Chicago Cubs Exploring Possible Regional Sports Television Network
By Tim Haberin
No matter how the World Series ends, the Chicago Cubs will have some lucrative opportunities to consider in the years ahead, such as their own TV network.
The Chicago Cubs themselves aren’t thinking about anything beyond the game in front of them. They need to win two straight to pull off an improbable comeback victory in the 2016 World Series. And while ownership would undoubtedly love nothing more than for the franchise to get the 108-year-old monkey off its back, they will have many financially appealing opportunities to consider regardless of whether the Cubs claim the title this season.
According to the Boston Herald’s Kathy Bergen and Robert Channick, the Cubs-owning Ricketts family is making plans for a regional sports television network. The team’s current local TV rights expire in 2019, at which point they can either renew with Comcast SportsNet or launch their own venture. Given the club’s rapidly climbing revenue – Forbes estimated the franchise’s value at $2.2 billion this year, and that will surely rise – it’s almost a no-brainer that the Cubs will establish their own television platform.
Other prominent Major League Baseball teams have done the same, and these regional sports networks have proven to be big money-makers for them. For example, the Boston Red Sox ownership group holds a share of NESN (New England Sports Network), which got its start back in 1984. The New York Yankees launched the YES Network in 2002, and during the 2014 sale of an 80 percent stake to 20th Century Fox it was valued at $3.9 billion.
The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals are partners in MASN (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network) which began broadcasting in 2005. More recently, the Los Angeles Dodgers spearheaded SportsNet LA in 2014. The network was the result of a 25-year joint agreement with Time Warner Cable valued at a staggering $8.35 billion.
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As one of baseball’s oldest and most financially successful brands, it makes sense that the Cubs would want to follow suit. However, a few of these networks have experienced their share of issues, stemming from the fact that cable providers typically have to pay higher premiums to carry the channels. SportsNet LA clashed with DirecTV and others over its fees, and it is currently only carried by TWC, Charter Communications and BrightHouse Networks. Similarly, a dispute kept the YES Network out of Comcast subscribers’ homes for the entire 2016 Yankees season.
Nevertheless, the promise of a healthy new revenue stream is difficult to pass up. The Cubs’ president of business operations, Crane Kenney, told the Herald, “The business is still good for everyone even though there’s fraying at the edges as you see some of the (cable) cord-cutting going on. Since our rights don’t come back to us until the 2020 season, we have a little bit of time to see which way the market goes.”
With three seasons remaining under the current deal, there is indeed a lot that could change before a Cubs regional sports network can become a reality. One thing the organization hopes will not change in the meantime is its status as one of the most competitive teams in the league. With a talented core of young players for the most part under team control beyond 2020, as well as a demonstrated willingness to spend on the free agent market, that seems a rather safe bet.
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Regardless of how the World Series ends, in many ways it feels like things are just beginning to ramp up for the Chicago Cubs.