Football season is winding down...
I was thinking, Chicago has a wonderful history of family ownership of its major sports teams, with the Wrigley's and the Cubs, the Halas's and the Bears and the Wirtz's and the Blackhawks.
Now we welcome in a new family to handle our beloved Cubs, the Ricketts's.
Things are going fairly well with the Blackhawks since Bill Wirtz died a few years ago and Rocky took over the team. The Bears, on the other hand, have been stuck in the same stale ownership of Virginia McCaskey since George Halas died almost 30 years ago. Both of these families and franchises provide many examples of good and bad ways of running a sports franchise.
I fully expect this first year of ownership for the Ricketts's to be a feeling out time as the try to figure out how to handle their big new toy.
So here are 10 lessons for the Ricketts family to learn from the McCaskeys and Wirtz's as they begin their first year of ownership with the Cubs.
10. Hire John McDonough
Yes...I know the Cubs have already done this...and he has since moved on. McDonough is the primary reason the Cubs are the special organization that they are today. He has transformed a financially struggling team into arguably the most popular baseball team in the country without that team achieving any success on the field. What this has done is turned the team into a revenue machine allowing for a higher payroll and a chance at getting into the playoffs on a yearly basis. McDonough has started to do similar things with the Blackhawks. The Bears? Not so much. I'm not really saying the Cubs need to go out and rehire McDonough, but it is important for them to find a customer relations person and media wizard to continue the good work that McDonough did during his time with the Cubs (except for that seventh inning stretch thing.) so the Cubs continue to be a revenue generating power house.
9. Don't hire any of your kids to run the team
Two words: Mike McCaskey! Simple as that.
8. Honor the past
Don't alienate the past heroes of your team. In fact, if the time comes for the Cubs to move on from some loved and admired player, do it in a fair and good way without burning bridges and having the player hate the team. The Blackhawks, for a number of years, had a knack for pissing off all of their former stars. The great response the Hawks got when they started bringing back some of those players over the last couple years should be a real eye opener. Make sure that former stars are visible to the fans...make them part of the organization in some way. The Cubs have been fairly good about this, but not great in recent years. (The Greg Maddux thing was a great first step!)
7. Don't live in the past
While you can honor the past, don't live in it. The Bears live in the past. And you know what? It makes them look old fashioned in a league that is constantly changing from year to year. Just because you won the 1963 title playing a certain style of football doesn't mean that you should continue to use that style in 2010! That doesn't mean change for the sake of change, but when things are out date or no longer work, be willing to try something else. Or, better yet, be a trend setter!
6. Don't, in any way, restrict the visibility of the team
Old Man Wirtz kept the Blackhawks home games off of TV for years. And for years Hawks attendance dropped. It only hurts your team if people are not able to see the team play. For the Hawks, most people could only see the team on the road...and most fans wouldn't ever see what excitement there was at a home Hawks game. You should have all games available to be seen or heard in every possible form of media...TV, radio, online...etc. I bring up this point also because the Ricketts's could help baseball modify or eliminate the archaic blackout policy that they currently have.
5. Make sure to own the stadium you play in
The Ricketts's already own Wrigley Field...but if they have any notion to sell the ballpark to the city, state or some other management organization in order to help raise money to renovate it, don't do it!!! The Bears have never owned the stadium they have played in, whether is was Wrigley Field or Soldier Field. When it came time for the Bears to have a new facility to be built for them, they left it into the hands of the city because they were stupid and didn't want to pony out the cash for a new stadium. (This is partially economics as the McCaskey family is not independently wealthy like most sports franchise owners.) And while the new Soldier Field is a nice and fan friendly place on the inside, the outside looks like crap. Soldier Field has become a joke to most people. And they also play in what is now one of the smallest stadiums in football which also hurts revenue. Besides that, wouldn't it be nice if the Bears could be in control of things like, oh say, the turf in their stadium? (The Bears should have switched over to field turf or some sort of hybrid, like the Packers did, many years ago.)
4. Put good, experienced baseball people in positions to help mold the team
I think this goes without saying, but that isn't how the Bears have operated. This used to also be the case with the Hawks. The Cubs have made drastic steps in this direction over the last few years. And they should continue to do this. It's ok if you bring in one or two new, inexperienced people to help bring in new ideas to the franchise. But for the most part the team should be surrounded with people who understand the game, and have a history of success. It's been a long time since we've seen the Cubs hire consecutive managers who have been as successful as Dusty Baker or Lou Pineilla. The lesson to be learn here is from the Bears. When was the last time they hired a head coach that actually had some professional head coaching experience? (well, besides George Halas hiring himself on 12 different occasions.) Never in my life time. The Bears are one of the founding teams of the NFL, yet their front office makes them look like they are an expansion team. The Cubs have done better putting good baseball people in place to manage on the field. Now it is time to do the same in front office. (Why is Crane Kenney still president of the team?)
3. Listen to the fans
Especially me (see #1). It is important to listen and understand what the fans are saying about the team. The Bears never listen to their fans. The fan base for the Bears is probably more frustrated than the Cubs. The Bears get less bang for their buck than probably any other team in football. But back to the point...the ownership and management of the Bears seem to almost do the exact opposite of anything Bears fans want. If the Bears continue to struggle, you will see a lot more visiting fans and no shows at Soldier Field. Luckily for the Bears, they have a long season ticket waiting list, so they will always sell out no matter what. But with only 10 home games a year tickets aren't going to generate huge amounts of renenue, you can't piss off the fans too long before other channels of revenue begin to dry up. Look how things have turned around for the Hawks when they started listening to their fans, adjusted ticket prices, and put the games on TV. The owners of the team should never assume they know what is best for the fans.
2. Never let money get in the way of doing what is best for the team
Give me one reason...just one reason...besides the money left on his contract, that Lovie Smith was retained as head coach for 2010? If a player or coach isn't working out on the team, get rid of them. Period.
1. Do everything I say.
I'm fairly sure that if the Cubs did everything I thought they should do over the last 10 years, we would be talking about the how the Cubs are the best team that ever played after they won their 5th World Series title during that stretch. So, Ricketts folk, if you want to achieve your number one goal of winning the World Series, you had better listen to everything I say. In the last 10 years, the Hawks haven't listened to me...result? No Stanley Cup. The Bears haven't listened to me. Result? No Super Bowl title. The Bulls haven't listened to me...result? No NBA championship. I think that pretty much makes my point.
