being expanded will be remodeled. Our historic scoreboard, long in need of restoration, is being refaced to improve its appearance. We are also replacing and adding televisions to improve viewing throughout the ballpark.
As important as our immediate projects, we are moving forward with a number of long range projects that will substantially improve the Wrigley experience, including the construction of a multi-purpose facility west of the ballpark and a more generous renovation of suites.
Season Ticket Location Upgrades
One of the requests we hear most often from our season ticket holders is for improvement of your seating location. For 2010, we are creating 700 new season ticket locations which will first be offered to season ticket holders to consider for relocation purposes. These seats include club boxes formerly held by Tribune Company and seats that were unallocated following our various seating expansions. The relocation process is detailed in the enclosed fact sheet so please review this information before calling your season ticket representative. Unfortunately, we will not be allowing for an increase in the number of your season tickets, as the 120,000 people on the season ticket waiting list will be provided access to your
vacated seats after the relocation program concludes.
Season Ticket Pricing
For 2010, prices are essentially unchanged for 50% of our tickets. This follows holding ticket prices unchanged for 33% of our inventory in 2008. For 2010, we did raise ticket prices in our most desired locations however and because those locations are reserved for our season ticket holders, it is likely you will see an increase. We understand price increases are unpopular and we will continue pursuing other revenues to finance our
operations, including appropriate marketing sponsorships, new media offerings, Wrigley Field tours, other sporting events and concerts. We are also supportive of your use of Stub Hub to underwrite your season ticket purchases and know up to 25% of our ticket inventory traded via Stub Hub for certain games last year, at prices that were a multiple of face value.
As the amusement taxes you pay have increased over time, including again for 2010, we have broken out the amusement tax portion of your season ticket invoice so you know where your resources are going.
Season Ticket Holder Amenities
We hope you have taken advantage of the season ticket holder Web site (www.cubs.com/sth), which was constructed last year at the suggestion of season ticket holders attending one of our Tell it To the Cubs luncheons. Our meetings with you at those luncheons have been invaluable to our efforts to improve your experience at Wrigley Field. They will continue in 2010 and we hope you will consider attending. Last year, season ticket holders used the Web site to access tickets for the NHL Winter Classic, Cubs
spring training games, concerts and our exhibition games in new Yankee Stadium. We will continue providing you with early access to all of our special events in 2010.
Renewal Process
We hope you will continue your support of Cubs baseball by renewing your season tickets for 2010. To do so, please return the enclosed renewal form to us by mail or fax on or before December 18, 2009, or send us an e-mail at cubsseasontickets@cubs.com stating you intend to renew. A deposit is not required at this time but payment in full is due by January 8, 2010.
To retain your seats, it is imperative we hear from you by December 18, 2009. Please also provide your updated email address at your convenience at cubsseasontickets@cubs.com. Your email address is the most efficient way to communicate with you regarding Cubs news and in-season updates, including changes in game times. Once again, thank you for supporting the Chicago Cubs. We are committed to earning your loyalty in
everything we do. Please do not hesitate to contact your Ticket Office representative if you have any
questions.
Sincerely,
Crane Kenney
Chairman

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Did you write them back and tell them to go get Kenny Lofton and launch Ted Lily?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I stick by both of those past wants...

two things that I find funny about this letter:

1)it says a letter is attatched explaining how I can get access to the "new" 700 seats I can upgrade to, but it's not attatched...
2)it acknowledges, finally, that the secondary ticket market is what keeps us season ticket holders in enough money to buy next year's season tickets.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

where are your seats? do you ever sell any games?

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@audioidkid

500 level, inbetween home and first. And yes, I sell almost every ticket I can sell. However, not to be mean, but I put a good sized markup on (to offset the costs) and I'd rather not charge friends a markup (at least not knowingly)...but let me know what you're looking at...

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

cool. i'll let you know in Feb/March or whatever.

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@audioidkid

Why is this a good thing for the Cubs? Why don't they just offer fewer ticket packages and sell the tickets separately at a higher cost? It's not like there isn't a market for this. There are giving away a big piece of revenue to scalpers. Do they actually think these tickets wouldn't sell? And please don't respond about keeping the fans happy. If you cared about keeping the fans happy, you wouldn't be selling tickets to other fans at an inflated cost.

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This Keith in Sycamore (calling into B&B) sounds familiar.

What did Cof have to say? I had to turn the sound down for a few mins and missed it

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I thought that was him...

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They should think the tickets won't sell. Performances like 2005, 2006 and last year (if not broken up by winning years) will erode their fan base. "Keeping the fans happy" is the last thing on the Cubs mind. They'd rather make money. The Bulls and Bears have both treated me like a million bucks. The Cubs treat their fans like an annoyance. One day that may come back to bite them.

Oh, and it was me. Matty sometimes puts me up by my real name. Thanks for getting me on in a jif, matty..

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

made a point that if the Cubs struggle again this season, they'll put a lot of scalpers out of business. Then less people will buy their inflated price tickets. Scalpers buy whole season ticket plans even though only the combo plans sell. They take a bath on part and make huge bucks on the other part. The Cubs are in a more tenuous fan position than they know. Their 120,000 person waiting list can go up in smoke real easy.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

So what was B&B's response?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Right.

Then why are they offering people the option of buying tickets to every game at a reduced cost? They should sell them at a single game price level and break up a large portion of season tickets being sold. They would make more money that way and still fill the ballpark every game. Acknowledging that they know people are profitting from their tickets on Stub Hub and them not doing a thing about it is just stupid.

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This is news to me. But I'm a season ticket holder. I knew of no discount I was receiving.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

The thing is though that the Cubs really only have to raise ticket prices enough to counteract the potential loss of ticket sales and then they can adjust accordingly.

It is better to sell 10 apples at $2 a piece rather than 15 apples at $1 a piece. This is how the White Sox operate. They could probably sell out a lot if they lowered ticket prices like they do for some Mondays.

The Cubs could make significantly more with a 90% full stadium rather than a full stadium at lower prices.

Everyone would be better off if scalpers disappeared all together because they just inflate the prices and even go so far to let tickets go unsold rather than sell them cheaply.

I was at a game in St. Louis against the Cubs. We had standing room only seats and next to me was someone who said he was scalping tickets outside before the game but had some extra tickets and came in to see the game. He pulled out like 10 of them in his pocket that he was just letting go unused because they had all decided that there was a minimum amount that any of these tickets would go for and it wasn't reached.

Selling 20 tickets at $150 a piece and then keeping 10 tickets made them about $3,000.
If they had sold those 30 tickets at $75 a piece they would have actually made less money.

That is why you see so many sellouts at stadiums in which there are plenty of empty seats and it's bad for fans. Screw the secondary market.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I was assuming that buying a season package gave the buyer the tickets at a slightly reduced cost over single game prices. Is this not correct? I know it works this way for other pro teams. The Cubs don't have seat liscenses either, right?

Either way, I still think they should raise the prices as high as they can. Shutout the middle man and make that money yourself. If people are dumb enough to pay inflated prices on Stub Hub, they are dumb enough to pay inflated prices at the Wrigley Field box office.

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You need to protect the City of Fools brand. Don't let Matty shut you down.

Two ideas:

1.) Risk allocation. By selling the tickets at reduced price, the Cubs insure that they put the risk of a shitty season, and reduced sales, on other people. If they raised prices and left some number of tickets unsold, and the Cubs ended up doing well, there's a good chance they sell the remainder. If not, that's probably all loss, and I don't think they're allowed, per MLB, to go and reduce the price retroactively. Plus, it would tick off the season ticketholders to do so.

2.) Maintaining the fan base. Practically no one from ages 13-24 cares about the Blackhawks. I know it's not because tickets were too expensive, but the Blackhawks still don't have the popularity to survive if they're not playing well. The Cubs still want and feed families with kids to come to the park, because it helps establish allegiances. It used to be the White Sox practically gave away tickets for any reason whatsoever to grade school students. Those efforts probably helped bridge the gap a little bit between the number of Cubs fans and Sox fans.

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Fire Phil Emery

You are right. They keep that kinda shit up, the fan base will continue to dwindle.

And they will still average 38,000 a game.

You have the Wrigley Field "brand," and you have people like Maywood Steve who think that going to that park is treat enough in and of itself, regardless of the prodcut on the field. Its been that way for years and a couple of extra bucks in ticket prices isn't going to change that line of thinking for many people. And thats what sucks because A) it stereotypes the real fans, B) it prevents the real fans from buying good tickets at a reasonable price, and C) they don't give a shit if they lose 1, or 10, or 100 ticket holders because there is a list a mile long of people waiting to take the place of those who depart.

And if you think its bad now, my god what in the hell do you think is going to happen if the Cubs just get to (and not even necessarily win) the World Series?

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WRONG

You have Ellie May from Des Moines who keeps coming to the games. Even the Sox fans sell pretty well in the lower sections. The difference is Wrigley sells the upper deck!

It is a HUGE Tourist attraction and that is the major difference. The fact that Bars are all over make it a better time, but as has been proven many times over the past 5 years, when they are out of it in Sept, they are not playing to full houses.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I basically just said that:




Today's PAID attendance: 38,461.

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Last year my seats one ticket $3641.00, todays Bill $4650.00 per seat

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

That includes free admission to the skating rink right?

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Proud to be UNVERIFIED.

This is interesting...when season ticket holders in the good seats gave them up or kicked off, THOSE SEATS BECAME THE INVENTORY OF THE TRIBUNE SCALPING PREMIUM TICKET SERVICE.

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There goes one over the fence..Tru Link Fence..Beauty, Privacy Security....Call Tru Link.
Murph's Union 76 Truck Stop....A great Thanksgiving Tradition!!!!

WOO LIFE!!!!

PREMIUM TICKET SERVICE!!!!

TRIBUNE SCALPING DIVISION....

Sounds like the Cubs are releasing these seats to regular season ticket holders based upon the tone of that letter.

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There goes one over the fence..Tru Link Fence..Beauty, Privacy Security....Call Tru Link.
Murph's Union 76 Truck Stop....A great Thanksgiving Tradition!!!!

WOO LIFE!!!!

Whats your point? The ticket is still sold and thats all that matters. If the upper deck is only half or a third full in September its because of no shows, not because the tickets weren't sold.

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Unless I am missing something...I think his point is, his price per season ticket went up $1,009.00

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Proud to be UNVERIFIED.

$12.61 a ticket hike for bigfan's seats is pretty nasty...

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@audioidkid