Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Tom Ricketts sets high expectations for his Cubs (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote opened their show by reacting to Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts setting high expectations for his club in 2026. Later, they discussed whether the Bears should pursue veteran pass rusher Bradley Chubb in free agency after he was recently released by the Dolphins.

The views and opinions of Laila Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grotty should not be taken too seriously. Especially when they give advice. Do not take Marshall's analogies, literally. Especially when it comes to Russell Dorsey. The sports thoughts of Rahimi Harrison Grotie may change at any time. It's just sports. Gay, thanks. Bye.

Bye. Rahimi Harrison Grotie, 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. The issue is basketball has changed because sports and our attention span has changed. And the way we as society have made it a rings or nothing culture. teams are now gearing to make sure that their guys are healthy for the postseason, and they're not as concerned with the regular season. And why should they be? They try to change the minimum number of games played for all the NBA honors,

whether it's MVP, Ricky the Year, all NBA. That hasn't worked. Our company is worth nothing. That's a difference between you and I. Business isn't about money to me, David. If tomorrow my company goes under, I will just start another paper company. And then another and another and another. I have no shortage of company names.

I saw it suggested like you take away the three point line. It's like that would bother me because it's like, bro, no. That idea is terrible. What do you want to do, Russ? Tell me how you want to change basketball. Yes. Oh, you wanted to get physical again. A little bit more.

Because like I think one of my issues with, and I love old heads, and I mean that with all due respect. But like I don't, I never like talking about basketball. Like, oh, back of the day you couldn't just come in the line. I don't think being able to punch people when they drove to the basket. That's not good? That wasn't good basketball. Dan to the rack lays it up, no, but we do have a listen to file. Ben, just going after our tent.

We got trouble right here in the Motor City. We got big trouble here in the Motor City. Fight, fight, fight, fight! Lila Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Midday's 10 a.m. 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 104-3. The score. You know what? Just for the hell of it.

Happy birthday, Michael Jordan. Happy birthday. Is that Harry Carey telling Michael Jordan, happy birthday? Happy birthday, Mike. Is this microphone not working? Are we in trouble? This is Rahmi Harris and Grody on 104. The score.

It's Leila and Mark Grody, but apparently we're having some issues with the microphone situation here. You get all set. Who's messing with the mics? You know who was just here a second ago? And it still sounds weird. Now it sounds like I'm actually on the. the radio. Do you have both mics on?

Wait, hold on. Hello. Hello. Okay, so you have... Wow. So you have the right mic pointed towards you, but the left mic is on. Right, but that's the mic that's actually... So this mic does not work? You know, you take a day... You take a day off. What did you do? How dare they do this on Michael Jordan's birthday? Gabor Mirrors. Gabor Mirrors was the one sitting here for the last five hours with David Haw, those two.

Now, Gabe had issues with the mic, too. Why are you trying to blame Gabe? Well, because they were trying to say I hate America. So I'm playing the game. You know what I'm saying? I love America. I mean, you refuse to watch the Olympics, and I remember you saying you hated America. That's because I have all the gold medals already.

What do I need to? Why do we need to watch the Olympics? I'm kidding. I have all the gold medals. Mark never said that. This is Ricky Me Harrison Grotie on 1043, the score. Sorry about our equipment. Yeah, you said it.

Evergreen line. said. That's what she said. That's what at 65 outside yesterday. Everybody was happy. Rooney and I did the right thing and took the day off, so we're all fresh and rested. Just walking about the city. I think you and I were not on the same

path, but just walking about the city yesterday. La la la la la la la la having a nice day in the city of Chicago. Follicking like the beginning of a Disney movie. Earbuds in. Do you go earbuds or do you put the full cover headphones on when you're walking? What's your walking style? Do you have a backpack? I don't do the full cover of the headphones like these.

I go with earbuds or like lately just to be ridiculous corded headphones. Corded? Oh, corded headphones. Yeah, because they're kind of back. And the sound quality is better. And if you lose them, they're not as pricey. So I like all of those scenarios. You're talking about like these, like the Apple.

Correct. That's what I'm using these days because they keep losing the earbuds. Well, I have some extras. So if you need them, let me know. Really? Yeah. Okay. All right.

That's the whole point. save them and stuff for rainy days. Sick. And yesterday it was not. So we had a great time. It was like being in, you know, the mythical forest in an old school Disney movie. Like not the princesses ones,

like Fox and Hound or Robin Hood or something. Okay. Yeah, that's the vibe. It's a good vibe. Yeah, it was a lovely day. So we thank you for joining us on this Tuesday. Marshall is out. He was here with Russ, uh,

Russ Dorsey yesterday. It is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104.3, the score. And there is big news at Cubs yesterday. day, big enough to where it deserves a couple of days of coverage. Tom Rickett spoke almost 24 hours ago. I want to say it was like 20 or so. We talk about the phrase saying the quiet part out loud and then we shake our heads and usually it's not what you want to hear.

Not this time. Tom Rickett said the good part out loud. If you don't believe me, listen to what the Cubs owner had to say. Riggily was incredible in those playoff games last year. And it did remind you of some of those days. games back in 15 and 16 and somewhat 17 where we had, you know, just the kind of energy. And obviously we want to have those games every year. We obviously want to win the World Series every year. But for me too, it's like it's just paying off all the loyal fans who have come

to so many games for so many years and given so much to the team to be able to pay them back with an incredible experience like what we saw in the playoffs last year. That just means a lot to me personally. And I want to do that every year. sound? Holy moly. He said it. He wants to go back to the World Series. He said the thing. The playoffs reminded him of the feeling, the feeling of knowing what it's like to win. And when you spend money and resources on your team and draft capital and whatever else to get good offensive players, not just pitching, not just the spine of the defense, it's like something was unlocked. It's like the Celine Dion video, Mark. It was all coming back to him now. There it is. It's the,

And that's the part, too. I know that Tom Ricketts cares about the fans. He's a fan-friendly owner. He likes to shake hands with the people in the stands. I've seen him doing. Everybody's probably seen him doing. But really, really, Tom Rickett spent $228 million this winter. He spent last winter trying to tell us why they're not cheap

and why that you should understand what the plan is. This year they spent the money. And he does look at this team just the way you and I do look. Leila, at least speaking for myself, that this is a team that's kind of in must-win mode, considering the division, considering Alex Bregman, considering the signing of Edward Cabrera, all the things that the Cubs have done, who exists on their roster. It's must-win time for the Cubs. It is.

And we've said that a lot when it comes to, even last year, you remember we asked the question, are the Bears in Win Now mode? Guess what? They were, because they won. We just didn't know. Yeah. I didn't know. You know how I feel about this, but this you know. This you absolutely know.

Win now. And what was my pitch when it came to not just at the time, the idea of signing Kyle Tucker and also having that playoff series here at Wrigley and it was so much fun and being able to beat the Padres, even though the Padres had the firepower of one of the best bullpins ever created in the last millennium and baseball. You know, I mean, since 2000, that was one of the best bullpins that we had seen, probably like rivaling the Yankees bullpens back in the day. It was that effective.

You know, pricey acquisitions when you consider their bullpen, when you consider guys like Tatis, Machado, resigning them, all the resources they had acquired. And still, it was the home team who took down that team in the best division. Somehow, some way. But you felt it. And, you know, a lot of people have talked about the Cubs slogans. and I guess this is getting a lot of criticism

because that's the slogan this year. I'm an everybody in girl. That was my favorite. Everybody in. Everybody in was my favorite of the last several years of the Cubs. Everybody in. You have to see it as another one. But for me, I think I was in when it came to

selling that concept yet again. Like Jed Hoyer saying, this could be us, but you're playing. You feel this playoff buzz? You feel this? this excitement, everybody talking about the Cubs, and it was so well-timed because it was during the Bears' by week, so all the attention was focused at Wrigley. You know, John Summit plays the show. Wrigley's packed. Everybody's cheering. Like, I will never forget when James and Tyone got

that strikeout to end the first inning, how everybody's on their feet just screaming. And it was great. Did it work? Did it all work? What do you mean? To have Tom Ricketts to motivate him to spend and do all of what he's doing. Did it work? He got another taste. He got another taste of, like, it was almost like, remember what it feels like? Wasn't that long ago that the Cubs were winning playoff series, so got a little taste. And it's also must win, not just because of the payroll that the Cubs have, which is, or at least the spending, was second highest in Major League Baseball. It's also the fact that, God, I know I'm not the one who should be talking about the division being weak,

because I'm the one that assumed the Cubs are going to win the division in May last year over the Brewers. But again, again, like for instance, I'll let Pocoda do it. Pocoda picking the Cubs to win the division by 10 games over the Brewers. If you need fan graphs, this is fan graphs is it, this tells you everything you need to know about the division. They're picking the Cubs to win by four games over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the division. That tells you where things are with the division, that there's one team that everybody is confident about, and that is the Chicago Cubs. Reds get a little bit of love.

It's a must-win year for the Chicago Cubs. Well, I will get into I think some of the particulars is to why the brewers who have been the standard bearer in the division. Bearer. And why they are not picked as aggressively. Now, Pocoda does give the brewers respect. And if there's

one thing Milwaukee did do last year, it was, what was the favorite phrase of the front office for a while, which was outperform expectations? There is no doubt about that. When you decide to win 21 games in a row, yeah, for the career. For the career?

No, that is the Milwaukee Brewers in a sentence right there. They do it. That's what they've done. Since 2018, I feel like, that has been the case. And when Christian Ehrlich ripped off that MVP quality season, it was the only one challenging Javi Baez at the time, I think that's when they started this run. And, you know, unfortunately, that coincides with the Cubs dynasty or the team that was supposed to be built for a dynasty.

the offense being broken, that was kind of the end of that 2016 arc. So it's so nice to be sitting here talking to you today about how the playoffs and everything else seemed to unlock that competitive spending and that competitive spirit for Tom Ricketts and the Cubs this year. Yeah. And the Bears comp is good too because it's like, I don't know if it actually was the loudest, one of the loudest it's been at Wrigley Field this year relative to the 15, 16, and 17, and all playoff years that the Cubs have had.

But it sure seems like the accounts that we've gotten, it's like never before. And I have a hard time with that just because I was there for every single game in 15, 16, and 7 doing pre and post. He was there. I was there. A lot of you people weren't there, but I was there. I was there for some. You were there a lot?

Yeah. I got to fill in it NBC Sport Chicago quite a bit. I was there. I believe you, I might have, hmm, we might have met in the clubhouse at one point in time. I think we did. As professional reports, hi, I'm Mark Grody from the score. I'm Laylor Amy from, and, wait, what was it then? At the time it was Comcast Sportsnet.

Yes. Marshall and I worked together Comcast Sportsnet in Philly and that I came here. I remember it because I think it was shortly thereafter. You're like, oh, you're like, I got to get you on the air or something like that. And we did like a one-on-one interview that aired, I think, on one of the shows that you guys do. I think it was when I was hosting, there was bases loaded, and then there was baseball night in Chicago. So it was probably one of those. You had two shows.

And poor Mark, yeah, they were nice to me there. We got to do a lot of shows. That's nice. And then poor Mark Grody had to find people to interview in the newly renovated clubhouse where there were all these hiding spots. Oh, yeah. And that was not easy. Yeah, that's the part that people don't know about, like, of course, as the pre and post game show host, you are attached to the team and you have many benefits, including being lucky enough to travel with the team. But it's not like anybody is setting up those interviews on the day-to-day basis.

Every day you've got to get one of those interviews from one of the players. It's not like somebody's doing that work for you. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3 The Score. And we get to talk about the good part. Tom Rickett spent. The only other team that spent more money than the Cubs this past season in free agency was not the Dodgers, actually. Don't worry, they're up there. But it was the Blue Jays, who were two strikes away from beating the Dodgers.

Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series. And for everybody who wanted him to do that, he's done it. Now, there are some, there are some staff who's in the plan. You know, we'll get to those in a little bit. Also, I'm laughing at everybody chiming in on our text line. Like, for example, the question, 224, who is the sideways man behind Ricketts needs to be a meme? That is Dennis Colleton, his PR guy. The omnipresent, Dennis.

Shout out to Dennis Colleton. He's a good man. We saw Dennis the night, Marshall and I saying the stretch. I don't know if you recall that we saw Dennis. So yeah, that's who that is. So just so you guys are aware. And then, yeah, 7-7-3, you're right. Dansby stole that Padre Series.

That's where defense combined with enough offense and pitching. When you've got all three phases, if you will, that's where that can come into play. And it would be a good thing. All three phases is not just for the bears. That's true. Good bringing to bears. That's true. Because that's what I was thinking about, too, the comp to the Cubs and the bear, like with the way, the hunger.

Like we always talk about what a great sports town. This is the hunger. The voracious appetite of Chicago sports fan I feel like is like at a 10 right now. And I don't know exactly why. Bears playoffs. But no, but even like because we had the testimonials of it being the loudest people that ever heard Soldier Field. So that's what I'm saying.

Like in that moment, people were just so needy for the bears to be good. And when the Cubs were playing, we were needy. Like it felt like over the usual Chicago is a 10 when it comes to sports fans in the playoffs. It felt like it went beyond that for some reason. And I don't know why. I'll tell you why, Ray. You tell me why. We back up.

That's right, baby. We back up. I need you to know. I get back up. Is that what you guys are doing? I had the idea of doing a segment. We'll take you behind the scenes real quick. Backstage, Grady.

Yeah, yeah. I had an idea to do the we back up rankings, you know, from the wire. I want you to put the word out there, but we back up. Oh. Understand me? We back up. That was inspired by Alex Spragman's signing, really.

But then, you know, the Bulls went in bold. No, no, don't worry about that right now. No. We back up, baby! Also, let's face it. The Bulls had to get rid of some of those contracts. You're right. They actually got something for them, which is a change.

So guess what they did, according to their plan? They got up. not back up because back from the bulls is very hot. I get knocked down, but I get up again. You know who else kind of said that? You know who else put the word out there? This is really what Ricketts was kind of doing yesterday. Because he knows, we'll hold him to this standard now. And when you see Tom Ricketts, he'll be like, hey, why didn't you spend the extra money to get Zach Gallen or something along those lines? But Tom Ricketts talked a little bit more about putting the word out there, if you will.

I want more string your ball. This is 17 years that your family's own. The Cubs. And you talked initially about what you wanted to do. It appears you've done most of those things. Is there anything that you feel is incomplete that you and your family would continue to want to try to do with the Cubs? We just have to win more World Series. I mean, it's about winning.

I mean, all this other stuff, it all leads to one thing, and that's about winning. And we just have to put the kind of teams on the field that can be in the playoffs every year and get back on top. He didn't say division. He didn't say intelligence spending. He didn't say any of that. He said World Series.

And he didn't really pose it as singular either. We just have to win World Series. I want you to put the word out there. We back up. Come on now. Understand me? We back up. I think the important part, though, is when he says that,

he knows people are going to hold him to it. His PR guy Dennis, the meme, knows that we're going to ask him about it. He knows that if people see him in the streets, they're going to come out of him with that question. You best not miss. It was a good day for Tom Ricketts, wasn't it? It's a good day for us because everybody's on the same page about this. Amen, yes.

You are a must-win Chicago Cubs team. That's it. That's it. And I think unlike a lot of other teams right now in baseball, the Cubs are poised to do this. And whether or not you want to admit it, it's probably because of something you initially pushed back against. So we'll explain that and get into why the money matters here next on Rahimi

Harrison Grotie on 104.3 the score before we get to our break, Ray Diaz, Tyler Buterbaugh, our producers, you heard them. They're always up. They even worked yesterday for you. Not for me, I took the day off. You guys worked yesterday. Yeah. Yeah, we were here. You guys feel pretty good about yourselves, don't you? We're grinding. We're grinding out that holiday. I'm going to need you too to treat yourselves some time later, just from me to you. Did you guys talk presidents yesterday? Oh, we did our Mount Rushmore, presidents our own Mount Rushmore, not the official Mount Rushmore?

Millard Fillmore, you mix in or something, just to make it different. There you go. That Obama guy's from Chicago. Yeah. And he talked at the All-Star game, didn't he? Talked about aides. We're planning to do our presidency bracket

in case of March Madness coming up, you know? Did he say something about aliens are real? Why do we get the feeling that that would turn bad? Yes, the aliens conversation was hilarious. We should bring that up if we have time today. So that's Ray Diaz. Obama! Tyler Beaterbaugh.

Mark Roddy, as Wayne Larravee, as discussing our former president of the United States. Braden Friar is our producer. More aliens from Barack Obama. You can text us 312-644-67. You can call us at that number as well. We are on Twitch, twitch.tv.tv slash the score Chicago. Our Twitch mob is hanging out with us.

And we're on YouTube at the Score Chicago as well. So coming up next, let's get into that very thing, how the World Series and the discussion about the budget may be centered around something you might not have liked, but you might understand how it's working for you now. That's next. Thanks, Ben. Go Cups. Amy Harrison Grody. Can you imagine Lovey Smith doing the whole

good, better, best thing? And saying bleep the Packers. Come on, guys. Good better best. Never let it rest. I'll see you on Tuesday. Middays 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. Oh, no. How did you find it that quickly?

Do you know what the video looks like? It's overly ridiculously dramatic. Is it Titanic? No, well, practically. It's Celine Dion, so you're half correct. Right, I was just Titanic. No, this is, instead of something sinking, something is rising. Aw.

Yeah. It's rejuvenation is in the air. It's like the Cubs. That's it! The pitchers and catchers and everybody is picking the Cubs to win this year. And she's running through this ridiculously large mansion. It doesn't have any electricity. for some reason.

And somebody is sitting on their knees going, come on, come on, come on. And then she's remembering how good it feels to have a lover or something, you know, because it's Celine Dion. And then it's all coming back to her now. In perfect pitch. It's all coming back to her in perfection. So when I heard Tom Ricketts say, we need to win more World Series, suddenly I was like, it's all coming back.

It's all coming back to me now. I like the just being added. We just have to win World Series. You know what? you know what I think he wants to say to shut up everybody about everything else that we're talking about right now. Well, too bad. And that is something that we're talking about right now. We have a four and a half hour talk show. That's physically impossible and literally our job. You can't shut us up. Nope. I've tried to do that for myself. Can't seem to do it there either.

That's why we do what we do. We can't shut up. This is Ramey Harrison Grotie. Shut up. Shut up. No, we're supposed to talk right now. Salenzio. Zerwik! It's all coming. Wait, is that a word? I think that means quiet.

I hope it does. In what language? In German. Wow. I believe. That was really impressive. Yeah. Fingers crossed, Judy.

I know how to say it in Farsi. That's good. Does that count? But no, we're not shutting up. No. Shut up. Neither should the Cubs and neither should Tom Ricketts. Because as we've mentioned, he's saying the good things out loud.

He's talking about needing to win World Series. One of the ways you do that is by spending money, which he has done in the offseason. Like we said, only the Blue Jays have spent more and free agents spending outside of the Cubs. 228 million, 228 Mill, though, this winter. Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. There's a movie quote for you. Yeah.

But he also talked about... Mr. Ma? No. Is it 220, 221, whatever it takes? And then there's the gun, 27 caliber, 28 caliber, whatever it takes, something like that. I only know the 220, 221, whatever it takes. That's pretty funny. That's the only way I can quote that movie.

But Rickett's also in his yearly spring training availability. Talked about Marquis Sports Network, which is a additional revenue source for the team to be able to use and spend. Crane has kind of documented some new issues with, like Megan was saying, RSA. Marquis even has had some cutbacks. You can go back knowing what you know now. Would you have done things differently with Marquis? or anything like that? You know, actually, you know, given all the financial, you know,

all like the market headwinds for RSNs, I think Marquis is one of the best things we ever did to be in control of our own destiny and to be able to produce the games we want to produce the way we want to produce them with the right people and the right staff and the right level of production quality, I think it's, for us, it's been a huge home run because it's been able to give us a chance

to control our own destiny. for a while and has been a one of the, maybe the smartest thing we've done in all these years. And so the cutbacks are just business? Are you happy with the product? Is that the best way? Yeah, very happy with the product. Everyone is. I mean, we, we've, you know, won tons of Emmys, and we get great feedback, and we have, we have broadcasters who are loved by the fans, and we do a great game day production. But we also have the economic realities that are facing other sports networks and the declining revenue model. So we just have to balance that out and try to you know, focus, focus our efforts where we can, you know, get a great, great experience and a great

production for fans and just being mindful of expenses because it's been tougher. Given all that, given all that, it feels like things are trending towards maybe all the RSN's being under MLB's umbrella. Is that something you guys are, you're open to, or do you like the independence that you guys have with your own? Yeah, there's a lot of speculation on that. I don't want to get too deep in the weeds, but we love the network and we love our independence. We just have to win World Series. That's it. I think you should tag up everything.

Everything is just going to come back to that now. Yes. That should be tagged at the end of everything Tom Rickett says. That's why it's good. That's why it's good that he said the quiet part out loud and the quiet part was also good. It's a nice day when we can talk about it in these ways. Tom Ricketts needs to just take a page out of Grody's book and instead of, you know, Grody always just says Bears.

Yeah, Bears. Tom just needs to say World Series. World Series. World Series. World Series. We just have to win. It's like when I interviewed college basketball players and at the end of every phrase, they just answer.

They just say, play defense. I'm like, ah, somebody got to you. Some head coach got to you. Somebody who hurt you? No, it's the opposite. It's like you are playing defense. Whether or not you want to, dang it. In this case, I think what's important to note is there's been speculation as to

whether or not ownership itself in Major League Base, is divided on not just the spending, but the revenue streams and the structure. There's the Dodgers and the Mets and there's everybody else when you consider the free agent contracts. However, it's not just the Dodgers and the Mets when it comes to the dominant sports networks of some of these teams. It is the Dodgers. It's also the Cubs.

It's Yes Network for the Yankees. It's the Nesson and the Red Sox. So there are some outliers here from the rest of Major League Baseball who's taken over say the Fanduil sports networks now because they were previously Sinclair. They got bought as an asset during the pandemic. They couldn't service that debt because when you don't have sports, it's hard to run sports networks. Bally.

Same. Formerly Bally, Fandle and now under the umbrella of Major League Baseball local. And that's teams like the Cardinals, for example. That's teams like the Diamondbacks who are somewhat doing their own thing but also managed differently now. The Padres are in that boat. Twins, Padres.

Brewers were one of the Fandual Sports Networks, and that's where this really comes into play here. Like half the teams in the league, by the way, is where they are. Far and away, the largest operator of regional sports networks, and because of baseball having 162 game seasons, therefore they had the most inventory, so they controlled the market. That was the number one regional sports network operator,

and the reason we bring it up is because that's where a lot of their money comes from. When you talk about the Dodgers, it's not just the incredible real estate, all the parking lots around Chavez Ravine, being in the number two market in the country. It's the fact that they have a 25-year, $6.25 billion TV deal that runs out in 2038. They don't have to worry about this CBA. They don't have to worry about the next one and the next one. And as was pointed out yesterday on the afternoon show with Spiegel and Holmes, it is tied to the success of charter communications. Now, a lot of these get spinoff.

They get spun off as different LLCs where you can have different. different debt structure and things like that. Comcast Sportsnet is a good example of that. The network I worked for in Houston was previously operated by Comcast Sportsnet, but it was shared by the Astros and the Rockets, which is also typical. But that's why that ended up changing hands. It's why I'm here talking to you right now. So I say all of that to say, Marquis is a better source of TV revenue for the Cubs than a lot of these teams in baseball are in different situations, namely even their division rivals. Marquis helps the Cubs be more financially sound,

and this season might be a very good example. Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it. Having private ownership of your company, of your team, makes it a lot easier in that regard. The Dodgers, too, by the way. Like, it's, we all know what an astronomical deal it is, a sweetheart deal, if you will. And I was doing a little bit more reading on it yesterday,

like what the ultimate results of it will be. As you mentioned, 2038 is when this sweetheart deal runs out. That's been put together in 2011 under one Frank McCourt. They will have sheltered, as they put it, $2 billion, $2 billion through 2038. I am interested, and we'll have Evan Angelic a little bit later on to talk about some of the business side of it. how would the Dodgers be affected by a potential salary cap or the negotiations that go on? I mean, that's something down the road. But it is just amazing when you really look at what the Dodgers are doing, what they've got.

I don't want to say gotten away with because they made the deal and they were smarter than everybody else, perhaps accidentally. No, it was timing. That was the last great TV deal that got done in that vein. And that was it. it was, this report says $8.35 billion. At the time it was reported to be in the neighborhood of six. And it was 2013 and it runs through 2038, averaging $334 million annually. So if you're wondering where that payroll number comes from, there it is.

You know, like I said, the Dodgers had other assets when it came to real estate surrounding the ballpark, you know, Chavez Ravine in the parking lots and how much of those count as part of the assets. There's a lot there. So it's not just the Dodgers, though. It's like I mentioned, you know, even the Philadelphia Phillies you can get as part of, as part of the MLB TV, you know, package. They, though, have a massive deal with NBC. They're part owners with NBC there.

So there are some halves when it comes to these TV contracts. You know, the Giants are still with an NBC sports. San Francisco set up. It's NBC Sports Bay Area there. But the big ones are indeed. Rogers, Cubs, Yankees. Mets and S&Y is a little bit of a fluid situation, but nessen with the Red Sox, like, that's the thing.

The Cubs are still very much in that respect, part of the halves, and that's what makes us so crucial. Yeah, and they, and they, Cubs Marquis, obviously, with the cuts that they made, they have their challenges still, as I believe, it was Crane Kenny who broke on our show, or at least set it out loud on our program when we were out at Gallagher Way,

that Marquis was moved to the ultimate tier on Xfinity, where if you want it, you got to pay. They have the app, you know, that you can get the standalone for 20 bucks a month or whatever it is, but while, yes, the Cubs should like their own independence, they are not rolling in it like the other teams are at this point. Right, but at the same time, they're not in the situation of, say, the Reds.

They're not in the situation of the Cardinals when it comes to being part of us. a sports network group that is no longer able to be solved. Amen, that. Yeah. And that's what makes this really difficult. It also lets you know that it's not just one or two owners who are in different scenarios from the rest of the league. There's more than that.

And I think that's what's going to make this upcoming CBA negotiation so difficult is because you can't tell me that's not factoring into the dissension among the ranks of ownership somehow. It's got to be huge. Yeah. Yeah, that part is real and they will start negotiating once the regular season begins. This is a quote that came across because Jeff Passon was on MLB Radio. This is from Bobby Malone.

This is a quote yesterday. Passon was on MLB radio and said, the major reason we might have a lockout some owners feel is that their team's value is not going up as they feel it should. And that is because of the lack of high value TV contracts with the teams. It's not an owner's players issue. It's an owner's owner's owner's issue. that's something that I want everybody to be mindful of here. But I understand in the meantime,

it means the Cubs probably felt like they could be a little more aggressive than other teams, especially even in their own division. And we're just what we're saying, it did take place with the 228 million. So good on the Cubs. It's all coming back to me now. Is it? No, I don't know what this feels like anymore.

It's been way too long. I don't know what it's like to want playoffs two years in a row. I don't know what it's like to not know if the offense is broken or not. It's here. Act accordingly. The Bears and the Cubs are planning to sustain success. What? How do you feel about that?

Who's winning? Who's winning? Do the Cubs win a World Series before the Bears win a Super Bowl? Now that's a sports talk question. Vice versa. Who's winning first? The Cubs are the B, they're kind of on a similar trajectory all of a sudden. Prior to 2016, what would you have said?

Ooh, that's really good. Hmm. Because for one team, it was still 85, and for the Cubs, it had been 108 years. So you're saying, there was no all coming back to them now. Let's say 2014, because that's a bad time for both the Cubs and the Bears. It was dark times. Those were, yes, it was before, before both got. Well, the Bears took a little while.

Cubs got better than next year in 2015. So who would have I thought then? That's a great. Wait for it. Probably the Cubs somehow, some way. Oh, sing it. It gets a little inappropriate, but you've just got to look at it through a playoff baseball list.

We're back together. Is it? Are you in the Cubs back together? Oh, my gosh. It feels good now, but we run into the same problems that we had in the relationship. And all of a sudden, the honeymoon will wear off. won't feel good anymore.

But what is it like to have hope again? I don't know. I've suppressed it. I've suppressed all my hope. My hope. Layla, Layla, look at me. Hope hurts.

It does. Hope hurts. We've got flashlights going in the studio. Is there another team even in the discussion in this town for who would win a championship next? See, that's it. Nope. Like it's kind of coming back to you, but it's not all coming back to you. It's not all.

Like, the sock, still a little fuzzy with the socks. Very gray with the Chicago Bulls right now. I was cooking out a random socks theory on my way to work because I do that sometimes, especially with the socks. Yeah. And I know we're horribly late to the break here. And we're not going to talk some bears because I need Grotie's opinion on something coming up. Oh, bears. But what if the socks greatest star is still the one you expected it to be?

Hmm. What if it's Colson Montgomery after all? Did anybody ever think of that? Did it, did people not think of it? was Colson Montgomery. Mooney's gotten a lot of attention. Oh, I still think that people know where, I mean, come on now. Colson Lovelin.

What he did 21 home runs last year, basically in the second half of the season. Exactly. You just pan to Colson and he's like, I've been here. Oh, man, I like him a lot, by the way. His part, like just watching all the various interviews with him, kids got personality. We got to have him on this show. Good idea, Mark Grody. See?

Full of good ideas. That's Mark Grotie. I'm Leila Rahimi coming up on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. I got to get the host of the Take the North podcast. opinion on the latest. The latest in the chase for the Bears free agent and Love Fest that they have going on

with some of the big names. So Bradley Chubb Talk is next. Rahimi Harrison Grody Midday's Tyndal 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 1043 the score. That attracted the attention. Alan is

Sacks. Chubb jumped on top of him. That was a sack by Bradley Chub. Careful, phrasing. This is Rahimi Harris and Grotie on 104-3 The Score. And as much as our listeners and we all love to dare to dream, and we talk about Max Crosby all the time. And did somebody say Max Crosby?

No. We're talking about Bradley Chub this time. We will be talking about Max Crosby at noon. I got five on it. We will be talking about Max Cross. What we guarantee on the show is we are never more than a couple hours away from talking about Max Cros. Shout out to all the Maxinistas out there, Texas. 3-1-2-6-4-64, 67 if you are a Maxinista.

What's up with these Maxinistas? Yo! We don't want to punch you in the face, though. Unlike like tornadoes and other natural disasters. That's a big callback to a show that doesn't exist anymore. Multiple shows that don't. I just want to kill him. I just want to punch him in the face. Yo!

Sanavi. I hate it. Snobby. Oh, no. And now we are Random FM Morning Show, talking about natural disaster. Hey, how you doing, everybody? Hey, man, did you hear about this natural disaster

that just happened? I mean, read about a crack in the earth. Apparently, it's called a fault line. I hear those help make volcanoes and stuff. I just get down to the ground and just start punching it. Now I know that technically volcanoes make them, and sometimes they all come from, you know, the core and stuff. But just go with us on this. One thing that is kind of tectonic in the NFL is the fact that the Miami Dolphins have a lot of money

that they are unloading from their team. It's not just Bradley Chubb. It's also Tyree Kill. This is, by the way, franchised tag day in the NFL, so we've got to keep an eye on that today. Just in case, you just want to see who is a value. to a lot of the teams in the league, but Bradley Chubb is reportedly going to be available. So that is the situation when it comes to the 29-year-old free agent.

He will soon to be a free agent. It's a pre-June 1 move. Miami will incur $23.8 million in dead money while saving $7.3 million. That is what you call not ideal when it comes to the cap math. Are we considering cap math here? I think a little bit because I feel the same way about the likelihood of a big name pass rusher for the Bears when it comes to the discussion surrounding Chubb and around Max Crosby. According to the cap percentages on SpotRack for 2026, this is apt to change at any time. We know with the restructure or whatever. When I combined the cap space that Dio O'Dangbo, Grady Jarrett, and Montez-Swez contracts take up,

just those three combined, it's 21.27% of the Bears' cap space. I don't know how you look at any of these scenarios and not understand that that's staring you in the face. There's only so much you can restructure. And even then you still got to pay people. I'm really glad you're because we're going to get into that too later on with Kevin Fishbane. He laid it all out like the potential release candidates. contract restructuring candidates, but the point is well taken. The bears are over the cap right now.

They are in the red. They don't have the room right now with which to work. Now they can finagle some things to get there. As far as Bradley Chub is concerned, look, this guy, it's pretty simple with him. When he's healthy, he's good. But there have been five seasons where he played eight or fewer games. That's the concern right there. But when you can go through his career and when he's,

played, he has been a winner getting to the quarterback. Now, I don't know if you consider the eight and a half sacks that he had last year, but he did play in 17 games last year. The year before that, he got skunked. He played in zero games. ACL, right? I believe you're right. Yeah. Yeah. Eleven sacks, though, the year before when he played in 16 games. And then in 2022, he played in it. So when he plays, he's good. He is a 29 years old. so he's still like presumably in the prime of his career. So I like him if you could get past the fact that he is, he will miss a season. He will miss games and a lot of games.

He's had, I think for all the concerns about Max Crosby's injuries, Bradley Chub has also had very concerning injuries. You know, I think there's a difference when we're talking about a meniscus versus an ACL. I'm not a doctor. I don't play one on TV. But what is more severe than the other? For example, and that's not to say that both injury histories are concerning. But when you consider Chubb's injuries compared to a guy like Crosby,

I think the relative value will show that Crosby is still considered a better value. But Chubb is the recipient of good timing. You know, he has had a couple of very good years. The two full seasons that he did have with the dolphins in 23 and 25, 20 sacks total, eight force fumbles. Like that's a big part of this, as we love takeaways talking about the Bears' defense and their success they've had. And then 117 tackles too. Yeah, that's a robust body of work, but it's two out of three.

Yeah. And that's what makes it tough. Yeah. I like him on the overall, though. Like if he's a yes for me, like if you're asking, like the production that he can provide overrides for me, and it's worth mentioning, but it does override the potential injury risk with a player like that. What about the fact that he also played all 17 games after the ACL? Yeah, that's a great point.

There was no rest there. There was no reset. There was no setback. Zero and 24 all 17 games last year. That's big for what teams are going to consider right now. No doubt about it. I also got to watch his first training camp because back then, if you remember, in 2018, the Bears had a, what do you call it?

Mix practice. Joint practice. A mixer. A mixer. A social. Where everybody gets in a fight. Let's all get to know each other. That was great because we got to cover practice in beautiful Colorado.

Had a lovely time. I remember hanging out. City by the bit. Oh, yeah. I remember for some reason I remember riding through the hills with Adam Johns and Patrick Finley. We went to the Red Rocks place and all that. Oh, yeah, it was just absolutely low. Oh, I've always wanted to do that.

Yeah, it was cool. That's so cool. That sounds lovely. Yeah, I've wanted to go there as well. The acoustics I hear are top-notch. I think Cypress Hill is doing Red Rocks this year, by the way. Really? That's a Mark Grody interest.

Totally. Totally. That's a, you mentioned Take the North. That's a Take the North band right there. T-T-N? T-T-N, because we famously, famously said, the bears aren't going out like that. Famously, everybody knows that we said that.

They ain't going out. That's right. You know who I'm very glad you also asked Cole Commet, whether or not he thought the counting crows were going. I did. I did ask him that. And then he came back at you with the hot take of he didn't like the weekend. About which I am with him on that.

There's just something about that that doesn't calculate. When you know me, I listen to and give new music a fair chance. There's a lot of new music that I like. Nobody loves B96. I don't dislike them at all. They are definitely on my preset. You know who I think would be with us on the It's All Coming Back to Me Now, World Series Talk?

You know who I think would get the bit? Who? Dempster. Oh, yeah. Don't you think? I feel like he would get the Celine Dion reference. I think he would because he was a big part. He was around that 26th.

He was on the airplanes. He was hilarious. Fellow Canadian? He was the guy on the Cubs championship team and during that era that just made everybody smile and laugh because he's Ryan Dempster. I guess we got to see if it's all coming back to him now next.