Wrigley Renovation Thread

[Sammy Sofa]

"Pray he doesn't alter it further."

-Jay-Z

[jersey cubs fan]

Looks like a deal might be nearing

 

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/04/02/sources-wrigley-renovation-deal-could-be-done-by-home-opener/

 

But Levine was told the reason the deal is taking so long is not the rooftops, it’s having to start all over again after the Cubs decided not to seek any city funding for the $500 million stadium and hotel project.

 

Someone explain this to me like I'm a 5 year old. Why would it be a problem that Ricketts is paying for it without city funding?

 

It's not a problem as much as it is a restart in the negotiations. The Cubs wanted to do X and have the government contribute Y to the process. Now they want to do X + Z and have the government contribute 0 to the process.

 

The Cubs want more now in exchange for no financial assistance.

[Banedon]

Looks like a deal might be nearing

 

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/04/02/sources-wrigley-renovation-deal-could-be-done-by-home-opener/

 

But Levine was told the reason the deal is taking so long is not the rooftops, it’s having to start all over again after the Cubs decided not to seek any city funding for the $500 million stadium and hotel project.

 

Someone explain this to me like I'm a 5 year old. Why would it be a problem that Ricketts is paying for it without city funding?

 

It's not a problem as much as it is a restart in the negotiations. The Cubs wanted to do X and have the government contribute Y to the process. Now they want to do X + Z and have the government contribute 0 to the process.

 

The Cubs want more now in exchange for no financial assistance.

 

But hasn't that been going on for quite a while now? I thought when the Cubs presented all those mockup drawings and such, that they were already planning on doing it all themselves?

 

Just doesn't seem like it's really "starting over" at this point. Maybe I'm being too literal.

[Guest]

Looks like a deal might be nearing

 

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/04/02/sources-wrigley-renovation-deal-could-be-done-by-home-opener/

 

But Levine was told the reason the deal is taking so long is not the rooftops, it’s having to start all over again after the Cubs decided not to seek any city funding for the $500 million stadium and hotel project.

 

Someone explain this to me like I'm a 5 year old. Why would it be a problem that Ricketts is paying for it without city funding?

 

It's not a problem as much as it is a restart in the negotiations. The Cubs wanted to do X and have the government contribute Y to the process. Now they want to do X + Z and have the government contribute 0 to the process.

 

The Cubs want more now in exchange for no financial assistance.

 

But hasn't that been going on for quite a while now? I thought when the Cubs presented all those mockup drawings and such, that they were already planning on doing it all themselves?

 

Just doesn't seem like it's really "starting over" at this point. Maybe I'm being too literal.

 

 

Starting over from where they were, say, a year (or more) ago... not a few months ago.

[jersey cubs fan]

But hasn't that been going on for quite a while now? I thought when the Cubs presented all those mockup drawings and such, that they were already planning on doing it all themselves?

 

Just doesn't seem like it's really "starting over" at this point. Maybe I'm being too literal.

 

It was a start over at that point, not now. The thing is there are three parties (four if you count local citizens but nobody counts them). The Cubs want to build as much as they can, the rooftops want them to do as little as possible, and the city wants to pay as little as possible. The Cubs were willing to hold back if they got some funding. Now that the funding issue is gone the city is fine. But the Cubs want to do a whole lot more and the rooftops, who get no benefit from the city pulling funding, theoretically get no benefit from the Cubs doing more. The lack of funding actually hurts the rooftops, in theory. There's no trade off for them.

[Guest]

Would that parking garage they're talking about building north of Wrigley be on the property where they had their own ticket broker set up?

[SouthSideRyan]

The real losers in all this are going to be the poor people who live in the Western Suburbs who don't get to walk to games.

[Guest]

The real losers in all this are going to be the poor people who live in the Western Suburbs who don't get to walk to games.

Nice summary of the argument. :good:

[Ryne Ween]

The bond deal they proposed, from memory, was that the STATE not the city would raise $300mln through Illinois Sports Facilities bonds and RICKETTS would match with another $300mln. The TEAM asked that the CITY would cap amusement tax reciepts at the level they were at prior and the incremental taxes owed over the prior level would pay down the bonds.

 

It was never that any government was just gonna give them money for stuff.

[jersey cubs fan]

The TEAM asked that the CITY would cap amusement tax reciepts at the level they were at prior and the incremental taxes owed over the prior level would pay down the bonds.

 

That was always perceived by the government as the government giving them money.

[Sammy Sofa]

Largely because the public would perceive it as the government giving the rich Cubs money no matter how they tried to spin/explain it.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Because that's what it is.

[Sammy Sofa]

Quiet, Turd Ferguson.

[Guest]

NBC Chicago adds that yesterday’s talks, in its words, “amounted to little more than phone conversations between City Hall and team officials.” That’s actually a very interesting suggestion, because it indicates that (1) a deal probably is very close, if the sides are just having phone conversations on the day the “deadline” passes; and (2) the neighborhood stuff might already be wrapped up if the Cubs are only speaking to the City at this point. Perhaps, having settled signage, video board, night game, concert, and street fair issues with the neighborhood, the Cubs are now simply getting City sign-off on landmark issues, security issues, and parking issues.

 

Or maybe I’m just getting too optimistic. All signs as of today, however, point to a deal by next week.

 

http://www.bleachernation.com/2013/04/03/obsessive-wrigley-renovation-watch-sources-say-a-deal-is-now-close/

[Ryne Ween]

Because that's what it is.

 

No need to argue the merits of the bond deal for john q taxpayer. The point is that the cubs always were gonna raise an additional $300mln from the family or other investors and pay down the bond financed portion. Whether or not the financing is procured in their best case scenario or not, im sure they modeled for other scenarios. So if they raise bank debt or finance in some other way its really not a huge difference to their cash flow. Thus, i dont consider the "start from scratch" excuse to be at all credible.

[seanimal]

The real losers in all this are going to be the poor people who live in the Western Suburbs who don't get to walk to games.

 

woe is wilmington

[jersey cubs fan]

SBJ/SBD ‏@SBJSBD 1h

Tom Ricketts on owning a team: "My approach was that even the problems were fun. Until recently, I really believed that."

 

SBJ/SBD ‏@SBJSBD 1h

Tom Ricketts on mobile devices: "If the product on the field isn't something the fan wants to watch, then we're in trouble." #sbjwcs

 

SBJ/SBD ‏@SBJSBD 1h

Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts says his group has been buying land around Wrigley Field to "make it a better all-around day at the park."

 

Twitter home of SportsBusiness Journal and Daily, leading publications in the sports business world.

[Guest]

wtf kind of answer is that on mobile devices

 

FIX MY RECEPTION DAMNIT

[Banedon]

wtf kind of answer is that on mobile devices

 

FIX MY RECEPTION DAMNIT

 

Yeah, that was a total garbage answer.

[davell]

So, it looks like they have a deal?

[Butterscup1679666578]

Details from Brett:

 

http://www.bleachernation.com/2013/04/04/obsessive-wrigley-renovation-watch-deal-expected-by-monday-some-reported-details-trickle-out/

[cubbyvirus00]

Details from Brett:

 

http://www.bleachernation.com/2013/04/04/obsessive-wrigley-renovation-watch-deal-expected-by-monday-some-reported-details-trickle-out/

 

Thank god, the whole Cubs to Rosemont thing was annoying

[Guest]

The Cubs and City Hall expect to nail down a $500 million deal by Monday’s home opener that will allow the team to renovate 99-year-old Wrigley Field and develop property around the stadium by putting up “at least two” new signs inside the ballpark — including a video scoreboard in left field — and building a 300-space parking garage.

 

One day after local Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) portrayed an agreement on all of the “moving parts” as nowhere in sight, two sources close to the marathon negotiations predicted an agreement by Monday that would allow rooftop clubs to continue operating for the 11-year “duration” of their revenue-sharing agreement with the Cubs.

 

Sources said “a couple” of rooftops would be “minimally” impacted by the decision to locate a jumbotron in left field and at least one more sign in right. But, the sources said negotiators are still working on ways to “soften” the impact. The size of the video scoreboard has not yet been finalized.

 

The source refused to reveal specifics,but said there would be no extension of the agreement signed by the Tribune Co. that requires the rooftops to share 17 percent of their revenues with the team.

 

City Hall sources said Mayor Rahm Emanuel also is prepared to lift the 30-game-per-season ceiling on the number of night games to “40 or more” night games and add even more dates for concerts. Six to 10 3:05 p.m. starts could also be part of the mix.

 

To appease Wrigleyville residents, sources said the Cubs are prepared to foot the bill for more police protection to control game-day crowds and build a new, 300-space parking garage on the gravel cemetery lot the team owns at Clark and Grace.

 

http://www.suntimes.com/news/19279481-418/long-awaited-wrigley-field-rehab-deal-expected-by-mondays-home-opener.html

[Guest]

http://www.csnchicago.com/blog/cubs-talk/wrigley-deal-will-get-done-franchise-value-will-soar

 

Kaplan's report:

 

It will allow for a significant increase in the number of night games that the team is allowed to play -- from 30 to 40, or potentially, close to 50. In addition, the Cubs will be permitted to install a large jumbotron video board that will modernize the nearly 100-year-old ballpark. The team will also be allowed to increase signage in the stadium. Those additions, plus an increase in the number of concerts and other nighttime events that the Cubs will be permitted to host, will help ownership to pay for a $500 million stadium renovation plan and the addition of a hotel complex across the street from the park.

 

Sources close to the negotiations confirmed to me that construction will begin this fall at the conclusion of the Cubs season. It will be done in phases so that the team will not be impacted over the next few years while the stadium is under construction. Sources also said that the rooftop neighbors who run lucrative businesses did as well as they could have hoped to do, and that they should be on board with the resolution. However, the Cubs refused to extend their agreement with the rooftops. The same source told me Friday morning that it is obvious that the Cubs are looking forward to the end of the current agreement between the two parties.

 

"When the club was sold in 2009, the rooftop owners were warned that they should have approached the Ricketts family to tear up the existing deal and work with the family to find a solution that would allow the Cubs to renovate their park, but at the same time, protect the rooftops and their businesses at best they could. They didn't listen so this is what they are going to have to accept, " the source said.

 

 

When you factor in what this deal will mean to the Cubs, along with the expected new television deal that they will negotiate with either WGN TV or a new partner, the next two years could produce some big numbers for the North Siders. Multiple experts told me Friday morning that by 2017, the revenues will increase so dramatically that the franchise will probably double in value since the Ricketts family paid $845 million in October of 2009 for 95 percent of the team, Wrigley Field and a stake in Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

 

"The other bidders and experts who thought that the Ricketts family overpaid for a franchise that hadn't won in 100 years and had a crumbling stadium that needed a ton of work done to it are probably kicking themselves today, because when all is said and done, that purchase price will prove to be a tremendous business deal," a source who has done multiple deals with the Cubs over the past decade told me.

 

A former major league GM who is currently scouting for another franchise spoke volumes about the thoughts around baseball now that the Cubs appear to have their stadium deal done.

 

"Tom Ricketts has always said that after expenses all of the remaining revenues will be reinvested into the baseball operations department," he said. "The thought of Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer and a big pile of money is a scary thought. I never thought I would say this but the Cubs are finally going to be the powerhouse that they should have been a long time ago."

[Guest]

Safe to say that, "Crane Kenney," can be substituted in for his Cubs source, and "Jim Hendry," can be subbed in for, "a former major league GM who is currently scouting for another franchise?"