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WME-IMG gives assist with plaza near Wrigley

The agency will take naming rights to market and handle programming for the area outside Wrigley Field.
Rendering: COURTESY OF HICKORY STREET CAPITAL
Editor’s note: This story is revised from the print edition.

WME-IMG has signed a long-term deal with Hickory Street Capital to sell naming rights and program events for a new plaza outside Wrigley Field.

The Ricketts family, owners of the Chicago Cubs, also owns Hickory Street Capital, the plaza's developer.

WME-IMG will brand and produce content for the “Park at Wrigley Field,” the working title of the 50,000-square-foot plaza, which will officially open next summer.

The naming-rights package does not include the ballpark but covers the Cubs’ new six-story office tower next to the park, which includes the team’s new headquarters plus restaurants and retail. The tower will open in March, said Crane Kenney, the team’s president of business operations.

Cubs officials for the past few years have pitched the plaza development as a potential year-round hub of activity in Wrigleyville, featuring live music, food and drink festivals and holiday productions. Now they have WME-IMG in their corner to help book events. The firm books 33,000 concert dates a year, said Mark Shapiro, WME-IMG’s chief content officer. It owns 23 food festivals, plus 25 fashion shows taking place in global destinations such as New York, Sydney, Berlin and Istanbul.

The model for the Park at Wrigley is L.A. Live, the entertainment district across from Staples Center, according to Shapiro. He was principally involved in putting an ESPN television studio in the district during his tenure with the sports network.

The difference is Wrigley Field is situated in the middle of a residential neighborhood. As a result, the community has regulations in place for scheduling special events apart from Cubs baseball.

Against that backdrop, the Cubs’ goal is to redefine the area outside Wrigley Field to create an “intersection of sports, entertainment and food, together, like it hasn’t happened before,” Kenney said. For WME-IMG, the opportunities are plentiful for programming the Park at Wrigley.

“Nothing is out of bounds,” Shapiro said. “This area is going to quickly become a signature spot for Chicago, a cultural center. Last year, they had eight concerts [inside Wrigley Field] and we definitely expect that number to go north … both inside and outside the ballpark. There could be movie nights, beer festivals, an adjunct of Second City, an offshoot of Taste of Chicago, a Rockefeller Center-style skating rink, something like Comic-Con … all on the plaza. It’s those kinds of events in a community that is so vibrant and active.”

The connection between Kenney and Shapiro led to Hickory Street Capital signing a deal with WME-IMG. They have known each other since both sat on the Chicago Tribune board of directors. Shapiro, a Chicago native and a lifelong Cubs fan, no longer holds a seat on the board.

The plaza will have a soft launch in April tied to Opening Day and a formal ribbon cutting in June, Kenney said.
 
It’s part of a combined $700 million renovation of Wrigley Field and mixed-use projects, extending to the office tower and the Hotel Zachary, across Clark Street. The 175-room hotel, a Starwood property, will open in spring 2018. Ballpark renovations expect to be completed by the 2020 season.

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