The Chicago Cubs are the best team in baseball and the clear favorite to win the World Series. That’s great news for CBS’ WSCR-AM 670, which, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune, is growing its audience and its revenue thanks to the baseball team.
The paper says CBS is paying $10 million per year for the rights to broadcast Cubs games and quotes industry sources who say the station will bring in about $10 million in play-by-play revenue. And the station averaged a 3.8 share from April to September, according to Nielsen, nearly doubling its 2.1 share during the same period last year, moving the station into the Top 10.
WSCR Ops Manager Mitch Rosen tells the paper, “The increase in audience year-to-year has been great. It’s the best marketing campaign a station like The Score can have, because you have this influx of people coming in to sample your station.”
The Tribune says Rosen declined to comment on whether The Score was making money from the Cubs games. Former Market Manager Rod Zimmerman, who was an important part of the inking the deal with the Cubs, was replaced earlier this year. The paper claims “industry sources point to the cost of the Cubs broadcast rights as leading to his exit, but Zimmerman told the paper this was a good deal. “I do believe that this is going to be probably the most valuable play-by-play sports franchise in all of sports over the next five years.”
Let’s Go Cubs!