Ricketts' vow: 'We're going to win the World Series'
CAPTAIN MORGAN CLUB, Wrigley Field—The Ricketts family re-introduced themselves to Chicago today with a curse-defiant news conference that included vows of making the Cubs a perennial playoff team and World Series champion.
In his first public appearance since his family officially took ownership of the Cubs earlier this week, Tom Ricketts said flatly, ``We’re going to win the World Series,’’ and said that single-minded agenda is what sets a family ownership model apart from corporate ownership that must answer to shareholders.
(John J. Kim/Sun-Times)
``The fans are our shareholders,’’ said Ricketts, who when pressed for a timeline on his visions of a World said:
``I’ll be honest, I think we have a team that can do it next year. I won’t promise anything. I don’t think there’s any use in that. But the fact is there’s enough talent coming back next season to go all the way to the finish line.’’
Read all the other stories on the Sun-Times website for full coverage of the Ricketts’ business and baseball plans, their odyssey to become the first bona fide ``human’’ owners of the franchise since the Tribune Co. bought the team from William Wrigley in 1981, and background on the family that cut their Cubs teeth in the bleachers more than two decades ago.
For now, Tom Ricketts said there have been no discussions or plans to sell naming rights to the stadium; the family seeks upgrades to the stadium – primarily through development of the adjacent ``triangle’’ lot – gradually over the years, as the Boston Red Sox did over the past seven years.
He also said payroll and ticket prices will increase ``slightly’’ in 2010.
Tom Ricketts, the family’s leader in the team’s purchase, was joined at the podium today by siblings Pete, Todd and Laura, co-owners and members of the new board of directors.
``Everybody on this stage shares a last name, but we also share something more than that,’’ Tom Ricketts said. ``We are Cubs fans with deep Chicago roots and all of us love the team and we love the stadium and we love Chicago.’’
He said he had three messages to deliver to Cub fans as his family takes over:
``No. 1 is we’re going to win the World Series,’’ he said.
``We’re going to win the World Series by striving every day in every way to be the best franchise in baseball. We’re going to invest in the best facilities in baseball, world-class facilities where every player wants to play and every coach wants to coach. We’re going to hire the best personnel and we’re going to hold them to the highest standards of excellence and accountability.
``The second thing we want to say to the fans is we love Wrigley Field and we’re going to d every thing we can to improve the Wrigley Field experience for the fans that are coming today and preserve the Wrigley field experience for the future generations of fans to come.
``Thirdly, we want to tell everyone we love the city of Chicago. Wrigley Field is a ballpark in a neighborhood. And we intend to be very good neighbors. And we intend to be active in giving back to the city of Chicago and the surrounding area.’’
Oh, and one more thing:
``There is no curse. If anybody on our team thinks he’s cursed, we’ll move him to a lesser-cursed team.’’