Menu
Franchises

Cubs Urge Chicago Mayor To Lift Cap On Night Games, Currently 11 Less Than MLB Average

Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney yesterday urged Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to "lift the cap on night games at Wrigley Field to allow the league average of 54 games under the lights," according to Fran Spielman of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. Kenney said, "We’re one of the few teams that not only has to beat everyone in our division, we also have to beat the city that we play in to try and win games." He added, “Four times a year I go to the owners’ meetings, and the other team presidents and owners watch what’s happening in Chicago, and they can’t understand it. In those cities, they’re getting new ballparks built for them, and they’re getting street closures and ... there’s no night game limitations. They look at Chicago and say they just can’t understand it. ... At some point we’d love to not be handicapped, as no other team in baseball is by the number of night games you play.” Spielman notes Kenney has "long been a thorn in Emanuel’s side for going toe-to-toe with City Hall." Kenney went on to explain that an ordinance revised in '13 allows the Cubs to play 35 "scheduled night games, plus up to eight games that get basically scheduled by national broadcasting contracts.” Kenney: "We can have up to 43 total night games. The league average is 54, so we’re still 11 short from what the rest of the league plays." Emanuel spokesperson Adam Collins yesterday said, "We did increase the number of nighttime events the Cubs could hold, but the team chose to have more concerts instead of more night games and that was their call.” Spielman notes Kenney "acknowledged that the Cubs could have held more night games at Wrigley this season if they hadn’t chosen to host nine concerts." Kenney: “I got myself into trouble more than 10 years ago when I said that Elton John was going to help us win baseball games. But the truth is, all these revenues go back to the baseball operation. These are really important dollars to us because we don’t share them with the league” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 7/25).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/07/25/Franchises/Cubs.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/07/25/Franchises/Cubs.aspx

CLOSE