The Chicago Cubs are the most powerful brand in baseball right now, but it’s possible that the franchise may have already peaked in terms of prestige.
The Chicago Cubs brand power is at a high point right now, as visible in several sectors. The worst thing about a sports curse for the suffering team is that it can only be broken once, and that fact may end up making the past few months the high point of Cubs fever.
Just weeks after team president Theo Epstein was given the title of Fortune’s greatest leader in the world, the Cubs played the first Sunday night game of the regular season in St. Louis. The result was a clear demonstration of Cubs power.
The Cardinals won the game 4-3 in extra innings, but ESPN was the real winner. The broadcast was ESPN’s most streamed and most watched opening night game ever. It was a 25 percent increase from 2016’s opening night game, and Nielsen says that it produced 1.7 million social media mentions.
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Kris Bryant has replaced Mike Trout as the first card in many Topps trading cards sets, along with being the face of its packaging for several digital and physical products.
The Cubs’ home opener is Monday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and expect Wrigley to be packed to see the team receive its World Series championship rings. There’s no reason to expect anything less than a sold-out Wrigley Field all season long, despite the fact that the team raised ticket prices by nearly 20 percent.
The only way to continue this kind of momentum is to continue winning, but this is a special kind of sports fever. It’s the kind that is only produced by accomplishing something like breaking an 108-year-long title drought. As previously stated, that’s not replicable. While fans would certainly enjoy a back-to-back World Series title run, it’s debatable whether or not it would have the magic that 2016 did.
ESPN, MLB and the Cubs themselves along with seemingly every other outlet that has any interest in baseball are cashing in while the opportunity is here. It’s wise to do, because the Cubs brand power may never be at this level again.