In Chicago, Fran Spielman notes the Cubs on Thursday offered to "drop plans to install larger outfield doors that disturb Wrigley Field’s landmarked ivy-covered walls, angered Mayor Rahm Emanuel and threatened speedy approval of the team’s revised expansion plan." Emanuel "specifically mentioned the bullpen plan this week when he declared that his handpicked Commission on Chicago Landmarks would not consider the new Wrigley renovation plan at its June 5 meeting." The Cubs "acknowledged the team’s failure to communicate with City Hall and offered to pull the larger bullpen doors off the table to get the project back on track for, what the team hopes will be a July groundbreaking" on the $375M project (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/30).
GET BACK IN THE GAME: ESPN.com's Eric Williams wrote the Super Bowl "will not return to San Diego until antiquated Qualcomm Stadium is replaced with a new, state-of-the-art facility to serve as the home" for the Chargers. With the recent election of Mayor Kevin Faulconer, the team's effort to "build a facility appears headed in the right direction." The Chargers and the mayor's office "are having regular conversations, with the hopes of a tentative plan for a new stadium emerging by the end of the year" (ESPN.com, 5/29).
MINER ADJUSTMENTS: In El Paso, Bret Bloomquist notes UTEP is spending $3.4M for four new videoboards "at the Haskins Center and one outside the ticket center on Mesa Street." UTEP AD Bob Stull said that the 34x60 board at the Sun Bowl "will be almost four times the size of the current board and will be the biggest in Conference USA, while the 12-feet by 40-feet board in the Haskins Center will be one of the largest in the country for a basketball arena." Daktronics "will begin removing the Sun Bowl video boards Wednesday with a target completion date of mid-August for the Sun Bowl and October for the Haskins Center" (EL PASO TIMES, 5/30).
