Chicago Cubs: How much will it cost to watch the Cubs in 2020?

Chicago Cubs: The Rakich Projections

Back in 2014, this pollster genius and baseball nerd named Nathaniel Rakich tried to figure out how many Cubs fans there were in the United States. I misstate his specific intent, which was to determine what team had the largest fan base at that time and exactly how large was that fan base?

So the genius went to work using Facebook and polling data in 32 States to determine estimated numbers of fans. Little did Rakich know, that five years later, his little research project might just shed light on a major broadcast deal.

Using Facebook LIKES and voting population (voting age) numbers in 32 states, Rakich was able to estimate fan bases based on population numbers and a poll that was given to voters in 32 States that asked about their baseball allegiances.

There are still 18 States unaccounted for in these figures. Also remember this is before the Cubs won the World Series and good or bad, we got many fair-weather fans that joined our ranks after the big win. Whether ‘they’ will pay to watch the Cubs is another good question, but here’s the data Rukich collected.

In 2014, the Cubs had the most fans at 9.9 million, followed by the Boston Red Sox at 9.6 million, the Atlanta Braves 9.4 million and of course the Yankees at 8 million. Don’t forget; there are still 18 U.S. States unaccounted for in these figures.

And for those Yankee fan readers that have strayed over to my opining, ‘No one is disputing that the Yankees are America’s favorite team,’ but right now we’re just talking total fans across the United States. Let’s estimate low and say with the World Series win, five years later, not counting the fair-weather fans, the Cubs now have 10 million fans (only adding 100,000 to Rakich’s figures from 2014). To make $50 million would cost Cubs fans about five dollars a subscription!

I knew being a Cub fan would pay off 45 years ago! Yes, sarcasm.

Now I know some genius is out there reading and saying,

"“Just cause there’s 10 million fans, that doesn’t mean everyone will subscribe.”"

You’re right, but even 5 million fans, half of what Rakich estimated would drive home a way more significant surplus than Sinclair is reporting. It’s basic math. So what’s the real cost going to be?