Wrigley Chair Talks Ballpark Naming Rights At Annual Meeting

Wrigley Chair Discusses Ballpark Naming Rights During Annual Shareholder Meeting

UNDER CONSTRUCTION: In Chicago, Blair Kamin reports the Chicago city ordinance that confers landmark status on Wrigley Field “does much more than offer protected status,” as it also grants landmark protection to the ballpark’s “essential contours.” Keeping the protected features in place would “restrict the ability of the Cubs and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which wants to buy Wrigley from Tribune Co.” However, the ordinance “hardly shuts the door to further changes at the ballpark.” It does not protect the seats and seating configuration nor the "interior concourses, where the Cubs already have put up new advertising signs.” The ballpark has just 66 skyboxes and Kamin wonders, “Would new skyboxes be built in the same spot as the old ones? Or would new plans call for raising Wrigley’s upper deck to accommodate a second tier of skyboxes? That step could raise Wrigley’s roof beyond the height described in the landmark ordinance and force fans in upper-deck seats farther from the field” (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/13).

TICKET TAX: With the Cubs considering a $0.25-0.50 tax per ticket to help pay for Wrigley Field renovations, the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES' Greg Couch writes, “So the Cubs want to ask for this tax only from the people who will benefit? I’m pretty sure the Cubs are the ones benefiting here, right? They want you to pay to fix up their stadium.” If the Cubs want to “jack up prices, then just go ahead. People still will come. But why try to trick them into thinking this is something else?” The Cubs “want to make as much money as possible. They are a business. That’s fair. But why try to dupe fans? Why treat them like idiots?” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/13).

STATE SALE: A CHICAGO SUN-TIMES editorial is written under the header, “Sam Zell’s Scheme To Sell Wrigley Field To The State Is Nothing More Than A Foul Ball That Benefits Only His Cash-Strapped Tribune Co. -- At Your Expense.” The editorial states there is “not a single good reason the State of Illinois should buy Wrigley Field. … Beautiful as it is, Wrigley Field is not some architectural damsel in need of being ‘saved.’ Only Sam Zell and his Tribune Co., owners of the ballpark, stand to gain. And in an economic downturn, only the taxpayers stand to lose” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/13). 

Print This Article