Did Emanuel open the door to Cub deal?
Monday, May 28, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
It looks like the controversy over Joe Ricketts’ conservative politics won’t stand in the way of a $300 million deal to renovate Wrigley Field, but it could pave the way for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to play hardball with the Cubs.
With Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts running around doing damage control and admittedly in a weakened political position, it’s advantage Emanuel — which is precisely where Chicago’s controlling mayor likes to be. […]
Emanuel said “the point has been made” and that he sees no need to prolong the dispute, nor will he allow the controversy to sabotage Wrigley negotiations that were rounding third and heading home before Joe Ricketts started the political fire.
“We will [talk] at the appropriate time. … At the appropriate time, they’ll represent their interests, and I’ll represent the taxpayers,” the mayor said.
* Greg Hinz is a bit dubious, and so, by the way, am I…
In his comments today, Mr. Emanuel is quoted as saying “the point has been made” and that he “will (talk to the team about Wrigley) at the appropriate time.”
I wouldn’t want to read too much into that. The “appropriate time” might never arrive.
But Tom Ricketts took it as a good sign.
In an interview earlier today on the Mully and Hanley Show on WSCR-AM/670, Mr. Ricketts said he had “pretty good discussions” with the city until the flap. “We need to keep going and put it behind us,” he said.
* And the Tribune wants it slow-walked…
A Cubs deal needs to be vetted thoroughly and publicly, in the interest of not treating taxpayers as an ATM.
Take your time, get it right. And then let’s all have a long talk about it.
Discuss.
- wordslinger - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 11:50 am:
I’m sure Emanuel will be on board eventually. But I don’ see any urgency from any public body, especially the GA, to flop for the Ricketts anytime soon. Too many tough votes going on right now.
The Ricketts have no leverage. There’s no reasonable alternative location on the horizon and, as hard it is to believe, the Cubs are on pace for the worst season in their history.
Think about that a little bit.
I’m glad the Tribbies want to take it slow. That’s quite a change from when Zell, Blago and Big Jim were trying to lay off the liability of Wrigley on taxpayers to grease the wheels for the Ricketts purchase.
By the way, reports had the Ricketts purchase price going down about $150 million when that deal didn’t go through.
- We need jobs now! - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 12:18 pm:
“But I don’ see any urgency ”
Jobs, man….
The construction lobby is drooling over $500 million in contracts that are going to be doled out here.
- amalia - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 12:30 pm:
as a Sox fan, and as a taxpayer, I would love to see any Cubs proposal go up in smoke. but, the Rahm outrage bit is probably just a part of the dance of the deal, which will get done eventually. what that is, well that’s the question. it’s sort of interesting to see the community decide what they do and do not want in the proposal, with Ald. Tunney saying that we are not Boston. how we exemplify Chicago area culture with or without the assistance of government dollars is an interesting topic.
- The Captain - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 12:59 pm:
Hold all this until fall and you get a) time for everyone to cool off and b)it puts you past the election so you can see what other lunatic ideas Ricketts decides to fund.
- Mouthy - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 12:59 pm:
Hey! Hey! No taxpayer money period says this Cub fan.
- Billy Dennis - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 2:02 pm:
I may have to stop being a Cubs fan.
- Jeff Trigg - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 2:05 pm:
Emil Jones Jr. replaced Gov. Jim Thompson as head of the Illinois Sports Facility Authority. Then we have Dennis Gannon ($158,000/year pension after a 1 day re-hire) on the board along with Elzie Higginbottom. Those are the people being entrusted to hand out subsidies to the 1 percenter team owners and players. I’d say the Cubs and Ricketts have plenty of leverage.
Exempt the Cubs from collecting the amusement tax on their tickets and be done with it. They did that for Lollapalooza after all.
- Jeff Trigg - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 2:10 pm:
Billy, if thats the case, and the Dems make this happen, you’ll have to stop being a Democrat also. Of course if you really cared about subsidies to the rich sports teams, you would have stopped being a Democrat fan when they handed out more than $1 billion to the Sox and Bears teams and rich owners.
- Aaron - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 2:43 pm:
Oh, Jeff. How do you explain GOP Jim Thompson giving away things to the White Sox his whole life? From a stadium to a steakhouse!
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-27/news/ct-met-sox-bacardi-20111027_1_white-sox-new-restaurant-bacardi
- western illinois - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 2:53 pm:
Joe Ricketts is funding a movie on Obamas Kenyan anti-colonial rage-Saturdays New York Times
- wordslinger - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 3:07 pm:
Western, I thought you were making gag. But you’re not.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/26/us/politics/joe-ricketts-finds-new-role-in-anti-obama-campaign.html
This just keeps getting better/worse depending on your perspective, but definitely weirder either way.
I never understood the perceived negativity among the full-mooners of someone being “anti-colonial” when it came to Brit rule.
Unless I misread my history pretty badly, I’m quite sure George Washington, John Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, et. al. had a violent “anti-colonial rage” toward the Brits.
Are the anti-Obama types proposing a return to Brit colonial rule? If so, many of their actions and positions all of a sudden make a lot of sense.
- western illinois - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 3:41 pm:
Wordslinger the only thing that makes sense is that much of the modern GOP is nihilst. Cullerton was catching on when he realized “negotiating” was simply to harm the democrats. He doesnt seem to have caught on that everything the Republicans do is to hurt the democrats. I could very easily see the penion bill hit the house floor and have all the republicans bail at the last minute saying”its a stealth tax increase we are against it” I dont know if they have reached that point but the national ones sure would……
The PPP pollin Illinois showed over a third of GOP primary voters dont believ in evolution. It was off the charts in Alabama so it follows global warming is a hoax …helping the one percent really helps you …..Obama is a Kenyan Muslim andti colonialist athiets Martian or whatever.
If crazy wins you the next election and the democrats like Lucy and Carlie brown willingly self destruct well all the better.
And its really self destruct if Emanual has anything to do with these rich incometant baseball team oowners
- DuPage Dave - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 4:32 pm:
As this farce moves forward, can we please stop the Cubs and their media surrogates from referring to the city’s amusement tax as something that is paid by the Cubs? The ticket buyers pay the amusement tax, not the Cubs.
You can’t honestly say that a deal should be worked out where the Cubs are relieved of their responsibility to pay the amusement tax. I heard a sports “reporter” regurgitating this bit of Cubs-speak on Friday. Just plain disinformation.
What the Ricketts family wants is for the city to levy an amusement tax on ticket buyers and turn those tax receipts over to the family. A nice deal form them if they can get it. I fully expect Emmanuel to roll over for them.
- Jeff Trigg - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 5:05 pm:
DuPage Dave - If there was no amusement tax on Cubs tickets, economic theory shows the Cubs could charge more for their tickets without their ticket buyers seeing an overall increase.
Lollapalooza was relieved of their responsibility to pay the amusement tax. Apparently that was an hoest way to benefit Rahm’s brother and Daley’s wife.
The proposal I’ve seen does not include any new amusement tax being levied or the current amusement tax being increased, so I don’t know where you got that. It also doesn’t include a 2% hotel tax, like the Bears and White Sox are using now that could instead be used on other things. It does ask that once the current level of amusement taxes are collected, $16.1 million/year, that the tax collections beyond that $16.1 million already going to city be used to cover the money borrowed for stadium improvements. Not that I agree with it, but that is what they are talking about.
I just wish the Cubs haters/Obama defenders would be consistent with their outrage that the Cubs might get a deal. Anything being talked about pales immensely in comparison to what the Sox, Bears, etc. have already gotten. I’d prefer to see us stop giving tax collections to rich people, entertainment, professional sports, and everything else that isn’t essential.
- wordslinger - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 5:11 pm:
–I just wish the Cubs haters/Obama defenders would be consistent with their outrage that the Cubs might get a deal. Anything being talked about pales immensely in comparison to what the Sox, Bears, etc. have already gotten.–
Who’s defending the Sox and Bears deals? They were both lousy, with the Sox deal being the worst of all.
Presumably, the city could charge the Cubs for the extra police, fire, transportation, sanitation and other resources that are devoted to game and concert days?
- John Parnell - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 5:19 pm:
Ricketts knew he needed more money when he bought the team. He should issue stock in the Cubs and raise the money he needs that way. Thats what the Packers did.
- Jeff Trigg - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 5:37 pm:
“Who’s defending the Sox and Bears deals?” - Everyone who continues to support the politicians that gave them those deals and aren’t calling for the ISFA to be disbanded and those assets sold.
“Presumably, the city could charge the Cubs for the extra police, fire, transportation, sanitation and other resources that are devoted to game and concert days?” - Sure, if you want to treat everyone else equally that get services like that. Can we start charging Daley, Quinn, and the other politicians that receive security detail services for the costs of that? And the NATO participants should get a big bill also? I doubt those services the Cubs are getting cost more than the $16.1 million in amusement taxes already being collected, but if you’ve got the math I’d like to see it.
- wordslinger - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 5:43 pm:
–Sure, if you want to treat everyone else equally that get services like that. Can we start charging Daley, Quinn, and the other politicians that receive security detail services for the costs of that? And the NATO participants should get a big bill also?–
Commercial enterprise = security for major public officials. Got it.
Why wander into the absurd? And I believe the NATO participants were invited by the city. That would just be bad manners to charge them. Unless it serves some abstraction in a rigid ideology.
Who’s going to buy the Cell, anyway?
- Jeff Trigg - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 7:01 pm:
Who’s going to buy the Cell, anyway? - China. European football/soccer teams. Owners of the Skyway. Chicago AFL-CIO had $170 million to invest in the Spire if it happened, they could join the ownership with any number of compatriots. Baseball players union and retirees. MLB itself could afford it. Or Reinsdorf and the Sox owners themselves might want to own it. Plenty of options instead of how it has been done. Its small minded to assume only government can do it with taxes, let alone that is the best option to do it.
The public funding of the Cell and spaceship was absurd. The policies in place are already absurd, so why not some more absurdity to bring in government revenues? The rigid ideology being displayed here is that its fine to handout taxes to rich people.
How many of the top 100 or so salaries in Illinois belong to sports players? Rose, Boozer, Deng, Noah, Hamilton, Soriano, Dunn, Dempster, Zambrano, Marmol, Garza, Byrd, Peavy, Pierzynsky, Rios, Konerko, Floyd, Thornton, Ramirez, Urlacher, Forte, Cutler, Peppers, Briggs, Tillman, Marshall, all make more than $5 million/year. Its absurd to subsidize them because of a rigid ideology.
- wordslinger - Monday, May 28, 12 @ 7:11 pm:
–Who’s going to buy the Cell, anyway? - China.–
Well, that could make for some new food choices in the concourse.
You’re missing the point. There’s one possible tenant, 81 annual dates and it will be obsolete in 20 years, the way baseball stadiums go these days.
No one’s saying public money was the way to go. It was a rotten deal for the public then and would be a White Sox Elephant for a private investor now.