Illinois Authority Set To Make Offer For Wrigley Next Week

Illinois Sports Facilities Authority To Make Offer For Wrigley Field Next Week

Illinois Sports Facilities Authority Chair James Thompson said that the authority will "make an offer to the Tribune Co. next week to buy" Wrigley Field, according to Fran Spielman of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. Thompson said that he "won't know how much money is available" to buy the ballpark from Tribune Co. Chair Sam Zell until he "knows how much it would cost to modernize Wrigley." Thompson: "I need enough money to credibly restore it to keep the character and give the new owner enough money to compete. If we can get enough money to meet those two goals, great. If not, I don't want it." While Zell plans to sell naming rights to Wrigley to generate as much as $400M over 20 years, Thompson "again predicted that a naming rights deal would not be nearly so lucrative because there would be a strong push to keep the name Wrigley Field attached to the new corporate moniker." Thompson: "It's probably going to be Wrigley Field at XYZ Plaza. What that's worth as opposed to a straight naming rights deal, I have no idea" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/4).

TICKET AUCTION: In Chicago, Cheryl Jackson notes the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) yesterday "opened an auction of 71 new season tickets" for Cubs seats located next to the dugout on the third-base line. As of last night, the highest offer was $75,000 for a set of four tickets (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/4). CNBC's Darren Rovell reported the seats are being sold in blocks of two, four and five seats and "many expect these seats to go for about $80,000 each" (CNBC, 3/3). Cubs Chair & Tribune Co. Senior VP Crane Kenney said the deal with the CBOE is a “partnership we’ve been working on for about a month and it came together pretty quickly.” Kenney: “We’ve wanted to auction seats now for a couple of years. ... We really talked to (the CBOE) more as a consultant than as a partner, and as we got down the road with them as to how the auction would work, we essentially realized we had a lot in common” ("Chicago Tribune Live," CSN, 3/3).