Zell will consider selling naming rights to Wrigley Field

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, I haven't looked through the other threads today. If it has, mods please lock.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3266721

 

I really hate Zell. I mean really hate him.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Much like Old Orchard, they can name it whatever the hell they want, but people are going to call it Wrigley.

[Bruce Miles]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, I haven't looked through the other threads today. If it has, mods please lock.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3266721

 

I really hate Zell. I mean really hate him.

 

If not Zell, the next group would sell the naming rights, too.

[KenCub]

Unfortunately, selling the venue's name is the way of the sporting world now. I don't like it, but it ain't going away any time soon.

I just can't imagine Wrigley Field by any other name - I know most people get used to the new names over time, but Wrigley Field is one of those places (like Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park) that have become more than just a sporting venue.

It's very shady of Zell to try to put the heat on the Wrigley Co. to purchase "what they've been getting for free". They haven't been getting anything "for free" - that was the name of the park because it was the name of the Cubs' owner.

Zell does seem to be having fun getting under Cubs fans' skin.

[The Voice of Reason]

Let the Wrigley company pay for the naming rights. They've been getting free adverting for years.

[KenCub]

Let the Wrigley company pay for the naming rights. They've been getting free adverting for years.

I never think of gum when I hear "Wrigley Field". In fact, when I hear "Wrigley", even in a gum commercial, I think of the Cubs. So should the Cubs pay them for the free subliminal advertising?

:D

[TruffleShuffle]

Unfortunately, selling the venue's name is the way of the sporting world now. I don't like it, but it ain't going away any time soon.

 

as you mentioned, this has not been done with the older, most venerable stadiums. Yankee Stadium is still Yankee Stadium; Fenway Park is still Fenway Park; Dodger Stadium is still Dodger Stadium. In fact, there is no precedent whatsoever for slapping a corporate name on a 50+ year old stadium. I don't buy the idea that this was inevitable, that's completely bogus.

[Old Style]

I can't post what I really think of Sam Zell on here or I well get banned.

 

:evil:

[KenCub]

as you mentioned, this has not been done with the older, most venerable stadiums. Yankee Stadium is still Yankee Stadium; Fenway Park is still Fenway Park; Dodger Stadium is still Dodger Stadium. In fact, there is no precedent whatsoever for slapping a corporate name on a 50+ year old stadium. I don't buy the idea that this was inevitable, that's completely bogus.

 

It shouldn't be inevitable, but it is in Wrigley's case.

Those other owners must have more respect for the tradition and history of their ballparks than Zell does for the Cubs and Wrigley Field. He's just treating the park and the team as what they are to him - pieces of a larger acquisition that he has to unload if he wants to keep his White Sox ownership stake. They don't mean anything to him beyond the money they can fetch.

It's his right to sell the name, whether we like it or not. I sure don't like it.

[UMFan83]

So in like the 6 month period he apathetically owns the team he manages to make only one major contribution, and that is to change the name of the most historic park in baseball.

 

Hopefully its something tasteful like "Chase Park at Wrigley Field" or "Autozone Presents Wrigley Field" something dumb like that so everyone can basically still call it Wrigley.

 

For those that think that people would still call it Wrigley, well what happened when Comiskey sold its name?

[Tyrant]

For those that think that people would still call it Wrigley, well what happened when Comiskey sold its name?

 

I still call it Comiskey.

 

And it's a flipping NAME of a ballpark. Who really cares? There will still be baseball, there will still be ivy, there will still be sun and girls in tank tops and beer and, eventually, failure to win a World Series.

 

I'm neutral about the situation.

[jmajew]

So let me get this straight. Zell has already said he is going to sell the Cubs and Wrigley separately. However, before he sells Wrigley he wants to sell the naming rights, so he can pocket an extra 30mil, and stick the new owner of Wrigley with the name?

 

For some reason that seems very unethical to me...and in my mind may cause the value of Wrigley to drop to any potential buyer.

[CuseCubFan69]

Let the Wrigley company pay for the naming rights. They've been getting free adverting for years.

I never think of gum when I hear "Wrigley Field". In fact, when I hear "Wrigley", even in a gum commercial, I think of the Cubs. So should the Cubs pay them for the free subliminal advertising?

:D

 

You've never had Wrigleys Old Fashioned flavored gum?

[Roast]

I hope Sam Zell gets his Wang stuck in his zipper today. And every day for the rest of his life.

[Banedon]

I wonder if they'd do something like "Wrigley Field presented by Old Style"

[Derwood]

ha ha ha. "free" advertising for Wrigley Gum. HA HA HA HA

 

dumb

[Old Style]

I wonder if they'd do something like "Wrigley Field presented by Old Style"

I don't think my bank account is big enough for that.

[CuseCubFan69]

I wonder if they'd do something like "Wrigley Field presented by Old Style"

I don't think my bank account is big enough for that.

 

Everything is bigger in Texas and we all know your bank account is huge. Now go do what you were born to do and sponsor those Cubs!

[Banedon]

I wonder if they'd do something like "Wrigley Field presented by Old Style"

I don't think my bank account is big enough for that.

 

It's clear that you just don't love the Cubs enough.

[Derwood]

This is one of those situations where you wish some ex-Cub player would pony up the dough to buy the naming rights. I think fans would be fine if it was renamed Ernie Banks Field or something. Sadly, with the price of naming rights these days, no ex-ballplayers have the cash to do that

[CuseCubFan69]

If they ever did get a team in Vegas, I'd love to see who would sponsor that stadium.

[seanimal]

Wouldn't it be funny if Mark Cuban bought the naming rights and didn't change the name? Boy, that'd be a "game, set, match" with this crowd.

[Springfield_CUBBY]

Unfortunately, selling the venue's name is the way of the sporting world now. I don't like it, but it ain't going away any time soon.

 

I agree, but in my (warped) mind, I think the money pocketed from a naming rights sale should go to further support the actual baseball club. In other words, I see naming rights as a necessary evil - we whore ourselves out a bit, get past it, and wake up the next morning with some extra dough! What ticks me about this is that it sounds like Zell is going take the money and run . . . and leave nothing on the nightstand for the Cubs to even get a cab home . . .!

[UK1679666180]

You don't become that successful w/out having to make sound business decisions, he's a businessman 1st and everything else takes a back seat.

 

He views the Cubs and its assets as investments, I don't blame him as it doesn't change my opinion on the Cubs or Wrigley, Wrigley doesn't lose it's appeal or anything like that.

 

Yes, Wrigley Field does sound better than potential corporate names, but I don't fault Zell for doing what his best for him.

 

This is what separates someone like Cuban from someone like Zell. There are alot more buyers like Zell than Cuban in such an exclusive market.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Isn't the Marquee protected as a landmark. So, even if they sell the name, the Marquee would still say Wrigley Field, right? Or does Zell have enough pull to get permission to remove or change the marquee?