May 22, 2003

Cubs pay selves to scalp tickets

As if such shenanigans as underpaying yourself for TV rights (as many teams do) and paying yourself consulting fees to negotiate cable contracts (as George Steinbrenner has done) aren't enough, the Chicago Cubs owners have happened upon a new trick for hiding money from revenue-sharing: Sell tickets at face value to a ticket broker that they themselves own, then keep the proceeds from jacked-up sale prices without reporting it to MLB. An audacious plan, with one small drawback: It's probably against Illinois law, and a class-action suit has been filed to stop the practice. (If you're a Baseball Prospectus Premium subscriber, Derek Zumsteg has a great articletoday about the whole mess.)