Patterico's Pontifications

8/22/2009

Ameritrade Owners to Buy Chicago Cubs

Filed under: Sports — DRJ @ 10:29 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

The bankrupt Tribune Co. continues to divest its assets:

“The Rickettses, longtime Cubs fans whose wealth comes from family-owned Ameritrade, signed an agreement Friday to buy a 95 percent stake of the team and its Wrigley Field home from Tribune Co. The $845 million deal also includes Tribune’s approximately 25 percent share of regional cable TV network Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

The deal, which requires approval by a bankruptcy court judge and Major League Baseball, may not help deliver a title to a profitable but hapless franchise that last won the big one in 1908. But the new owners can’t do any worse, championship-wise, than Tribune has during a 28-year stewardship or the Wrigley family during its 60 years at the helm.”

The article notes the $845M sales price is a record for a major league franchise. It also includes several optimistic quotes from Cubs fans, proving once again how endearingly positive we sports fans can be when it comes to our favorite teams.

EDIT: The Ricketts’ family is selling some of its stake in TD Ameritrade back to the company in order to finance the purchase of the Cubs.

— DRJ

17 Responses to “Ameritrade Owners to Buy Chicago Cubs”

  1. This is an excellent Second Depression hedge. You’ve got to own stuff like land and hot dogs vendors and baseball to survive the imminent collapse. Even the optimism is scary these days.

    What, exactly, is the out from the Bush/Obama $20 trillion in debt when it becomes insanely bogus in 2018? What about when the debtors (cough China) decide to act in ~2015, anticipating this disaster? There are very dark days ahead, indeed.

    Wesson (03286d)

  2. DRJ – The Cubs have a curse on them. I thought you knew that.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  3. As if things haven’t been bad enough for the Cubs for the past hundred years–now they’ve got Ricketts! ]:-)

    M. Scott Eiland (5ccff0)

  4. [snort!] Now who will want to use a company like Ameritrade when their symbol is a century-long loser! 🙂

    The Cincinnati Reds' fan Dana (474dfc)

  5. I said this in the early 1970s when I moved back to Chicago and I will say it now, the Cubs will not win anything until they tear down Wrigley Field and start over. It is just too tough to pitch there and win consistantly. The combination of day baseball, Cub managment ineptness and Wrigley Field is too much to overcome on a consistant basis. Remember the last World Series the Cubs won was in 1908 and they started playing at Wrigley in 1916. Go Sox.

    BT (78b929)

  6. Ameritrade stockholders should sue for breach of fiduciary duty and loss of sanity. As a lifeling Cardinals fan, I love it when the Scrubs get expectations all high, as it makes the inevitable collapse that much more painful.

    JD (a79349)

  7. At least it wasn’t Mark Cuban.

    Techie (482700)

  8. Techie – From a Cardinals fan, Cuban would have been the ideal Cubs owner. He has a history of spending extravagently, raising expectations, and never quite getting there. It would have been a perfect storm of disappointment for years.

    JD (51cca5)

  9. Why didn’t Obama nationalize the Cubs? They are to baseball what GM and Chrysler are to transportation.

    Official Internet Data Office (1d81d0)

  10. JD… Ameritrade is privately owned. Or so the article says.

    Newtons.Bit (f56ada)

  11. Newtons.Bit – My mistake. In that case, it just shows that even a successful fool and his money are eventually parted.

    JD (274275)

  12. It is just too tough to pitch there and win consistantly.

    They used to say the same thing about Fenway, especially for lefthanders, until that notion was destroyed by Lefty Grove.

    Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (3b3b67)

  13. The Cubs won the 1945 National League penant with 4-Fs, including a guy with only one hand, and they have stuck to the same recruitment strategy since.

    nk (ae0e83)

  14. “He has a history of spending extravagently, raising expectations, and never quite getting there.”

    At least that’s what Cuban’s dates say.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  15. Why didn’t Obama nationalize the Cubs? They are to baseball what GM and Chrysler are to transportation.

    Nonsense.

    1. GM and Chrysler were consistently good franchises within the past half-century.

    2. GM and Chrysler drivers don’t show up at Ford owners’ houses, get drunk, and start fights.

    Phil Smith (4e586c)

  16. Phil – About point #2 … You clearly have no fervent NASCAR fans as friends 😉

    JD (769f99)

  17. Doesn’t matter who owns ’em. They’ll still lose

    JEA (0ccd61)


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