January 7, The Cubs unveiled a new partnership with WLS-Channel 7 last month. The local ABC affiliate will air 25 games per season through 2019.

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1 January 7, 2015 CSNChicago.com Cubs returning to WGN with new TV deal By Patrick Mooney The Cubs are on the verge of returning to WGN with a new local TV deal. Industry sources expected the Cubs to make the long-awaited announcement maybe as soon as this week and finalize their broadcasting plans for the 2015 season. WGN America already pulled the plug on the Cubs superstation, deciding to focus on original programming and transition away from Chicago sports broadcasting. That platform had helped turn the Cubs into a national brand and make Wrigley Field a tourist destination. The Cubs had opted out of their deal with WGN, trying to sync up their staggered TV contracts with an eye on 2020, when Comcast SportsNet Chicago will no longer have exclusive cable rights. The Cubs unveiled a new partnership with WLS-Channel 7 last month. The local ABC affiliate will air 25 games per season through WGN is believed to be in position to add about 45 games to its schedule this season, presumably working off the same through-2019 template. WSCR-AM 670 first reported the news on Tuesday. That Chicago outlet is part of the CBS family that will begin broadcasting Cubs games this year, with WBBM-AM 780 becoming the new flagship station. The move ended a relationship with WGN Radio that started in the 1920s. The media portfolio has been a major priority for chairman Tom Ricketts and president of business operations Crane Kenney. It means more to the franchise s bottom line than the $600 million Wrigleyville development. President of baseball operations Theo Epstein has consistently pointed to the 2020 opportunity, calling the TV megadeal the magic bullet, the paradigm-shifter that s going to put us in a whole new level and give the Cubs a big-market payroll again. TV money has fueled the huge spending sprees in free agency, turning Major League Baseball into a roughly $9 billion industry. But this won t necessarily be a slam-dunk decision for the Cubs. There have been the franchise s complicated business ties, from the ownership stake in CSN Chicago to the breakup of Tribune Co. into broadcasting and publishing assets. There will be much larger forces at work, seeing if more consumers cut the cable cord, wondering about the business model shifting toward a la carte and waiting to see how Congress might get involved.

2 Between the emergence of Netflix and other streaming services and questions about a sports-rights bubble no one knows exactly what the TV landscape will look like a few years from now. But you can catch the Cubs on WGN in 2015 (at least in the Chicago area). CSNChicago.com Cubs: Sammy Sosa close to falling off Hall of Fame ballot By Patrick Mooney Sammy Sosa s name won t be removed from the ballot after Tuesday s Hall of Fame announcement. But the ex- Cubs slugger with 609 career home runs has generated no momentum for his Cooperstown case. The Baseball Writers Association of America continues to shun Sosa, who got 36 of the 549 votes cast. That translates into 6.6 percent, just above the 5 percent needed to stay on the ballot, and nowhere close to the 75 percent needed for induction. Randy Johnson (97.3), Pedro Martinez (91.1), John Smoltz (82.9) and Craig Biggio (82.7) will be honored on July 26 in upstate New York, getting their plaques in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Johnson won five Cy Young Awards with the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks and piled up 4,875 career strikeouts. Martinez won three Cy Young Awards and helped the Boston Red Sox finally win the World Series in Smoltz won 213 games, notched 154 saves and put up a 2.67 ERA in more than 200 postseason innings, helping turn the Atlanta Braves into a model franchise. Biggio notched all of his 3,060 career hits with the Houston Astros. Johnson, Martinez and Smoltz were eligible for the first time. Sosa s resume includes a 1998 National League MVP Award, seven All-Star selections and a period of dominance, but his percentages are trending in the wrong direction, going from 12.5 to 7.2 to 6.6. Sosa a showman who s stayed out of the spotlight since his playing career ended has a huge perception problem. A 2009 New York Times report identified Sosa as one of the players who tested positive for performanceenhancing drugs during the anonymous survey in Roger Clemens (37.5) and Barry Bonds (36.8) might be the most dominating pitcher and hitter of their generation, but they ve become symbols for The Steroid Era, and those percentages aren t getting them into Cooperstown. Chicago Tribune Cubs, WGN-Ch. 9 near 5-year deal for 45 games a season By Robert Channick The Chicago Cubs are close to returning to their longtime television home at WGN-Ch. 9 with a reduced broadcast schedule for the upcoming season, sources said Tuesday. The deal, which is being finalized, keeps about 45 games per season on the Tribune Media station through 2019, ending months of speculation and filling out the team s broadcast lineup. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Cubs announced a five-year deal last month to broadcast 25 games per season on ABC-owned WLS-Ch. 7. Most of those are weekend games to minimize conflicts with prime-time network programming.

3 Signing back on with WGN-Ch. 9 completes the local television schedule for the Cubs, with the balance of games airing on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. The deal would also sync up the Cubs TV and cable rights, allowing the team to pursue its own regional sports network beginning in The Cubs opted out of a longer-term agreement with WGN-Ch. 9 after last season, freeing up about 70 games per year and potentially ending a relationship that dates to The new agreement keeps the partnership intact for five more seasons, although the Cubs may have early termination options if they can establish their regional network sooner, sources said. Cubs games will not return to WGN America. The national channel is in the process of converting from a superstation to a cable network with more original programming and without local news or sports. The WGN-Ch. 9 deal culminates a busy offseason for the Cubs, who have hired a new manager in Joe Maddon and added some big-name free agents, including pitcher Jon Lester. The $375 million renovation of historic Wrigley Field has begun. The team s fortunes are seemingly on the rise. The promise of a more competitive team should help draw viewers to televised Cubs games after several years of low ratings during a protracted rebuilding process. Last season, WGN-Ch. 9 paid about $250,000 per game and lost $200,000 per game because of weak advertising revenue, sources said. The new rights agreement is likely more favorable for WGN and could play out better than last year s deal, sources said, despite a later start on ad sales. Launching a regional sports network in 2020 could mean big bucks for the Cubs, who earned about $60 million last season as the team split its schedule between Comcast SportsNet Chicago and WGN-TV. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who launched their own network last season with Time Warner Cable, are earning a reported $8.35 billion over 25 years, or about $2 million per game. But there are indications that the prices cable subscribers are willing to pay for local sports may have peaked with the Dodgers deal. Nearly two-thirds of Los Angeles-area viewers were unable to see Dodgers broadcasts last season because other cable and satellite operators refused to pay a higher premium for the network. The Cubs new TV lineup is not the only broadcasting change for the team next season. It signed a long-term deal with CBS Radio s WBBM-AM 780 in June, ending a play-by-play history on Tribune Media s WGN-AM 720 dating back 90 years. The return to WGN-TV next season will keep the station in the game for the 68th consecutive year. Sharing the Cubs TV rights with WLS has a history of its own. In 1949, three stations broadcast games, according to the Chicago Baseball Museum, including WGN, WBKB and WENR, the predecessor to WLS. WENR-TV dropped out after one season, while WBKB-TV broadcast games until Chicago Tribune Sammy Sosa continues fade in Hall of Fame voting, barely survives for '16 By Paul Sullivan Sammy Sosa probably has one more shot on the Hall of Fame ballot before putting his faith in a future Veterans Committee. The former Cubs outfielder, who hit 609 career home runs, received just 6.6 percent of the 549 votes the Baseball Writers' Association of America cast, barely passing the 5 percent mark necessary to remain on the ballot for In his three years on the ballot, Sosa's vote totals have decreased from 71 in 2013 to 41 last year to only 36 in '15.

4 This isn't how Sosa envisioned it when he and Mark McGwire faced off in the home run race of That summer, the Hall of Fame collected his jersey, the bat he used to hit home run No. 62 and a yellow "3" from the Wrigley Field scoreboard representing the three-run homer that broke the 60-homer barrier. But that was before the two were widely linked to performance-enhancing drugs, which altered their reputations and severely dented their chances of winding up together in Cooperstown. In the spring of 2009, Sosa confidently said he was going to announce his retirement and await his induction into the Hall. That began a debate that didn't end in Sosa's favor. Even former teammate Ryne Sandberg told WMVP- AM 1000 that Sosa did not belong in the Hall. "Part of being in the Hall of Fame, they use the word integrity in describing a Hall of Famer, in the logo of the Hall of Fame, and I think there are going to be quite a few players who are not going to get in," Ryne Sandberg said after Sosa's statement. While PED-tainted Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are still far away from getting into the Hall of Fame, at least they're in no immediate danger of falling off the ballot. McGwire received only 10 percent, which suggests he soon will follow Sosa and become ineligible. First-time-eligible outfielder Gary Sheffield, who ranks 25th in home runs (509) and 26th in RBIs (1,676), garnered only 11.7 percent of the votes and appears to have only a year or two left. Former Cubs shortstop Nomar Garciaparra received 30 votes (5.5 percent) in his first year of eligibility and also figures to be a short-timer on the ballot. Chicago Sun-Times Report: Cubs, WGN agree to new 45-game television deal By David Just The Chicago Cubs and WGN-TV will announce a new television deal this week, according to 670 The Score s Bruce Levine. WGN will broadcast 45 Cubs games this season, according to Levine, reuniting the two longtime broadcast partners. The Cubs had opted not to continue airing games on WGN after last season, leaving 70 games without a television home. The team struck a deal with WLS-TV last month to air 25 games, leaving 45 in the balance. The remaining games on the Cubs schedule are aired by Comcast SportsNet Chicago. Chicago Sun-Times Sosa, other steroid cheats paying price for Selig's inaction By Rick Telander Poor Sammy Sosa. Oh, how fun were those days of bulging biceps, Flintstones vitamins and home runs that flew off bats like ball bearings off anvils. But the carnival times when Me n Mark Sammy-speak for himself and Cardinals freakishly massive first baseman Mark McGwire thrilled us with a preposterous home-run race, well, they re gone.

5 They were the result of a sport run amok on performance-enhancing drugs. And as history informs us, once the conspiracy has been uncovered, somebody s gonna take the fall. And it s almost never someone at the top. Find a mid-level, overzealous, loud-mouthed worker. Get a grunt. And that, Mr. Sosa (with some of your most blatant cronies), means you. The 2015 Hall of Fame voting was announced Tuesday, and Sosa the owner of a ridiculous 609 career homers, eighth-most of all time received so few votes that he will be dropped from the ballot after next year if the trend continues. Imagine that. Five hundred homers used to be a lock for the Hall. But Sosa who once ran through the Wrigley Field grass carrying a miniature American flag, who has 1,667 RBI and 1,033 extra-base hits, who hit a homer once every 14.5 at-bats received only 36 votes out of 549 this year. That s 6.6 percent. A player needs a minimum of 5 percent to stay on the ballot. This was Sosa s third year of eligibility, and his vote total has gone from 71 in 2013 (12.5 percent) to 41 in 2014 (7.2 percent) to the paltry figure this year. If there were a red C for cheater that could be hung around Sammy s neck for all to see, it seems certain the Baseball Writers Association of America would do it. He and his brother-in-arms, McGwire, who was named on only 10 percent of the ballots and also is plummeting toward the vanishing point, are two of the poster boys for the Steroid Era, which has quieted down but never will be clearly completed. Like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro (the former Cub crashed and burned with fewer than 5 percent of the vote last year), Sosa is the guy who just went too far. He rubbed our noses in it, changing from a slender outfielder to a bulging beast before our eyes. Four-hundred-foot dingers weren t enough for him. He hit them 450, 470, 490 feet. In the 2002 Home Run Derby at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Sosa hit three taters that exited the stadium (through various windows) and seven that went more than 500 feet. Goliath was looking dumbly for David. And he found him when ensuing legal reports made it clear who was using the sauce. Sosa was slain by the law, the government and innuendo while commissioner Bud Selig dozed. Because, yes, Sosa changed shape before Selig s eyes, too. That Selig did nothing about the obvious muscle madness going on in his leagues for more than a decade is the main reason we have reached the point where statistics mean so little and qualified Hall of Fame players are shunned. Selig, who recently retired, has been praised for building through wild-card games, interleague play and TV deals a pro sport that is a summertime juggernaut. But he built it at the expense of integrity. That he didn t do anything about rampant steroid use in the majors is a pity, even though the strongman tent show brought Selig s game back from near irrelevance after the ugly 1994 strike. If Selig didn t know men such as Sosa were juicing, then shame on him. Books, magazine articles, rumors, the drug corruption of the Olympics, bodybuilding freaks everywhere the evidence was mind-boggling. But how convenient to reap the benefits, then let over-egoed simpletons take the rap. Fall guys. We need them. We find them. Writing Tuesday in USA Today, baseball columnist Bob Nightengale said we voters and I am one should get over the Steroid Era and vote anybody in who deserves it.

6 We never will know for sure who was clean and who was dirty the last 30 years, Nightengale wrote, so wake up and knock off this absurdity. Not me. It s not absurd to me. I ll never vote for players I have judged to be cheaters. (Unless there s a roider exhibit in Cooperstown.) And I ll live with that. Uncle Bud and the players union did nothing to stop cheating for years, so I am forced to do what is unfair. So be it. Sorry, Sammy. You lose. Daily Herald Cubs, WGN set to announce new TV deal By Bruce Miles The Cubs are safe at home on WGN-TV. The team, along with its longtime television partner, is expected to announce this week a new five-year deal that will have "good old Channel 9" in Chicago carry 45 games, beginning this coming season. Earlier this off-season, the Cubs announced they were putting 25 games a year for five seasons on ABC 7 in Chicago. Comcast SportsNet will carry the rest of the games, except those picked up exclusively by national networks. WGN has carried Cubs games since the 1940s, gaining iconic status with Jack Brickhouse at the microphone followed by Harry Caray. The games on the upcoming contract will be carried locally only and not on WGN America. The Cubs' local TV deals are synced to run through At that time, the Cubs will attempt to cash in big on TV money, perhaps by creating their own station. Daily Herald Sosa stays alive for Hall of Fame voting By Bruce Miles Sammy Sosa did the equivalent of just getting a piece of the ball and fouling it off with two strikes. The former Cubs slugger managed to stay alive but just barely Tuesday as results for baseball's Hall of Fame balloting were announced. But the trend is not good for Sosa, and he could fall off the ballot next winter. In his third year on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot, Sosa garnered just 6.6 percent of the vote. To remain on the ballot, a former player must get at least 5 percent. Sosa hit 609 home runs in his career, 545 for the Cubs (and 28 for the White Sox), but his name has been linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs, as have those of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. Here is where it gets interesting, and not in a good way for Sosa. When all three players appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time two years ago, their names were linked, with some calling them "the steroid guys." But then a funny thing started happening: The votes took place.

7 While it's true that neither Bonds nor Clemens has come close to election, their percentages were much higher than those for Sosa. For the Hall of Fame class of 2013, Clemens got 37.6 percent of the vote while Bonds checked in at For Sosa, his total was 12.5 percent. What the voters seemed to be saying then and what they seem to continue to be saying is that Clemens and Bonds were legit Hall of Fame candidates before the so-called Steroid Era, and Sosa was not. Last year, when Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Frank Thomas went into the Hall, Clemens' percentage dipped to 35.4 while Bonds' went to Sosa's, however, took a big dive to 7.2. When Tuesday's results were announced, Clemens had regained a bit of traction, ticking up to 37.5 percent, and Bonds went up to In "exit polling," done by the Baseball Think Factory, Sosa appeared in danger of dropping off the ballot this year, as he was trending at just under 5 percent. But he made just enough of a surge on the uncounted ballots to stay afloat. Something else appears to be working against Sosa. In the last two voting cycles, BBWAA members have taken to filling out fuller ballots and electing more candidates. After electing only Barry Larkin in 2012 and no one in 2013, the BBWAA selected three last year and four this year, with Mike Piazza coming close at 69.9 percent. That voting trend seems likely to continue. Next year, Ken Griffey Jr. will be eligible, and he's a surefire first-ballot selection. Relief ace Trevor Hoffman also will be on the ballot, and it's a fairly good bet he'll be elected. BBWAA members may vote for up to 10 former players each year, but at the winter meetings in December the BBWAA asked that the number be increased to 12. Piazza has trended steadily upward in his three years, and he may join Griffey and Hoffman in the Hall next year. I suspect Bonds and Clemens will see incremental progress players may remain on the ballot for 10 years, provided they get 5 percent of the vote each year. But others figure to see significant progress in the coming years including Curt Schilling, Mike Mussina, Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Edgar Martinez as well as perhaps Fred McGriff, Jeff Kent, Larry Walker, Alan Trammell and Gary Sheffield. All of those players, in addition to Bonds and Clemens, will continue to stay in line head of Sammy. So at this time next year, the BBWAA might "say it ain't Sosa" for the final time. Cubs.com Cubs expected to announce new deal with WGN-TV By Carrie Muskat CHICAGO The Cubs will be back on WGN-TV. The Cubs are expected to announce a new five-year deal with WGN-TV to carry 45 games, completing the team's television broadcast schedule, according to an industry source. In December, the Cubs and WLS-TV/ABC 7 Chicago announced a partnership for television rights through The other Cubs games will be broadcast on Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

8 WGN-TV has been the Cubs' television home since 1948, but the team opted out of an agreement after the 2014 season ended. Doing so made 70 games available, which now will be split between WGN-TV (45 games) and WLS- TV/ABC 7 (25 games). The length of the contracts with WLS-TV/ABC 7 and WGN-TV are key, because the Cubs would like to get their broadcast and cable rights in sync after the 2019 season. At that time, the team could launch its own regional sports network. WLS-TV/ABC 7 is expected to air most of the Cubs' weekend games. Television broadcasters Len Kasper and Jim Deshaies will handle the broadcasts on all three stations. Cubs.com Sosa sees vote total drop, falls short in Hall bid By Carrie Muskat CHICAGO Sammy Sosa received 36 votes, or 6.6 percent, from the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Tuesday, far below the numbers needed for induction into Cooperstown, but enough to remain on the ballot for another year. For the third straight year, Sosa's vote totals went down. In 2013, he received 71 votes, or 12.5 percent, and those numbers dropped in 2014 when he got 41 votes, or 7.2 percent. A candidate must receive 75 percent of the vote from BBWAA members to gain election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and at least five percent to stay on the ballot. Lee Smith, who saved 478 games over 18 seasons in the big leagues, including eight years with the Cubs from , will also stay on the ballot. He received 166 votes (30.2 percent) this year, a slight increase from last year when Smith got 171 votes (29.9 percent). The BBWAA did elect four players into the Hall on Tuesday: Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio. Sosa belted 609 home runs over 18 Major League seasons, including 13 with the Cubs, and had the numbers that should have made it easy for him to join baseball's elite. But his career had other elements for Hall of Fame voters to consider. In 2005, he attended a hearing in front of Congress and had his attorney testify on his behalf, denying any use of performance-enhancing drugs. Several years later, in June 2009, the New York Times reported that Sosa was among 104 Major League players who tested positive for PEDs in Sosa may not have gotten much support from the BBWAA voters, but he was popular with Cubs fans. "They didn't respond to me right away, but the way I won the crowd was the way I was playing," he said in the book "A Century of Wrigley Field: The Official History of the Friendly Confines." "I played hard every day," Sosa said. "They saw me do that, and I responded to them, and you have a great relationship. I made so many people happy in Chicago when I was there, and I earned my respect." ESPNChicago.com Sosa's Hall of Fame vote totals slip again By Jesse Rogers CHICAGO Former Chicago Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa failed to gain entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame, appearing on just 6.6 percent of the ballots when the results were revealed Tuesday.

9 Sosa, in his third year of eligibility, will stay on the ballot next year as he surpassed the five percent minimum requirement but the percentage of ballots he was on decreased for the third straight year. Sosa was on 12.5 percent of the ballots in 2013 his first year of eligibility. That dropped to 7.2 percent last year and now he s down to 6.6 percent. Sosa hit 609 career home runs, including three seasons in which he hit 60 or more, but he was dogged by rumors of steroid use, presumably keeping him out of the Hall of Fame to this point. Four players were elected this year pitchers Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz along with infielder Craig Biggio.