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October 8, 2010
Account # 7854
Big Fan
Wrigleyville
Chicago, IL 60657
Dear Mr. Fan,
It has been an incredible year for my family in our first season as stewards of the Chicago Cubs. Of all the
new experiences, none was more enjoyable than the opportunity to meet and spend time with you---our
season ticket holders.
We met many of you during our game day walks through Wrigley Field. Over the course of those games,
you welcomed me and my family, you shared your thoughts and suggestions on improving the team and the
ballpark, we celebrated some wins and, unfortunately, suffered too many losses.
One of the highlights of the year was our first ever season ticket holder “open house” on July 8th. On that
day alone I met more than 2100 of you, as we spent a day together in the greatest ballpark on earth. (For all
who have inquired---yes, we are going to host that event again and in fact we will double up with a night
session as well).
As our most highly valued customers, your opinions are invaluable as we move our organization forward.
In fact, you will soon be contacted to participate in a quality assurance survey as we consider amenity
upgrades and look to identify ways to improve your experience at Wrigley Field.
On behalf of my entire family, thank you for your warm welcome and your incredible support of the Cubs
organization. You are truly our partners and we respect your contribution and insights.
2010 Review
The 2010 season was a disappointment for all at the major league level—for my family, for the
organization, for the players and for the fans. The team showed signs of its potential the last quarter of the
season, but the 75-87 record fell well short of our goals. My family is committed to winning a World
Series and though it may not be entirely evident from this year’s performance, there are encouraging signs.
The 2010 highlights revolved around our home grown talent. Starlin Castro, Tyler Colvin and Andrew
Cashner developed into budding stars, with Castro and Colvin in the NL Rookie of the Year discussion.
That young group was enhanced by the August promotion of Casey Coleman, who went 3-1 with a 2.08
ERA in his last four starts. All need to take the next step in 2011, but we are very encouraged to have a
group of young, home grown players emerge as regulars in 2010.
We also have to recognize the superb job done by another one of our own—Mike Quade. During the final
37 games, the team played at a .649 clip (24-13), the second best record in the majors over that timeframe.
Making this even more significant, we played largely against teams fighting for playoff berths.
It is my strong belief that, in the end, it is organizations with strong farm systems that win championships
and I am convinced that our organization is making progress.
Our success in producing talent from within our system can be attributed to a number of factors, including a
commitment of financial resources. We believe we have one of the best scouting directors in baseball in
Tim Wilken (now 4 years in place) and with a strong farm director in Oneri Fleita and a very productive
international effort, we are making progress in what had been a weak spot in the organization.
Our farm clubs performed very well in 2010, playing to a collective 374-316 record, with first place
finishes at both the Triple-A level in Iowa (tied) and Double-A level in Tennessee. The overall .542
winning percentage was second among all major league organizations and our 374 wins were the most for
the Cubs organization in 15 years. As I said at our opening press conference about a year ago, we are
committed to winning the right way---with our farm system. We believe we are on the right track.
2011 Preview
We are early in the process of building the club for 2011. The first order of business is hiring our manager.
Jim Hendry has identified a strong group of candidates and we are currently completing our interviews.
This is a critical decision and I am confident we will find the right person to lead the club.
The strength of our team in 2010 was our starting pitching, as we led the National League with 96 quality
starts. We expect that to continue. We are excited to see the continued development of our young players
and the strong bullpen work anchored by Carlos Marmol (38 saves and a reliever-franchise record 138
strikeouts) and Sean Marshall (2.65 ERA, 22 holds).
Going forward, we recognize the need to recommit to fundamentals. We need to stabilize our defense and
cut down on errors. We need to improve our offense and become more efficient in both moving runners
and hitting with players in scoring position. It is too early to determine whether this will be addressed with
internal moves, trades or through free agent acquisitions. But we know we must improve in these areas.
Given that we had the highest payroll in the NL in 2010, I get a lot of questions about our payroll
commitment for 2011. As I said earlier, we are still working on our 2011 baseball plan, so it is hard to be
too specific at this time. What I can tell you is that our overall baseball budget (scouting, player
development and payroll) will be about the same in 2011 as it was in 2010. Continued long term success
will come through superior scouting and player development, and we are committed to improving that facet
of the organization. As a result, this likely means a shift of some of our resources from the major league
payroll toward scouting and player development, but we are still very much in the evaluation phase.
2011 Ticket Pricing
The other question I get regularly concerns our ticket pricing for 2011 and beyond. Overall, our average
ticket price will be flat in 2011 compared to 2010. Before going into greater detail on that topic, let me
provide some background.
My family is committed to providing ticket pricing that allows families to enjoy Cubs baseball. In so many
ways, our children represent the next generation in the Cubs family. We want to invest in providing
families with opportunities to experience Wrigley Field, including such things as running the bases, which
will be continued in 2011.
To this end, we will continue the policy of keeping many of our tickets in the sub $10 range—in fact, we
will offer a substantial increase in sub-$10 tickets next year compared to 2010.
In addition, we are increasing the number of bronze games (our lowest ticket pricing tier) from 6 games in
2010 to 15 games in the bleachers and 11 games in the grandstand in 2011. As a result, there will be 77%
more tickets priced at $20 or less in 2011 than there were in 2010. Stated differently, a total of more than
550,000 tickets will be available for $20 or less next year.
Again, our average ticket price next year will be essentially flat compared to 2010 (actually it is fractionally
down vs. 2010). This does not mean all ticket prices will be the same as last year however, as pricing was
adjusted based on location and our schedule. A little background might be helpful.
To set our pricing in 2011, we examined approximately 5 million transactions from our primary and
secondary ticket markets from 2005 through 2010. Our goal was to keep our average ticket price flat
overall but improve the alignment of pricing for games and seating sections with actual demand. The result
is a market-based ticket model that reflects our fans’ buying patterns.
The highlights include: (1) reducing the average ticket price for all gold, silver and bronze games, (2)
separating the bleachers and grandstands in the pricing tiers, as the buying patterns vary significantly for
each area, and (3) adding a new fifth tier of pricing (Marquee Tier) for our highest demand games.
Cutting through it all, the net result for our season ticket holders is that some will see a slight (in all cases,
less than 3%) increase, others will see a reduction as much as 6% and some will see virtually no change at
all.
Other changes in 2011 include new season ticket holder benefits. Over the years, we have added
significant benefits to being a Cubs season ticket holder, such as a dedicated area within our website, early
access to Spring Training tickets and other special events (such as the very popular Dave Matthews
concerts and Allstate Wrigleyville Classic football game coming in November), and last year’s open house.
For 2011, there are a number of new benefits that I think you will find interesting. Among them is
exclusive access to our players, coaches, manager, front office and ownership through Cubs Insider
Webcasts that will occur throughout the year. In addition to updates on everything happening inside the
ballclub, these webcasts will provide you the opportunity to ask questions on topics of your choice. A
Season Ticket Holder Benefit page follows this letter and you should ask your Cubs representative about
any of the items listed there.
Wrigley Field Renovations
Like you, we love Wrigley Field and are committed to winning a championship at the Friendly Confines.
We all need to recognize, however, that our wonderful Wrigley Field is fast approaching 100 years of age
and is in need of substantial improvements. We committed over $10 million to that effort last year, largely
to improve restrooms, add new food options, recast concrete, upgrade steel and other general maintenance.
We will continue this effort in 2011 but again the focus will be more tactical than strategic.
We spent much of the 2010 season assembling a team of renowned architects, engineers, designers and
project managers to develop a master plan for a more significant Wrigley Field overhaul and Triangle
Building development. Our planning will continue in 2011 and your involvement through the quality
assurance surveys mentioned earlier is very important. We look forward to completing the analysis phase
and getting underway with the construction and occupation phase.
Conclusion
Thank you again for your incredible support of Cubs baseball and the Ricketts family. We have spent our
adult lives sitting next to you cheering for our team. We now have the responsibility to improve not only
the play on the field but also to protect and save our summer home, Wrigley Field. With your help we will
accomplish both.
Sincerely,
Tom
_________________
"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.’”
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