The Cubs reached a “multi-year agreement” making Weber Grill the official grill of the team and also “signed a new one-year deal with Kraft Foods Group to handle the team's ‘Decade Diner’ down the right field line,” according to Danny Ecker of CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS. Weber “will not be part of the team's new Legacy Partner program, which currently consists of Under Armour, Anheuser Busch InBev and Starwood Hotels as the team's biggest-spending sponsors.” Weber is “one of many new sponsors that will help the team fill thousands of square feet of newly-approved ad signage around the park under the Wrigley Field renovation project" (CHICAGOBUSINESS.com, 4/2). ESPN CHICAGO’s Jon Greenberg noted when the Cubs open Wrigley Field’s 100th season Friday, the team will “do so without a giant Budweiser sign in the outfield.” The club had “intimated the Budweiser sign … will be up this season." The Cubs "were approved to add 45,000 square feet of new advertising" in regard to the $500M planned expansion of Wrigley Field and the surrounding campus, "but don't expect to see a glut of new ads around the park this season." As of yesterday, the Cubs "could only confirm the Weber sign" (ESPNCHICAGO.com, 4/1).
