CHICAGO SHOULD READ THE SUN-TIMES FOR MELISSA BELL, A CEO WHO IS TRYING
We’ve had talks about the paper — no, I am not returning — even as America’s third-largest city deals with woeful sports owners and needs the media more than ever to hold powerful people accountable
In early December, the CEO of Chicago Public Media filled my mind with Malnati’s thin pizza, Garrett’s butter popcorn, expressway traffic and the worst sports team of our time — or any time. Melissa Bell originally e-mailed me when the White Sox were about to lose their 121st game. When Christmas neared, I asked if she was serious about sitting down and talking about Sun-Times life.
“Yes, very serious,” she wrote. “Hopefully, in a week or two.”
Can you imagine if I returned to the newspaper, which Bell oversees, 16 1/2 years after I resigned? Leadership at the time didn’t know how to post our columns and stories from the Beijing Olympics, which is known as the Internet. The best career decision was when I returned about $1 million in guaranteed money, continuing to freak out folks in a dying industry. No longer did I have to protect my new heart stent. No longer did I have to break up fights among staffers, including Rick Telander, who wanted to brawl with me as Al Gore walked by in a Washington arena.
The place was insane. Finally, after a flurry of owners and editors, Bell is a welcome soul. I might consider a return if the Sun-Times survives, with readership numbers beyond bleak. Readers never had to like me. I did sell a bunch of the 340,000 daily papers then, even if Roger Ebert called me “a rat” because I left without fulfilling my contract. Bell is the digital presence who should have been hired eons ago. She co-founded the Vox site and served as publisher. She began an operation in India and was named CEO in Chicago last summer. She also went to Northwestern, boo hoo.
Finally, an executive was in place to help a writing and radio operation move forward as journalists — journalists — when Chicago requires real words against social media’s blather. Imagine what I’ve written on Substack, now ranked as the world’s second-largest paywalled newsbrand behind the New York Times Company, about the city’s woeful teams and owners. Here’s a recent list:
On Feb. 21, I whooped from Los Angeles when Justin Ishbia abandoned Minnesota Twins ownership to buy more shares from White Sox limited partners, meaning Jerry Reinsdorf finally might tumble as the worst owner of the 21st century.
On Feb. 15, I asked if Reinsdorf fired a baseball trainer — because Brian Ball is a homosexual — after an Illinois appellate court called for a jury trial.
On Feb. 14, I wondered if Tom Ricketts’ unacceptable lowball of Alex Bregman placed him with the Reinsdorfs and McCaskeys as owners who never will win.
On Feb. 12, I listed Mark Walter’s business office at 227 West Monroe Street — home of Guggenheim Investments — and asked why an Iowa native is rocketing the Los Angeles Dodgers to all-time financial supremacy.
On Feb. 6, I inquired if Virginia McCaskey’s death will prompt private equity ownership of the Bears that might include more of Pat Ryan and, in time, Jeff Bezos.
On Jan. 27, I reminded the Chicago media that too many members are fanboys — too close to sports teams because they’ve lived there forever — and that the beloved Ben Johnson is 0-0 as a career head coach.
On Jan. 18, I said Sammy Sosa lied again at the Cubs Convention when he said “no” to his career usage of steroids.
On Dec. 27, I suggested Michael Reinsdorf is on pace to become the next Jerry, knowing the Bulls might approach the 108-year losing streak of the Cubs.
On Dec. 1, I summoned George McCaskey as the villain of Halas Hall and explained why he shouldn’t be operating a $6.4 billion franchise, though he works well as an umpire for youth baseball.
On Nov. 15, I said Chicago never should pay $29.99 a month — for the Chicago Sports Network, co-owned by Jerry Reinsdorf — to watch three teams that should pay you.
On Oct. 19, I asked Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to use a bullhorn and repeat the words if Reinsdorf asks again for public stadium money: Get lost, Jerry.
On July 5, I declared Chicago to be America’s worst sports town because I was not there to stop it.
Now, would I suddenly return in the dead of winter? The way a man with a United Center statue once returned?
No.
In the new year, the Sun-Times has offered buyouts to every staffer. Over the weekend, sports columnist Rick Morrissey said he will take one. News columnist Neil Steinberg has written about his decision. Who’s next? In annual expenses, Bell wants to save $3 million to $5 million. She wrote: “Our hope is that this action and other efforts will reduce our costs so that we can avoid more significant cost-cutting measures down the road.”
As in, layoffs.
Seventeen years at the paper, as I told Bell, left a mark on my soul. I ache for the Sun-Times to beat the Tribune, owned by a New York hedge fund. But at this point, she is in no position to make hires of any kind, even as I pepper her with tips and suggestions. Such as: Why has no one interviewed Ishbia at his $77 million mansion in Winnetka? She must save the print paper, which has fallen to less than 15,300 in daily circulation — according to the PressGazette, as supplied by the Alliance for Audited Media. The digital numbers are below 100,000 daily for a free operation, as long as you watch Steinberg converse for a few seconds by the lake.
Someday, who knows? I just hope there is a someday. I kidded to Bell that Substack’s numbers are so overwhelming that they might put newspapers out of business.
Or, maybe I wasn’t kidding.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.