(670 The Score) The Ricketts family that owns the Cubs is part of a bid to purchase Chelsea FC of the Premier League. The Ricketts family is a minority investor in the group that also features billionaire hedge fund tycoon Ken Griffin and Quicken Loans co-founder Dan Gilbert, a billionaire who owns the Cavaliers.
Should that group land Chelsea, what would it mean for the Cubs from a business perspective? Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney answered that question on the Dan Bernstein Show on Thursday. To summarize, not much of anything would change for the Cubs.
“It’s hard to say, will it mean anything?” Kenney said. “It won’t be a significant drain on us, for sure. There’s some management talent – if I’m considered talent – that’s spending time on it today. I would say it’s probably similar to what owning the White Sox and Bulls mean to each other. They’re both in the same town, so there is some overlap that (White Sox chief marketing and revenue executive) Brooks Boyer might provide back and forth. It’s a different game. The football teams, our friends in Boston with the Red Sox own Liverpool. You’re seeing a lot of team owners look at their investment in their current team – in our case, the Cubs – and whether there’s some learning and some expertise that could be cross-bordered on this one. Financially, it will mean potentially some upside. It won’t mean any draw away from our organization. I think everyone knows the operating returns from the Cubs all stay here. They go back into payroll, player development and the building. Here we are 12 years later of Ricketts ownership, they have never taken a dollar out of the organization. It all stays in. So that will continue. From a fan’s perspective here, I could see, ‘Are they going to be distracted? Will their interest wane?’ The team that is focused, Jed (Hoyer) and his team, me and my team, will stay focused on the Cubs. And if this thing comes about (with Chelsea), we’ll really lean heavily into a really strong management team that we got to meet while we were over there in the last 10 days. Hopefully lend a little support, but largely it will be an independent operation ... Nothing is going to slow the continued investment in our organization (the Cubs).”
In the interview, Kenney also revealed the Cubs are seeking to upgrade their spring training facilities in Mesa, Arizona.
“Our biggest R&D investment is really in Arizona,” Kenney said. “It’s where we send players for rehab. It’s where we do a lot of our technical work with our players, if it’s improved spin rate with a pitcher, improved bat angle and attack angle with our hitters. A lot of that is done there.
“That’s the places we’re looking (to upgrade) – the hitting and pitching labs there in Arizona. We built that thing, I think we’re coming on nine years now for the development in Arizona. At the time, we were state-of-the-art, we had 70,000 square feet of training space for our players. It blew everyone else out of the water.
“It’s still significantly above average, significant above average in space. But how we use the space is changing. It sounds like ancient history, but what was really in vogue eight years ago from a strength training, nutrition, video and technical support (standpoint) has kind of changed in that short period of time. So we’re rededicating some of our space there.”