Cubs officials yesterday met with Wrigley Field area residents about "quality-of-life issues around the ballpark," with parking and traffic as the "primary items of concern," according to John Byrne of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. About 100 people "crowded into a police station a block east of the stadium." Cubs Chair Tom Ricketts "wasn't on hand for the annual meeting." Team officials and city employees "spent most of their time talking about the past year." Meanwhile, the Cubs have 30 night games scheduled for the '13 season, and the team would like "many of its Friday afternoon games" to start at 3:05pm CT instead of 1:05pm (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/27). In Chicago, Paul Sullivan reports the Cubs "want more night games, but they haven't said exactly how many they would like to add." Cubs LF Alfonso Soriano would "like to see the city ordinance that limits the Cubs to only 30 night games at home through 2015 changed." If it was "up to him, he would reverse the day-night ratio of 51 days game to 30 night games" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/27).
LEAVING WRIGLEY? In Chicago, Phil Rosenthal writes of the Cubs potentially considering leaving Wrigley Field to build a new stadium in the suburb of Rosemont, Ill., "The history and aesthetics of a bygone era give Wrigley its value and make it worth preserving. They bind it to the team, its resolutely loyal fans and its neighborhood." That is why it "makes no sense for the Cubs to leave Wrigleyville for suburban Rosemont or anywhere else." Rosenthal: "The Rosemont feint, dangerous as it might be, would have more credibility if [Cubs Owner] the Ricketts family was openly exploring a variety of alternative sites." But they "aren't actively floating ideas such as a development on Chicago's West Side that could also include commercial and residential opportunities" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/27).
