Citilops

Key Snippet:

“As you said, fan attendance is actually far more sensitive to beer prices at Wrigley than it is to wins and losses (the opposite is true of the White Sox by the way).

As a result of fans’ feast-or-famine interest in the Cubs, the team has little incentive to win. When the owners are not threatened by fan boycott or weak ticket sales, what reason do they have to go that extra mile to gain the sought-after free agent, to hire the top manager, to design state-of-the-art facilities and training, all of which may be required to win a championship? If you are offered a 10 percent bonus if you put in 10 percent more hours, would you do it? Maybe. Would you put in 10 percent more hours for a 1 percent bonus? Less likely. The “stickiness” of attendance does not provide ownership with much incentive to produce a winner. And winning a championship is no easy feat in professional sports, where competition is fierce. This attitude certainly trickles down through the organization. The players and coaches feel it. When you take all of this into account, it suddenly isn’t so surprising that the Cubs haven’t won in over a century.”