Tom Ricketts Gets Booed At Cubs Convention When He Brings Up New Marquee Network

The Chicago Cubs are getting ready to launch the Marquee Network which will carry their games. Well, the fans aren't too excited about that and booed the team's owner Tom Ricketts when he brought up the channel at their Cubs Convention on Friday. Per The Big Lead...

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Nevertheless, presumably a big proportion of the reason that Ricketts got booed when he mentioned the network is anxiety that an impasse could last years like it has with the Dodgers, where a majority of Southern California can't watch the games. The Yankees have also had disputes with carriers over the years about YES Network that have bled into baseball season. Ricketts did an interview with Patrick Mooney of The Athletic this week and expressed confidence that Marquee will have wide distribution.

Another reason for the booing, as some have pointed out, was that a number of Cubs games were available for free on WGN or the local ABC affiliate, and now they'll all be exclusively on cable. One surmises that if the carriage fees from the network launch enable the Cubs to go out and make free agency splashes next year instead of doing another song and dance like they just don't have the money that fans will not be vociferous in their displeasure at the 2021 Cubs Convention.

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