I was a bit surprised to come across news that American Airlines had been named the official airline of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field.

Considering the airline has it’s headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas wouldn’t being the official airline of the Rangers have made more sense? I’m sure there is more to it than sponsoring a baseball team when it comes to this deal.

According to a news release on Hub.AA.com, American has been operating out of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport for over 30 years. They have 8,500 employees there and fly “an average of 500 daily departures  to 115 destinations around the world“.

American’s VP of Global Marketing Fernand Fernandez said “we consider ourselves Chicago’s hometown airline“.

Their will be new American Airlines branding around Wrigley Field:

(from the article)

• A fixed sign on the brick wall by the Cubs’ batting circle at Wrigley Field and video board features in the historic ballpark
• American will host employees, fans and the team at festivities throughout the season, which will include Cubs player and mascot appearances, giveaways and the Cubs Road Trip sweepstakes.
  
• During the 2017 season, American and the Cubs will add a new premium club space located behind home plate with access for premium box seat ticket holders.

I decided to Google search official airline of the Chicago Cubs. From this, I learned that United was the Cubs airline for the past 10 years or so. What will they do now?

Could a partnership with the Texas Rangers be in store for United? I’m just kidding around… I don’t think that this deal is really about baseball. It seems that American has designs on increasing its presence in Chicago.

Check out the press release about the AA/ Cubs partnership here.