In a shocking development, the Cubs reached an agreement today with the local ABC station to air 25 games per season through the 2019 season.  The deal should net the Cubs nearly $19 million per season.  The Cubs are still looking for a broadcast partner for 45 games that had previously aired on WGN.

The move comes out of left field, as most teams games are moving away from over-the-air channels in general, let along network owned and operated stations like WLS.  The deal will likely cause pre-emptions of popular syndicated programs like Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune or network programming.

To be honest, this move doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.  The plusses of being associated with a hopefully improved Cubs team would seem to be outweighed by complaints from viewers of Dancing With The Stars or Scandal when their shows are delayed.  I guess time will tell if the deal works out for all involved.