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Wrigley Field Construction To Overlap Season, With Some Bleachers Closed Until June

Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney yesterday said that Wrigley Field's right-field bleachers "won't be ready for fans to sit in until at least early June while the left- and center-field bleachers remain on track for a May 11 opening," according to Chris Hine of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Cubs VP/Ballpark Operations Carl Rice said that some of the bathrooms in the left-field concourse also "may not be ready until June." Work on a water main "initially delayed the construction of the right-field bleachers, but the Cubs pinned the current problems on the cold, specifically within the last two weeks." To make up for lost working days due to the "record cold streak of February," the Cubs said that they will "request the city allow them to work 24 hours per day, seven days per week to maintain their current timelines." The right-field scoreboard "will go up around the time those bleachers open," while the new videoboard in left field "remains on track to be ready for opening night." Rice said that the Cubs will "try to limit construction during games and will put workers behind cinder blocks so as to avoid detracting from the fan experience" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/3). Kenney said, "Throughout this season, you're going to see a lot of work going on. You'll see these 'pardon our dust' signs." He added fans "will be co-occupying the ballpark with our team from Pepper and our construction group" (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 3/3). Kenney: "We’re focusing on left field to make sure we can get left field up and running, as well as center. That will take care of our season-ticket holders." But in Chicago, Brian Sandalow notes a team official last week suggested that "none of the bleacher sections would be opened until all are ready because of 'ingress and egress' issues" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/3).

UP ON THE ROOF: In Chicago, Danny Ecker reports the owners of two rooftop businesses overlooking Wrigley Field "have lifted the hood on their financials in an effort to block construction of new outfield signs," filing profit-and-loss statements to "back up their pending lawsuit" against the Cubs. The chief revenue source for both businesses "is ticket sales," which were $1.95M and $1.35M for Skybox on Sheffield and Lakeview Baseball Club, respectively. That revenue "was balanced with operating expenses and other fixed expenses that resulted in $145,560 of net income" for Skybox and $39,850 for Lakeview Baseball Club. The largest operating expenses at Skybox, which had nearly $1.2M in gross profit last year, "are food ($350,653) and the royalties it pays the team for the right to sell tickets to watch games ($321,955)." Lakeview Baseball Club's gross profit was $857,572 in '14, but the rooftop owners said that those profits "will vanish if a sign goes up blocking their view" (CHICAGOBUSINESS.com, 3/2). In Chicago, Jared Hopkins notes the records submitted by a consultant for the businesses "show a small net income and the possibility of catastrophic losses should ticket sales to their businesses drop because of blocked views" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/3).

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