Stinginess or Smart Spending?

By: Steve Appelhans

Spending money does not guarantee success. Spending doesn’t equal winning. Money won’t buy you wins.Whichever saying you prefer, the same message resounds, and that very message always seems to hold true for a few teams each year.

Until about ten years ago, phrases like these were something that fans in Chicago could not even relate to. Hometown teams relied on shrewd negotiating and discount-deal players to fill their rosters, usually resulting in average to below-average team payrolls.

That can’t be - the Bulls were full of high-priced talent during their reign of dominance in the 90’s, right? Not exactly. Chicago actually had one of the greatest bargains in sports’ history at one point. During the 1995-96 season, their fourth championship season in six years, the Bulls employed Michael Jordan for just under $4 million while Scottie Pippen earned a mere $3 million. Both were extremely modest salaries at the time considering the impact these players had on both the Bulls and the city of Chicago. Granted, Jordan would rightfully become a $30 million per year player the following season and Pippen eventually received adequate compensation for his efforts, but neither contract came without bitter feuds between agents and Team Krause/Reinsdorf.

Even today, the Bulls are in the bottom ten in the league in payroll. If you’re part of Bulls’ management this past season, you certainly deserve to pat yourself on the back for having a solid season without spending now, but with your other hand please slap yourself in the face.

You go from building methodically through the draft and maintaining a low payroll to giving Ben Wallace a monster contract at the decline of his career. If you’re going to spend tons of money on a free agent, at least give it to someone who can play both sides of the floor. Consider filling your most glaring need instead of further exposing it. But that’s a whole different issue in itself.

Much like the Bulls’ front office, the Bears are infamous for driving a hard bargain, often creating a divide between not only players and management but fans and management. If you need evidence of that, look no further than the Lance Briggs saga we are currently enduring. Before Briggs’ issue was Lovie Smith, who apparently needed to further prove himself before he received a market-value contract. Spending a little more money to keep players, coaches, and fans in high spirits is definitely not on the Bears’ to-do list.

A major contributor to the Bears’ shallow pockets is simply arrogance. Their thought process is that they can acquire needs through the draft and develop the players currently on their roster. If a player wants more money and the Bears aren’t willing to acquiesce, they can deal with it or look elsewhere because Chicago has each player’s heir apparent already. Although perhaps a bit idealistic, it’s a phenomenal strategy if it can be accomplished. When successful, it makes the organization look like geniuses, as we saw with the results of the 2006 draft. When unsuccessful, the Bears go 5-11 with Cade McNown leading the charge.

Now when we look at baseball in the Windy City, what we find is both revolutionary and evolutionary. As recently as 1990, the White Sox had the lowest team salary in all of Major League Baseball. Fast-forward to today and you’ll find the South Siders have climbed to the fourth-highest payroll. They basically went from giving nobody money to giving money to everyone. Coincidentally, as the dollar signs increased, so did their number of victories. In their case, jacking up the team salary has earned the Sox a World Series title and has made them a perennial contender.

On the north side, the Cubs have always attracted large crowds, they have been in the top ten in attendance each year since 2000, but only lately have they been spending like an organization with some extra cash. The off-season signings for the Cubs this year looked externally like a cry for help after years filled with disappointment. A closer look shows the Cubbies took a peek south and are following the Chi-Sox example by handing out the Benjamins to try and win now. Only time will tell if the moves ultimately pay dividends, but right now it sure looks like a major bust.

Perhaps the landscape of Chicago sports is changing, and we will begin to see salaries comparable to New York and California teams. Maybe we are moving away from being the most stubborn sports’ city in the country. In a world full of uncertainties, there really is no way to tell. Each team is going to do what is best for them, and we’ll be here to complain about it. However, there is one thing that we know for sure.

Spending money does not guarantee success.

Steve Appelhans is a student at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, but despite his northern location he remains loyal to Chicago sports. He's a sports columnist for his school paper - called The Racquet, www.theracquet.net - and plans on going to grad school for journalism. Steve can be contacted at appelhan.stev@students.uwlax.edu.

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