Chicago is the third-largest media market in the world. But you wouldn’t know it by watching how its baseball owners operate.
Last week Cubs owner Tom Ricketts spent his time at the team's annual fan convention telling them to temper their expectations. Next week the White Sox will try to get their fans excited despite already indicating they won't be spending much this offseason.
Unlike the White Sox the Cubs are in a position to win their division. But instead of being aggressive, they would rather try to ball on a budget.
"They [the fans] think somehow we have all these dollars that the Dodgers have or the Mets have or the Yankees have and we just keep it, which isn't true at all. What happens is we try to break even every year, and that's about it,” Ricketts said.
The Ricketts family had a net worth of $3.4 billion in 2023, which was tied for the 11th highest of any owner in the MLB. According to Forbes, it has now ballooned up to $4.3 billion. Much of that money was spent buying a Senate race in Nebraska, instead of free-agent additions. The Cubs recently traded Cody Bellinger in a salary dump so they could afford to trade for Kyle Tucker, an elite player that they likely won’t extend because it is an expensive investment and could hinder their chances to “break even”.
Across town, the White Sox are prepping for their fan convention, where general manager Chris Getz will likely try and sell fans on another rebuild. Rebuilds are a staple for small market teams like the Royals or Athletics who can’t afford to build a contender quickly like the Mets and Dodgers by spending money on talent.
At least Ricketts was man enough to face the fans. The same can’t be said for White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, whose public appearances are few and far between unless he is lobbying the taxpayers to buy him a new stadium. Like Ricketts, Reinsdorf has a net worth in the billions,$2.1 billion to be exact. And like Ricketts Reinsdorf has brought a championship to Chicago allowing him to feel better about complacency. However, the White Sox have yet to hand out a contract north of $100 million. Even the Royals have surpassed this threshold.
In 2019, then Marlins president David Sampson said that Reinsdorf advised him to “finish in second place every single year” because it dangles a carrot in front of fans who believe they have a shot while avoiding having to spend money on an actual contender. Reinsdorf denied these comments, but his actions would suggest otherwise.
He is reportedly looking for $1 billion in public funding for a new stadium project but is facing an uphill battle to do so. In an interview with Crain’s Chicago Business, Reinsdorf provided the reasons why he feels White Sox should get the funding. In his view, the team cannot compete at 35th and Shields, even though Guaranteed Rate Field is only 33 years old.
“The economics of baseball have completely changed, with top ballplayers signing contracts worth as much as $700 million," Reinsdorf told Crain’s. “At the location we’re at now, we cannot generate the revenue needed to pay those salaries.”
This of course is laughable. Fielding a good team would help with revenue. Before the Royals inked Bobby Whitt Jr to an 11-year deal worth $288 million this offseason, the White Sox were one of just three teams who have never signed a player to a contract over $100 million in their history. It’s no coincidence that the other two teams, the Royals and Oakland Athletics, are either moved or are looking to move stadiums citing “struggling attendance.” The truth is no matter how nice the stadium is, fans will stop showing up if the on-field product is bad.
Reinsdorf pushed back on the notion that poor performance of the team was the cause of attendance issues. He pointed to the 2006 season, where the White Sox "didn't crack the 3 million mark", something that defending World Series champions routinely accomplish.
In reality, the White Sox current agreement with the Illinois Sports Authority gives the team little motivation to have good attendance. According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, the White Sox must pay a fee on each ticket sold over 1.93 million in paid attendance, a total the team has reached just once (2022) in the last decade. In the first ten years of the lease, the club did not have to pay rent if annual attendance fell below $1.5 million.
Meanwhile, on the West Coast, the World Series Champion Dodgers are continuing to build a juggernaut. After landing 23-year-old Japanese ace Roki Sasaki the Dodgers' doubled down an inked reliever Tanner Scott to a $72 million deal. Their payroll has now ballooned to over $375 million. Rival fans will complain this is bad for baseball but in reality, it’s what every owner should be doing.
Herm Edwards famously said, "You play to win the game." But owners like Ricketts and Reinsdorf would rather cry poor instead of putting their teams in the best position to win. The Dodgers are proving that MLB owners can afford to sign multiple star players in the same offseason and by doing so you make your team an even more attractive destination for future free agents.
The White Sox and Cubs are big market teams it’s time to act like it or sell it to someone who will.
