Will gridlock slow Wrigley Field sale?
Monday, Jan 21, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The quick sale won’t be so quick…
When Sam Zell’s $8.2 billion deal to take Tribune Co. private was announced on Opening Day last April, former Cubs President John McDonough said the ballclub probably would be sold by the end of the year.
But a proposal to sell Wrigley Field to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority has slowed progress on the Cubs’ sale, and team Chairman Crane Kenney said Saturday the company likely will own the team for the upcoming season.
And what’s the reason?
Kenney later told reporters any deal with the ISFA could take time because the Cubs need to gather political support from Mayor Richard Daley, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, Ald. Tom Tunney, state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz and state Sen. John Cullerton. Kenney said the company hoped to get a deal done on the ballpark by Opening Day on March 31.
I wouldn’t bet on it being that soon, considering all that’s happened with the transit bill, the gaming bill, the electric rate relief bill, the health care expansion, the budget vetoes, etc., etc., etc. Also, notice that Kenny didn’t mention Senate President Emil Jones. Jones may now feel slighted, which could complicate matters [just kidding… mostly].
The Wrigley Field sale is one reason to support gridlock. This is a goofy idea all around.
- jerry 101 - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 9:16 am:
You gotta love how sam zell is already acting as if this is a done deal.
There is no way that this deal should be done.
Make the owner of the team pay to keep up the team’s facilities.
- plutocrat03 - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 9:39 am:
Continues to be a loser of an idea. Here I thought the Republicans were the only party that supports the rich.
I suspect if one were to do a legitimate net worth calculation, anyone who reads this blog is financially more sound than the State of Illinois. The State is broke. Now is not the time to buy things it does not need.
- JohnR - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 10:00 am:
Also notice that the original article referred to the speaker as “John Madigan.”
So, take it for what its worth.
- Levois - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 11:23 am:
This impending sale looks like bad business.
- capitol view - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 12:56 pm:
Stories on how George Bush made his personal fortune aren’t helping Zell here. Bush became a part owner of the Texas Rangers, then had the Texas legislature give him a new stadium. He then sold his partnership interest for a cool $20 million profit just for himself.
- Captain America - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 2:19 pm:
Sam Zell must think he can buy the support necessary to get the Sports Authority to purchase Wrigley Field. I think any politician who supports this boondoggle will be puttiog their political career in jeopardy. Major League Baseball would never support moving the Cubs out of Chicago - the whole premise of the transaction is suspect. The new owners,’ whoever they are, should be willing to undertake the obligation to maintain and refurbish Wrigley Field. If they are unwilling to do so then they should not be buying the Cubs.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 2:20 pm:
If I were Sara Feigenholtz and John Cullerton, this is the last thing I’d support, and Tunney has already sent signals he’s opposed.
Right now, Tunney, Feigenholtz and Cullerton are perfectly positioned to be fighting for neighborhood residents, brokering deals when they can.
If the public becomes OWNER of the stadium, however, those three would be held responsible for neighborhood problems, and Rod Blagojevich will use it as a means to hold them hostage.
Not a smart position to get yourself into.
- Corporate Welfare Sux - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 3:11 pm:
Jim Thompson was the lobbyist for the Chicago Bears when they got their sweetheart deal for a new stadium paid for by the hotel and motel tax in chicago.
When the State of Illinois has issues with education funding, and transit and a need for real infrastructure improvements, and lack of decent health care and unemployment on the rise, it make me SICK to my stomach to think of JIm Thompson and Sam Zell trying to enrich themselves at the expense of all these other much more important priorities. Isn’t Sam Zell worth 4 billion ? Why does he need to stick it to taxpayers to get even more rich ?
- irishpirate - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 4:30 pm:
It is a silly idea. Zell needs more money? Let him put some of the Mayor’s relatives on his payroll. Maybe that will help speed things up.
What the Cubs need, besides pitching, hitting and fielding is a new stadium. Wrigley is a dump. Knock it down and build a new stadium. More seats, skyboxes, and tax dollars taken from silly suburban types who just have to be at Wrigley.
- Anony - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 5:07 pm:
Rich, did you have a problem with IFSA when it was created to bail out the White Sox?
The idea is not that goofy, really. From what I have read, the whole idea of the sale to the state is to keep the Cubs playing in WRIGLEY FIELD. Not Tribune Co. Wrigley Field or Bud Light Wrigley Field, but WRIGLEY FIELD. There are three national treasures in MLB: Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, and Yankee Stadium. One of them is being torn down.
The state has an economic and cultural interest in keeping the Cubs at Clark and Addison for as long as is possible and this deal would keep them there for thirty years, regardless of ownership. Wrigley and its neighborhood is as much a part of Chicago as Navy Pier, the Sear’s Tower, Shedd Aquarium, all of the museums, and Michigan Avenue. I know Cubs haters don’t like to admit it, but people go to Wrigley just to look at it, like I did when I was in New York and Boston during the baseball offseason. I would bet if the Red Sox ever threatened moving or naming rights, Massachusettes or the city would step up and prevent that from happening.
- Anony - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 5:13 pm:
Also, from what i read (there have been different versions of the deal in the press) the whole deal would be through IFSAs bonding authority, so there would be no “sticking it to the taxpayers.” Both versions of the deal I have seen show the lease of the stadium by ownership would pay off the bonds throughout the thirty year period.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 5:23 pm:
I can’t see going thru all of this just so your little name isn’t changed. Ridiculous.
- irishpirate - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 5:30 pm:
Knock it down. A dump is a dump no matter if part of it is covered in ivy. By the way the main reason most people go to Cubs games is to drink and ogle members of the opposite sex. That is not meant as criticism, just fact.
Now I know if Wrigley ever got torn down Bob Sirott and thousands of other people would likely throw themselves in front of the bulldozers. Yet I wonder, would the savings to social security be worth the death and despair?
There are genuine landmarks in this city that need to be saved. Wrigley ain’t one of em’.
Do the right thing…..tear her down…….
- Silent Majority - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 6:10 pm:
To Anony 5:07
Thank you Gov./Lobbyist Thompson for your post.
1) MLB would never let the Cubs leave Chicago.
2) No owner in their right mind would move the Cubs to the burbs.
Zell realizes that he can get more money upfront for the Cubs if they have a refurbished stadium to rent rather than an old stadium to own that needs 10’s of millions of $ to rebuild and pays property taxes every year.
- A Citizen - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 7:42 pm:
Wrigley is such a nostalgic historic place that deeply devoted fans have had their cremated ashes spread over the field for decades. Truly testimony to the spirit that once was the Cubbies. Within the last year the grounds containing those ashes have been bulldozed up and unceremoniously trucked off to some dumpyard so they can “modernize” the field, including drainage, new sod, etc. The ghost of the curse of the Billy Goat when the State “buys” it will become the Curse of Blagojevich! This national treasure has been neglected for decades and is trying its best to crumble into the earth. Reviving the spirit of the Wrigley Cubs will be an amazing feat, if it even has a chance at success.