Another Reason to Hate the Cubs

As some of you may know, I am a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan and one of the requirements to being a die-hard White Sox fan is to have an intense hatred for the Cubs. Recently, the Cubs did something very crafty, but very illegal. They formed their own ticket broker service called Wrigley Field Premium Tickets. In this arrangement, the Cubs sell some of their tickets to Premium Tickets, who then sells it well above face value. For example, during the Cubs-Yankees series two years ago, the Cubs sold a number of its most expensive seats ($45) to Premium Tickets who then sold the tickets for $1500 a piece. Not surprisingly, some Cubs fans were not pleased with this new arrangement and sued the Cubs. Unfortunately, these Cubs fans got stuck with a brain-dead judge who ruled that the Tribune Company owns Premium Tickets and not the Cubs, even though the Tribune owns the Cubs. Because of the Cubs success in starting their own ticket broker, other major league teams are ready to do the same thing, which is unfortunate because these kind of operations only serve to line the pockets of fat cat owners and not the fans.

If you want to read more about what the Cubs are doing, Greg Couch of the Chicago Sun-Times, who wrote the story linked above, has written several columns on the issue. They are here, here and here.