Cubs Apply For Permit For Right Field Sign, Further Antagonizes Rooftop Clubs
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 27, 2014 10:00PM
A rendering of the proposed sign in right field that has been a issue of contention between the Cubs and the rooftop club owners surrounding Wrigley Field. (Image provided by the Chicago Cubs)
The Chicago Cubs drew another line in the sand in their ongoing dispute with the owners of the rooftop clubs surrounding Wrigley Field by formally filing a permit to install a sign in right field that will most certainly obstruct the views of the clubs along Sheffield Avenue and inching the two sides closer to a legal challenge.
The Cubs quietly filed the permit application online Jan. 24. The Chicago City Council already approved of the sign, along with a Jumbotron in left field, as part of the Cubs’ plans to renovate Wrigley Field from a crumbling beer garden into a modern baseball palace last July. But the Ricketts family has long said they would not begin renovations unless they received assurances from the Wrigleyville Rooftops Association they would not go to court to preserve their uninterrupted views inside the ballpark.
The Cubs have been under pressure from Mayor Rahm Emanuel to get the renovation process started and team spokesman Julian Green said the permit application is part of their longstanding goal to “move forward with this sign in right field prior to the 2014 season.” The détente between the Cubs and rooftop owners began to simmer again recently as differences over the sizes of the right field sign and Jumbotron brought months of negotiations to a halt.
Alderman Patrick O’Connor (40th), Mayor Emanuel’s floor leader on City Council, spun the permit application as a positive development in the Cubs’ $500 million plan. Green said the right field sign should not be mistaken as a sign that the Cubs are all in on erecting the Jumbotron next and expressed confidence the ballclub and rooftop owners would be able to reach a settlement without litigation.
Rooftop owners have 10 years remaining on their deal with the Cubs for unfettered access inside Wrigley Field and last week filed a defamation lawsuit against sports consultant Marc Ganis, who described the rooftop owners in a 2013 Sun-Times article as “carpetbaggers stealing the product paid for by others for their own profit and, thereby, stopping a $300 million investment, 2,000 permanent jobs and 800 construction jobs along with tens of millions of new city taxes.”