1 Happy St

The Chicago Cubs on Sunday agreed to an 8-year, $136 million contract with free agent Alfonso Soriano. It’s a move that will surely (or hopefully for their fans) make the Cubs one of the teams to beat in the NL Central going into next season. In related news, Cubs season-ticket holders were informed via email that their 2007 season tickets have gone up by 50%.

I heard a radio interview with Cubs announcer Pat Hughes on Saturday morning where he said he doesn’t care how much these players make in free agency. His argument was that as long as the Cubs are a competitive team, it makes no difference to him how much each player makes because he’s not the one writing the check. A good point, right? You would have thought it was because everyone on the radio show agreed with him and four or five people called in saying Pat Hughes was a genius. The only problem: HE WAS WRONG!

We DO write the checks, albeit indirectly. To pay for salaries, Tribune Co. relies on revenue from food sales, merchandising, TV rights, and most importantly, ticket sales. As fans, we buy the tickets. We also buy the food and the beer and the T-shirts. So a team's payroll directly affects us because as the cost for players goes up, so too does the cost of a ticket and the cost of a hot dog and the cost of a beer. Granted, maybe they don’t for Pat Hughes since he gets a free cushy chair behind home plate for every game. But for the average fan like me, these player salaries are out of control.