All Wrigley Field renovation thread

Wrigley Field: Fix Up Or Build New?

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Rice Cube

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Joe Ricketts merely bankrolls the team but is definitely linked to the team regardless. There's no real pussyfooting around it.

Bribe time.
 
MRubio52

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DewsSox79 said:
i dont know how any fan and even cub fan can side with ricketts.
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You can if you're a tea party guy.

I don't really care about the politics. I just don't. He can be whatever the hell he wants to be.

What bothers me is the inability to play the Chicago Politics game. He shot himself in the foot with this one.
 
MRubio52

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Rice Cube said:
Joe Ricketts merely bankrolls the team but is definitely linked to the team regardless. There's no real pussyfooting around it.

Bribe time.
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I can't see Tom surviving this in the long term, I can see Papa Joe greasing the wheels to make this go away, and I can also see Tom being a sacrifice to appease Rahm somewhere down the line.
 

Rice Cube

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A number of good threads on the subject were merged into this one so anything to do with the Ricketts, the city, and the funding for Wrigley renovations, just throw it all in here.
 

Sunbiz1

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Rice Cube said:
Totally not free. Cliffs notes version?
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Sorry about that, forgot it was for members only...which actually is free if you sign up:

Phil Rogers
On Baseball
10:53 p.m. CDT, July 14, 2012

While the stadium issues in Oakland and Tampa Bay are viewed as the most critical in baseball, Commissioner Bud Selig quietly is trying to help the Cubs secure funding for a public-private partnership that would allow Wrigley Field to be updated along the lines of Boston's Fenway Park.

The State of Illinois rebuffed the Cubs two years ago, and talks with the City of Chicago have appeared stalled, in part because of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's displeasure at Joe Ricketts' opposition to President Barack Obama's re-election. But Selig is dangling a carrot he hopes can bring the parties closer to a solution.

While Selig declined to comment on the Cubs situation, it was revealed during conversations after last week's All-Star Game in Kansas City that Major League Baseball is promising to bring the All-Star Game to Wrigley Field as soon as possible after the ballpark is improved.

MLB's hope is that city officials will see that the economic impact of that event would partially offset the cost of helping the Ricketts family modernize Wrigley, which celebrates its 100th birthday in 2014.

The round figure being thrown around for Wrigley updating is $500 million, with $300 million going to the ballpark itself and $200 million going to the long-proposed "triangle building'' adjacent to the park. It has been reported that the team will construct the building itself but would like about $150 million in public funding to help pay for the ballpark improvements.

You can argue about economic-impact studies all day long and not find a method acceptable to all. But MLB has found that the bigger the market, the bigger the impact.

While local officials estimate that this year event in Kansas City carried an economic impact of about $60 million, the 2013 game at Citi Field in New York is estimated to generate $191.5 million for hotels, restaurants and other New York businesses, according to New York City Economic Development officials.

The Cubs had pushed to host the 2014 All-Star Game as a birthday party for the stadium that began as Weeghman Park, which originally was home to the Federal League's Chicago Whales. That's not going to happen, as '14 is an American League year and the event soon will be announced for Target Field in Minnesota.

Citi Field, the Mets' new home, gets the 2013 game. Washington, Miami and Cincinnati (which last had an All-Star Game in 1988) are lined up for '15, '17 and '19, respectively, but Selig is prepared to let the Cubs cut in line if taxpayers will pony up to help the team.

It's possible the game could go to Wrigley in an even-numbered year, like 2016. Selig made an exception to the rotation for the event to go to New York in Yankee Stadium's final season, rather than the year before. He said last week that he doesn't want to make another such exception, given home-field advantage being tied to the All-Star Game, but didn't rule it out. There are no new stadiums in the AL in line for the event behind Minnesota, although Selig said franchises compete fiercely to get the game.

"It used to be that nobody wanted to host it,'' Selig said last week. "We would have to give somebody some kind of a sweetener to get them to take it. That has certainly changed.''
Copyright © 2012, Chicago Tribune
 

Rice Cube

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Hmmm. Speculative but interesting.
 

Rice Cube

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Rory Sparrow said:
LOL at this....

"While local officials estimate that this year event in Kansas City carried an economic impact of about $60 million..."

Jeez...local Kansas City officials say the hosting of this year's All Star Game was a success...gee, ya think?

And I have no idea what is meant by "economic impact". Kind of a vague statement. Point being that if Bud Selig thinks hosting the All-Star game will convince the bankrupt City of Chicago to pony up $500 million dollars to give to a money-hoarding MLB franchise, then I have some stadium property in Bridgeview that I'd like to sell...
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I agree with you that one ASG isn't going to matter much in the grand scheme of things. But a renovated Wrigley will potentially bring more business to the neighborhood, and I'm sure the neighbors want to see their property values continue to rise, and the businesses won't mind potentially bigger profits either. So the trick isn't to convince the city that the ASG is important...based on what little I know about how Chicago politics work, the trick should be to convince all the neighbors to vote for guys who will funnel some money to the Ricketts for Wrigley-related activities and for businesses to shuttle a few extra "campaign contributions" towards favorable politicians. What say ye?
 

Rice Cube

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Rory Sparrow said:
I am not an expert on Chicago politics, but I think the scope and money involved in the Wrigley Field issue makes it a city-wide/mayoral issue. I think it would be a bad political move for anyone to be on the approving side of using city funds for Wrigley Field. The timing is terrible.
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It's never a good time to approve funding for a sports venue, for what it's worth. But naturally the billionaire owners have to ask anyway; it's almost expected.
 
Uman85

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Rice Cube said:
I agree with you that one ASG isn't going to matter much in the grand scheme of things. But a renovated Wrigley will potentially bring more business to the neighborhood, and I'm sure the neighbors want to see their property values continue to rise, and the businesses won't mind potentially bigger profits either. So the trick isn't to convince the city that the ASG is important...based on what little I know about how Chicago politics work, the trick should be to convince all the neighbors to vote for guys who will funnel some money to the Ricketts for Wrigley-related activities and for businesses to shuttle a few extra "campaign contributions" towards favorable politicians. What say ye?
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That's the easy part. :lol:
 

Rice Cube

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Captain Obvious said:
I don't pay *that* much attention to Chicago politics, since I don't live in Cook, but isn't Chicago, like nearly everywhere else, broke?
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Pretty much, but you know how cities always find random money to do dumb shit.
 
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