How Marquee Sports Network will cover its first Cubs Convention

The last time we heard Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts speak at the Cubs Convention, he was being booed for talking about the upcoming launch of Marquee Sports Network.

“What do you have against Marquee Network?” Ricketts asked the crowd. “Believe me, you won’t be booing about the Marquee Network in one year.”

But that was the only interaction between Ricketts and the convention crowd. This time, the Ricketts family will address the crowd on a panel to open the events Saturday, marking the first time since the 2018 convention that the family will take questions from fans.

Despite the Cubs’ positive offseason, things could get touchy for the Rickettses, who allowed a team that won the National League Central in 2020 to devolve into 91- and 88-loss teams the next two seasons, parting ways with World Series winners and fan favorites along the way.

Whatever happens, fans at home can watch it unfold on Marquee, which will cover its first convention after the 2021 and ’22 events were canceled because of COVID-19. The network will air 13½ hours of live coverage Friday to Saturday from the Sheraton Grand Chicago, beginning at 5 p.m. Friday with a red-carpet special, followed by the opening ceremony. Marquee will cover the convention from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and air every panel session.

For a network in its offseason, the convention is the perfect opportunity to provide live programming and expose fans to an event not everyone is able to attend.

“I can’t imagine not covering it,” Marquee general manager Mike McCarthy said. “We have to be there, and we have to bring this to fans who can’t make it. There’s a lot of live TV. I’m sure we’ll have our challenges to pull it all off smoothly. But I think the Cubs fans that can’t physically make it to the convention will get a kick out of watching it at home.”

Marquee will have a set next to the main stage, where the panel discussions will be held. Network host Cole Wright will conduct interviews from the set between sessions. Marquee also will air segments of shows “Road to Wrigley,” “Icons of the Ivy” and “The Reporters” from there. Cubs left fielder Ian Happ’s podcast, “The Compound,” will record a live episode at the convention, as well.

The network will have six stationed cameras and several mobile cameras in and around the convention grounds. Whereas previous conventions held multiple panel sessions simultaneously, this event will have one large session at a time, allowing the network to air them all.

“When there’s a panel on the stage, we’re going to cover it live,” McCarthy said. “We’re not going to manipulate it or produce it. We’re going to kind of eavesdrop on behalf of Cubs fans.”

That’s important to note after the fiasco during an episode of “The Reporters” in May when the network removed commentary critical of the Cubs. The show, which had been prerecorded for four episodes, has aired live ever since.

McCarthy said just about everyone who appears on Marquee will have a role in the broadcast. Wright, Cliff Floyd, Taylor McGregor and Elise Menaker will host from the red carpet. Wright, Menaker, Jon Sciambi, Jim Deshaies and Lance Brozdowski will host sessions.

“It’s sort of a C-SPAN meets ‘SportsCenter,’ ” McCarthy said. “Some of it is unknown to us. We’ll have our challenges at times to fill the time in between the staged events. We have a pretty good plan for it. But it’s a lot of live television. We’re having big asks made of our talent.”

Marquee was created to provide Cubs fans with immersive content like this. (Well, and to collect carriage fees from distributors, which come from regional sports fees paid by subscribers. Let’s be honest.) The Cubs Convention, which began in 1986, was the first fan fest of its kind, and now Marquee is the first network to air comprehensive coverage of such an event.

“There’s probably a reason nobody’s done it before,” said McCarthy, who spent 23 years at MSG Network in New York. “I’ve done condensed versions, and I’ve tried to capture things and post-produce them and remove some of the oddities that could take place in an event like this. But here, the mantra was, Let’s do it live, let’s come as close to bringing you into this thing as we can if you can’t make it.

“I think we’ll uncover some mysteries about how to do it going forward, but I also think we’ll bring a professional version of a telecasted convention to Cubs fans for the first time, which is exciting.”

After convention coverage, Marquee will premiere the documentary “Brick by Brick: The Story of Wrigley Field,” narrated by actor and Cubs fan Bob Odenkirk, at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Remote patrol

The Score’s “Parkins & Spiegel” show will broadcast from 2 to 6 p.m. Friday at the Cubs Convention. Zach Zaidman will host the opening ceremony on the Cubs’ flagship from 6 to 6:45.

Bulls radio voice Chuck Swirsky will call his 2,000^th NBA game Friday, when the Bulls host the Thunder. The team will honor Swirsky at the game.

Overnight Monday into Tuesday, The Score will celebrate the life of Les Grobstein one year after his death. Mark Grote will host and share memories of “The Grobber.”

George Ofman’s podcast, “Tell Me A Story I Don’t Know,” begins its seventh season Tuesday. It includes interviews with Chris Chelios, Jason Benetti, Joe Maddon and others with Chicago ties.