Cubs Owners Flip-Flopping On Need for “Cubs Tax”

The Chicago Cubs are trying to raise $84 million to build a new spring training complex, along with a “Wrigleyville West” property that will include a restaurant and hotels. Their initial inspired idea to raise this money was to get the other 14 Cactus League teams to impose an 8 percent ticket surcharge, which would go to the Cubs’s stadium fund. To the surprise of no one, all 14 teams, along with MLB commissioner Bud Selig, came down decisively in opposition to this plan.↵↵Faced with such crushing disapproval, the Cubs ownership was forced to slink toward other options, which of course just means other methods of public financing. Of course, if the ticket surcharge should just happen to pass anyway, they wouldn’t exactly mind.↵

↵↵⇥“The Cubs support the efforts of the legislators to find a solution that will be satisfactory to everyone,” [Crane] Kenney said in the statement. “As far as the Cubs are concerned, all financing options are still on the table.” ↵⇥↵⇥Earlier in the day, Kenney told reporters the surcharge was not needed by the Cubs to help fund the new complex. ↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥“The plan for our facility can be managed through the Mesa property tax referendum, that will happen in November, and the (1 percent extra) car rental tax,” Kenney said. “The ticket tax is not needed for what we’re building.”↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥The surcharge is not off the table. Despite Kenney’s comment that the Cubs don’t need the revenue from the surcharge to build their new stadium, they are still willing to draw from the funds if the surcharge is passed by the legislature.↵⇥

↵↵↵In a way, as distasteful as it is to subsidize the stadium from the pocketbooks of fans of other teams, at least they are people who enjoy baseball, as opposed to random citizens who happen to live nearby the location of the proposed stadium. The sad truth is that the person who will pay for this is going to be someone who doesn’t want to.↵

↵↵(H/T to Mouthpiece Sports)↵

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