Rooftop Ruckus Raised Over Wrigley Jumbotron

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Feb 17, 2009 4:20PM

At this year's much-discussed NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field, two jumbotrons were erected in the outfield bleachers to give fans with questionable sight lines a chance to see some of the action. But now one rooftop owner, furious over the fact that the video screens blocked the view of the ice for his customers, is refusing to pay the Cubs a 2008 profit-sharing payment out of protest. The owner is Anthony Racky, who owns Lakeview Baseball Club (3633 N. Sheffield). Per the Sun-Times:

The Lake View Baseball Club sold out for the game between the Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings. But club attorney Paul Bach said fans who had trouble seeing the rink would be given a future discount or "freebie," and Racky wants the Cubs to pay for it. He also wants the Cubs to promise there won't be any future obstructions.

Until those things happen, Bach said, the 2008 payment would be withheld.

"If they want us to live up to the agreement, we want them to live up to their side," Bach said. "It's not about the money. It's about the fact that we paid for an unobstructed view."

Of the 17 rooftop owners, Racky was the only one to withhold payment for the 2008 profit-sharing plan. While the Cubs' vice president of community relations, Mike Lufrano, expressed an interest to resolve the issue before the start of the 2009 season, other sources told the Sun-Times that the team could put up banners to block the Racky's view if he didn't pay. Attorney Bach responded to that threat with a dismissal of his own: "They've been threatening to do that for 20 years. They can't because it would violate all the other agreements. And it only makes them look stupid." The last deal with rooftop owners was struck in 2004 when owners agreed to pay the team 17 percent of their gross and the Cubs promised to lower the rate if business was negatively affected by the 2006 bleacher expansion.