Chicago Alderman Tom Tunney yesterday "ridiculed the Cubs as 'a needy group' and turned up the heat on the team to start construction" on its $500M plan to renovate Wrigley Field and develop the land around it, according to Fran Spielman of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. Tunney said, "It’s time for them to build, like they said (they would) postseason. I’d expect permits to be there. ... I would have hoped, at this point, that they would be doing the permits." He was "equally unsympathetic to the Cubs’ demand for a legislative fix to the ordinance authorizing the team to play up to 46 night games per season." The Cubs said that the ordinance "gives the city unprecedented control over when rained-out games are rescheduled." Cubs VP/Communications & Community Affairs Julian Green said that it also would "force the team -- if chosen to play additional games on national television during a winning season -- to 'choose between violating MLB rules or the city ordinance.'" Green added that the team is "prepared to proceed with electrical and structural work during the offseason." But it "won’t happen" unless rooftop club owners who share 17% of their revenues with the team "drop their threat of a lawsuit aimed at preventing the team from bankrolling the project with two massive outfield signs that could block rooftop views" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 10/10).
