Marquee Sports Network’s Trouble Doesn’t Bode Well for Cubs’ Spending
Maybe this is just like a school district cutting educational resources after undergoing $200 million in renovations that featured several athletic upgrades, but Marquee Sports Network’s recent cuts don’t look like a good sign. As Jeff Agrest of the Sun-Times was first to report, the Cubs-owned broadcast arm has parted ways with GM Diane Penny, director of content Tony Andracki, and reporter Andy Martinez. Marquee is apparently not seeking to replace them.
“In the interim, we will use Cubs and Sinclair resources to fill [Penny’s] role as we assess the future leadership needs of the network,” Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney explained.
Agrest reports that Cubs chief commercial officer Colin Faulkner will take over game coverage and production, along with marketing and talent. That’s a lot of responsibility for someone who apparently has little to no experience in television. Several other roles have been rearranged or outsourced in an effort to trim costs and streamline efforts, though it’s hard to see how this will help the production quality of a network that has struggled from the start.
Since its inception, Marquee has been beset by bad timing and worse decisions. They missed the RSN boom by a few years because they couldn’t buy out existing deals with WGN and CSN Chicago, then hired someone from New York to run everything. There was a very strong feel in the early going that Marquee was trying to synthesize the Cubs experience from an outsider’s perspective, like a local restaurant that loses its charm when it gets franchised.
Even though the Cubs still have plenty of other revenue streams, the money they get from TV is still very important to their operating budget. As such, this Marquee news doesn’t bode well for Jed Hoyer’s offseason spending. Again, though, maybe I’m just seeing smoke and assuming there’s a fire. This is fine, everything’s fine.
Regardless of whether and how this impacts payroll, it really sucks that Tony and Andy lost their jobs at this time of the year. I hope both land on their feet, and I know both will do well at whatever is next.
