WGN No More?

[MrSheps]

 

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Waiting for the financial terms to come out might inform the deal better.  Does the tweet say the deal IS worth 750 per or is it quoting "market value" to make a guess?  To your point, WGN may not have been losing 200K per game, but it's hard to imagine they were profiting based on their ratings.  

 

ESPN Chicago reports that sources say the deal actually is for $750K/game, thoroughly disproving both WGN's claims that they were only receiving $50K/game in revenue last season, and certain other arguments about the effect of recent years' ratings (I'm still not debating this again).

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First, Kid, I swear I'm not trying to bait you into an argument about this, I don't think either of us wants to go down that road yet again.  But, contrary to reports about the ABC deal, that some believed negated claims of WGN losses and ratings effects negotations, it worth noting the reporting re: the new WGN deal for the 45 games:

 

 

The previous contract called for a payout of about $240,000 per game from WGN to the Cubs. Industry sources say the Cubs will get less in the new WGN deal. A revenue-sharing aspect of the contract would mean more money based on advertising sales. That could be available for <span style="font-weight:normal;font-size:100%;color:rgb(0,153,0);background-color:transparent;">profit</span> on both sides, although it’s unconfirmed at this point.

Reportedly, WGN will pay less upfront money, but there are some revenue-sharing components that could reap the Cubs additional cash if ratings improve significantly with the team’s promised turnaround. However, they aren’t expected to pull in significantly more than the estimated $60-70 million value of their current local TV deals, which includes games and an ownership stake in Comcast SportsNet.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/01/08/l...e-options/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/sma...story.html

 

Now, as with the ABC7 deal we don't know the ACTUAL terms, these too are simply from sources, but if this reporting is correct the Cubs are getting less upfront/.guaranteed money and are now more reliant on ratings, thus supporting WGN claims of loss and the notion that ratings weakened the Cubs position in negotiations.