Cubs Price Could Go Up CHICAGO, IL (wqub) - The Chicago Cubs kick off their playoff run with a game tonight (Wednesday) against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The season started with the Tribune Company's announcement that it planned to sell the team at the end of the year.
Chicago Public Radio's Sam Hudzik reports on how the Cubs' post-season appearance may impact the team's price tag.

On this question, sports economists are split. Marcus Rosentraub (ROSE-en-TROWB) is a professor at Cleveland State University. He says the Cubs' playoff run will only have a marginal impact on the team's sale price - 1 to 2 percent.
Rosentraub says that's because the Cubs are already extremely popular.

ROSENTRAUB: So you're not going to be able to sell too many more seats and you're not going to be able to get too much more viewership because the team already has very high ratings and sells the vast majority of its tickets.

...a record 3-point-2 million tickets this season. But not everyone agrees the impact on the Cubs' sale price will be small. Chicago economist Tim Mahon says the value could jump between 10 and 25 percent.
In part, he says, because of the "ego premium" that comes with owning a winning team.
I'm Sam Hudzik, Chicago Public Radio.

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