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* After all the hyperventilating in the media last week about Sam Zell’s threats to sell naming rights to Wrigley Field, ask that the park’s historic landmark status be weakened or even tossed out, and then move ahead with the sale of the building to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, I thought I’d call Big Jim and see what he had to say…
Former Gov. Jim Thompson is in charge of crafting the sale. Gov. Rod Blagojevich asked Thompson to get this done, and he’s doing his best, but he admitted last week that he was “presenting this idea at the worst possible time.”
Still, Thompson said, “Everybody should calm down about Zell or destroying Wrigley Field or putting up some sort of name.”
Thompson said he wouldn’t do anything to “destroy the charm” of Wrigley Field if the state buys the park and leases it to the new Cubs owners. “I love the Cubs,” he said.
But what about all that talk of relaxing or even abandoning the stadium’s landmark status? Thompson vowed to “keep those elements of Wrigley which are landmarked and which the city won’t agree to change,” like the signage out front. However, he said, he needed to make sure the park was “habitable” for the teams. Plus, luxury suites need to be added to produce revenues.
“We need to retain the charm and ambiance which brings a full house every game day and make it a decent, inhabitable revenue-producing stadium.”
Even without Zell’s remarks, Thompson would have a tough time. Illinois politics is an absolute mess right now. The Democrats are fighting each other, and nothing is getting done. The budget is deeply in the red. The governor’s adviser Tony Rezko is about to go on trial for corruption. It couldn’t get much worse.
And I admit my inherit bias at the end of the column…
All I know is Thompson’s game this spring will surely be more entertaining than anything played at Wrigley.
Go Sox.
* A sale to the state could be coming soon…
After hiring engineers to determine the cost of renovating 94-year-old Wrigley Field, the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority will make an offer to the Tribune Co. next week to buy the historic ballpark, a top official said Monday.
* Blair Kamin of the Tribune is dead-set against relaxing the landmark status…
Like any property owner, Zell has the right to request that landmark status be relaxed or even revoked. But he shouldn’t get special treatment, especially not if it endangers more of Chicago’s architectural gems. Mayor Richard M. Daley and his planners need to step up to the plate. For what’s at stake goes far beyond the name Wrigley Field.
* Since I wrote the above column, the Cubs have sent out a much milder spokesperson to talk about naming rights…
“We’re sensitive and I would think we would get some credit to the way we’ve run the ball park since the Tribune has owned. We haven’t ruined the ball park,” said Crane Kenney, the Tribune Co. executive in charge of the Cubs. […]
“I remember when lights were introduced and a number of people who said, ‘Nothing will be the same, the park will be ruined and the atmosphere is going to change.’ And it hasn’t,” Kenney added.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 4:47 am
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Who cares? The field is a dump, the teams stinks, and the Tribune is in decline and a shadow of its former right wing self.
With all the problems that city dwellers face today, why would they care if that rusty old sign is hanging on that crumbling wall.
I hope that they just let the place continue to rot. Remember to wear your hard hats, Cub fans.
Comment by Bill Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 7:41 am
Perhaps we need to learn who is paying for Mr. Thompson’s billable hours in this matter.
Is that what all the money going to Thompson’s firm from the Gov’s account was for?
Just another plan to fleece the taxpayers and patrons of the Cubs. Welfare for the rich lives.
If they wiggle out of the landmark status issue, it will be a sign that there will be open season on all properties with that kind of designation.
Comment by plutocrat03 Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 7:56 am
2 comments. First, my big beef with this is only the purchase bny the State, the State needs to stay out of this. Second, tear it down and build a new one. Look at new Stadiums like coors field! you can keep an old style atmosphere in the park while building a modern faicility. Old and historical is not always good. Notive nobody argue to keep prisons and metal faicilites in their oriinal shape for historical purposes and amibiance? the ball park needs to be a functional and operational business. Its an outdated outmoded hulk at this point.
Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 8:53 am
Maybe they can hire the same crew that did the Soldier Field renovation. That turned out great!
Comment by Frustrated Republican Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 9:43 am
Wrigley Field is a decrepit, malodorous and rapidly disintegrating edifice that is in need of demolition or substantial renovation. Anybody who thinks Zell is going to do either with his own money is out of their minds. He’s too smart to be saddled with a falling down shrine and will be all too happy to see it go. Cubs fans should as well…
Comment by chiatty Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 10:03 am
The merits aside, it’s refreshing to see the real governor back at work.
I don’t understand why a private owner can’t restore Wrigley but as a baseball fan and a Chicagoan,I know it needs to be done. Babe Ruth played there. Josh Gibson played there. It’s Wrigley and Fenway now, the old parks are gone. Wrigley is a national treasure. So was the old Comiskey, RIP.
Terrence Man, Field of Dreams? “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh… people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.”
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 10:27 am
MLB players regularly name it as one of the worst fields on which to play.
Comment by Fan of the Game Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 10:29 am
I think it is a diabolical plot by the guv to rename the field after himself.
Comment by For Real Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 10:52 am
“Everybody should calm down…”
This is the kind of comment you would hear from an old pro who suddenly discovered they lost their Midas touch, isn’t it?
Calm down everyone! He needs some time to come up with a new angle to sell this.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 10:54 am
the state needs to learn to keep its hands off of owning facilities for the benefit of private business.
this is a straight up effort to make taxpayers pump public money into sam zell’s money trough.
Screw sam zell. I’m not paying for his condo at the spire.
Comment by jerry 101 Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 10:58 am
Ghost - Are you sure it makes economic sense to tear Wrigley down and re-build it in place?
I do not think this is this case, but we shall see.
One thing is for sure, the new owners will find a way to extract the maximum value for their investment. Neighborhood ambiance and what is best for the residents of the City of Chicago probably won’t come in to play unless they (rightfully) pony up their share and become stakeholders.
Comment by Leroy Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 11:01 am
Once again the state and its politicians are meddling in something they know nothing about.
Sell the team and property to the highest bidder and let them sort out what important to the baseball culture.
Anything else is sheer lunacy, perhaps worse.
Comment by plutocrat03 Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 11:43 am
Leroy,it may not. My main concenr is that the State should not be invovled at all. They could also convert wrigley into a historic site, and build a real stadium elsewhere. Nostalgia is nice, but this needs to be a functional facility as well. Not all change and modernization is bad.
Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 12:21 pm
SO tradition once again goes second to the dollar-and Thompson’s orchestrating-what a surprise …not
Comment by red dog Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 1:48 pm
Wrigley Field is a national treasure, and that stadium should be modernized but never scrapped in its essentials. If I want a video-tech surround-sound, I’ll go to a club. I go to a ballpark to watch the baseball, and sit close to the action, and not be visually and audio-assaulted by countless advertisers, and there are few better places for that in all of baseball then at dear old scrappy Wrigley.
I don’t have any particular commitment to the name. “Wrigley” has become to me synonymous with 100+ years of failure and despair, so if the Cubs wanted to turn over a new leaf, a new owner, and a new name for the park, that doesn’t concern me in the least. “The Cell” is a plenty cool new name too.
If the Cubs played more night games they’d be a better team and win (slightly) more games, so I’m all in favor of that.
Any taxpayer subsidy to Zell via the state of Illinois is ridiculous. I love the Cubs but if these are my true options, let them scrap Wrigley and move the whole operation to Schaumburg. Better death than dishonor.
Comment by ZC Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 2:33 pm
Wrigley sells out virtually every game. There are 20,000 on the season-ticket waiting list. The entire field has been redone. Thousands of new seats in the bleachers and hundreds of new luxury seats at field level. The only reason they want to gut Wrigley is so they can shove in more luxury suites for the rich, so that the fans in the upper deck are further away like the South Side Mallpark. Enough greed already. The place works. It’s a landmark. Leave it alone, Gov. Thompson, and spend your time bailing your buddy George Ryan from prison rather than bailing out a rich owner.
Comment by BeanBagger Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 3:50 pm
I’m staying out of this one by pleading that this must be a “guy thing”.
Comment by Annonymous Tuesday, Mar 4, 08 @ 9:28 pm