Not just the long-suffering fans of the Chicago Cubs will be watching tonight's final game of the National League Championship Series against the Florida Marlins. That's right, a win by the Cubbies would have the team playing in the World Series for the first time since 1945.
Of course, team owner Tribune (NYSE:TRB) and the gum giants at Wrigley (NYSE:WWY) stand to benefit from the Cubs and Wrigley Field moving on to the primetime athletic spotlight in October.
But there are other corporate boosters hoping the Cubs win tonight for a chance to overcome history, cursed goats, and the American League favorites.
For starters, Fox (NYSE:FOX) is sitting pretty as the broadcaster of next week's World Series -- if the Cubs win. Yes, Fox is milking an extra playoff game out of the National League series after Chicago squandered its three-run lead in last night's eighth-inning collapse, but Fox needs the Cubs to win tonight.
Badly.
While the Cubbies going up against either the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox will produce stellar ratings, it would be a significant gap down in public interest if the obscure Marlins should represent the National League.
So a Cubs win means that sponsors like Sprint (NYSE:FON) and AOL Time Warner (NYSE:AOL) that have had an active presence in the postseason reap the benefits of wider exposure. But they're going to have to wait.
The Cubs fell apart last night on the short side of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," so now the corporate heavies are singing:
Root, root, root for the Cubbies,
If they don't win it's a financial shame.
'Cause it's one, two, three strikes you're out,
In the ole ratings game.
Watching the baseball games? Enjoying the fireworks at Fenway? Hoping for the best at Wrigley Field? Come join your fellow Foolish fans in our Major League Baseball discussion board -- only at Fool.com.
