The Critic Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Anyone see the article in the Times today that hinted at the ( slight ) possibility that the Cubs could lose their license to stage baseball games because of the Premier scalping situation? It says that if Lisa Madigan pursues criminal charges against the Cubs and Tribune Co., a conviction could result in major fines, and THIS very interesting clause in the Illinois Scalping Act: "[Any] owner, lessee, manager or trustee convicted under this Act shall...forfeit the license of such theatre, circus, baseball park, place of public entertainment or amusement." WOW - VERY interesting little wrinkle!! From everything I've seen and read, I think the Trib and CubCo are going to have a VERY hard time pulling their asses out of this fire! They are SO intertwined with Premier, even installing a direct printer from their own ticketing computers, that I can't see any way to prove that they are a separate entity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wise Master Buehrle Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Forfeiting the license... some other guy could buy it though, right? And if he wanted, he'd stay right in Chicago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitesox247 Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Anyone see the article in the Times today that hinted at the ( slight ) possibility that the Cubs could lose their license to stage baseball games because of the Premier scalping situation? It says that if Lisa Madigan pursues criminal charges against the Cubs and Tribune Co., a conviction could result in major fines, and THIS very interesting clause in the Illinois Scalping Act: "[Any] owner, lessee, manager or trustee convicted under this Act shall...forfeit the license of such theatre, circus, baseball park, place of public entertainment or amusement." WOW - VERY interesting little wrinkle!! From everything I've seen and read, I think the Trib and CubCo are going to have a VERY hard time pulling their asses out of this fire! They are SO intertwined with Premier, even installing a direct printer from their own ticketing computers, that I can't see any way to prove that they are a separate entity. Someone explain this to me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Critic Posted August 22, 2003 Author Share Posted August 22, 2003 The Trib would have to sell, though, that's what I'm saying. And if they HAD to sell, they'd never get fair market value, and they really couldn't INSIST on the buyer keeping the team in Chicago. Also, the new buyer would have to wrangle with the City Council about night games, and the Landmark status of Wrigley Field, the parking problems, and all those other headaches that the Trib doesn't care as much about because of the benefit for their other ventures ( TV, newspapers, etc. ). The Wrigleyville area brings a lot of problems that I don't think a new owner would really want to deal with. MLB would hawk the new owners to do things "the right way", and be all up in the bookkeeping, etc. The Cubs and Wrigley Field would be a hassle for a new ownership group, I would think. It's made for some really fun reading, at any rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hotsoxchick1 Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 this is interesting.....lol and it figures... only the scrubs.... the new owner would most likely move the scrubs to the burbs as they talked about last year, to make way for the new condos that have been projected to sit on the site of the now pigley field.....wonderful ... just what we want out here, a bunch of drunken scrub fans...... im sure that the cubune has a plethora of lawyers at their disposal who will earn every cent they charge, trying to save that pig stye on the north side....money buys everything including a way out of this mess ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Critic Posted August 22, 2003 Author Share Posted August 22, 2003 Someone explain this to me? The Cubs and Tribune company, in an effort to get in on the lucrative scalping business, set up a scalping service called Premier Tickets. They tried to set it up as an independent business, because the Illinois Scalping Act forbids the persons staging an event from selling tickets to that event at more than face value. What the Cubs did WRONG, however, was to entangle themselves in EVERY step of the business. The bills for Premier, even for the SIGNS on the doors, went to the Cubs billing department. Cubs management are also Premier management. The Cubs set up a direct printer from their ticketing computers in Premier's offices, meaning that they didn't even have to send someone to the box office at Wrigley Field to BUY the tickets - they could print Cub tickets in their office! The Cubs f***ed up BIG TIME, and the SunTimes ( specifically Greg Couch ) are all over it. The Cubs are being sued civilly right now by disgruntled customers who were told that NO tickets were available for the Yankee series, while over at Premier, they were PRINTING tickets to those games and charging 1500 bucks for a 45 dollar seat. If Lisa Madigan decides to, she can proceed with criminal charges against the Cubs for violating the Illinois Scalping Act, which could lead to the punishments I described earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmr31 Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Anyone see the article in the Times today that hinted at the ( slight ) possibility that the Cubs could lose their license to stage baseball games because of the Premier scalping situation? It says that if Lisa Madigan pursues criminal charges against the Cubs and Tribune Co., a conviction could result in major fines, and THIS very interesting clause in the Illinois Scalping Act: "[Any] owner, lessee, manager or trustee convicted under this Act shall...forfeit the license of such theatre, circus, baseball park, place of public entertainment or amusement." WOW - VERY interesting little wrinkle!! From everything I've seen and read, I think the Trib and CubCo are going to have a VERY hard time pulling their asses out of this fire! They are SO intertwined with Premier, even installing a direct printer from their own ticketing computers, that I can't see any way to prove that they are a separate entity. I have a better chance of winning the lottery. Dont even concern yourself with that crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Anyone see the article in the Times today that hinted at the ( slight ) possibility that the Cubs could lose their license to stage baseball games because of the Premier scalping situation? It says that if Lisa Madigan pursues criminal charges against the Cubs and Tribune Co., a conviction could result in major fines, and THIS very interesting clause in the Illinois Scalping Act: "[Any] owner, lessee, manager or trustee convicted under this Act shall...forfeit the license of such theatre, circus, baseball park, place of public entertainment or amusement." WOW - VERY interesting little wrinkle!! From everything I've seen and read, I think the Trib and CubCo are going to have a VERY hard time pulling their asses out of this fire! They are SO intertwined with Premier, even installing a direct printer from their own ticketing computers, that I can't see any way to prove that they are a separate entity. I have a better chance of winning the lottery. Dont even concern yourself with that crap. I'm thinking the same thing. If the Cubs lose their liscense then Kobe's going to jail for life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JUGGERNAUT Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 this is interesting.....lol and it figures... only the scrubs.... the new owner would most likely move the scrubs to the burbs as they talked about last year, to make way for the new condos that have been projected to sit on the site of the now pigley field.....wonderful ... just what we want out here, a bunch of drunken scrub fans...... im sure that the cubune has a plethora of lawyers at their disposal who will earn every cent they charge, trying to save that pig stye on the north side....money buys everything including a way out of this mess ..... Why I love HSC? Read her quote. Nothing brings out the love amongst SOX fans that ripping on the sCrUBs There's no way this happens. A deal will be worked out with the state & city before the Trib loses it's MLB operating license for the sCrUBs. Best case scenario: The state of IL gets a nice windfall that's directed to the ISFA that further cushions the blow to tax payers for the Cell. I think this is most likely. Tobacco companies never lost their business license to sell the weed, but they sure paid out a sizeable settlement to keep it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwsox Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 without doing any research I would be willing to wager a sizable sum that the penalty prescribed is in an Illinois statute enacted many, many years ago any civil suit against the Cubs is going to be in a circuit court which is a court of equity which means that the court has broac discretion to do what is fair, just, and not to repeat the word but equitable in the circumstances. any criminal prosecution will again be held in a circuit court, and that will be against individuals. The state can act against a corporation in a civil action but not a criminal action - individuals can be charged with criminal offenses, but you cannot prosecute a corporation for a criminal offense, only civil action. without looking at the Illinois statute, I would also make an educated guess that the standard for a civil judgment (not conviction, judgment) is less than for a criminal prosecution, perhaps perponderance of the evidence, or clear and convincing evidence the loss of a franchise is very much over reaching for a penalty either civil or criminal for the allegations against the Cubs, totally excessive and would get tossed by any court of appeals let alone not something that will even be considered in a court of equity. The idea of the Cubs losing their francshise over something like this is as laughable of a sports "lets make something up" thing as i have ever seen. It is not a matter of Trib lawyers doing anything. The next person who graduates bottom of their class who barely passes the bar can hit a home run with this in their first court action. If found liable in a civil action, the judgment will be fines, maybe costs. Any individuals found guilty may get whatever sentence is passed. The speculation that the Trib would lose their franchise over this is like saying if the Tigers start winning they can still take the world series this year, except crazier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlliniBob72 Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 Lisa Madigan is an elected official, right? No way in hell she pursues this, although it would be nice to watch the Chubs screw the pooch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubleM23 Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 Ha ha ha ha! No way would the state or city let the Cubs leave... Too much money involved. Maybe they'll get a slap on the wrist (I can see Sammy Sosa doing, "Click It or Ticket" commercials), but come on... If Chicago ever becomes a 1-team town, they'll still be playing ball at Clark and Addison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 Think about this for a second. Any owner who a chance to get a premier franchise would most likely do a way better job and spend way more money on it, than the Tribune company ever did. The Trib owning the Cubs is the best thing for Sox fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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