Cubs Playoff Tickets Are Easy To Get.. If You're An Alderman

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 4, 2016 2:34PM

Wrigley Field / Getty Images / Photo: Jonathan Daniel

As you probably know, Cubs playoff tickets are just about impossible to get. Multiply Kanye’s weekend homecoming by Hamilton and you’re starting to get near the level of demand. But the Sun-Times has a surefire workaround to get you into Wrigley for the Cubbies’ playoff push: be an alderman.

More than 70 percent of aldermen are taking advantage of a sweetheart deal that allows each of the City Council’s 50 members a chance to buy two terrace or upper-deck tickets per home postseason game, throughout the playoff run, reports the Sun-Times. Illinois state representatives from Chicago districts are granted the same opportunity.

Cubs spokesman Julian Green stressed on Monday that aldermen and Chicago lawmakers receive no discount for the tickets and therefore the benefit creates no conflict of interest. But the timing is certainly curious: the program started last year, just on the heels of the City Council’s approval of development in and around Wrigley Field, including a lucrative (if tightly regulated) outdoor drinking plaza.

Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), whose ward includes Wrigelyville, and Ald Danny Solis (25th) are among those accepting the tickets offer. Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) was among those who declined. “We should pay market price — just like anyone else. What they’re going for on the market — not what the face value is,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

Of course, if you failed to have the foresight to run for and be elected to the City Council, there's always the secondary market. Standing-room-only tickets for (dare we say it) World Series tickets start for as little as two grand.