People that have followed me on LOHO know that I am, in fact, pro-wrecking ball...meaning, I would like the place torn down and replaced.
I also know that isn't going to happen...at least not for a good long time.
So, I'll talk about what is wrong with the facility, and talk about it in ways that many people seem to ignore. I will also talk about the advantages of having a new ball park for the Cubs. Since that isn't likely, a discussion will be made about what can be done about the existing facility. And then finally, what is likely to happen over the next few years.
Many things have been advertised on this building over the years...but it's now known as the Budweiser building
So, as a little prelude to this, I bring you this story by Paul Sullivan about advertising on the old "Budweiser" building across Waveland Avenue in left field. During the 2008 season, that building, which at the time had a Budweiser banner draped over it, was in the middle of a dispute between the building's owners and Anheuser-Busch. It seems that Anheuser-Busch, do to finacial issues and/or management turnover was either late in paying for the ad or did not renew the contract with the building's owners to display the ad. This resulted, late in the 2008 season, in the building's owners putting a tarp over the roof of the building, thus covering up the Bud ad.
This Bud is not for you!
This building is actually quite important for the future of Wrigley Field, believe it or not. The reason for this is that this building is one of only a couple of buildings in the Wrigley Field outfield that doesn't have any bleachers on top of it. The other is the old "Torco" building which currently has an always changing Miller Lite ad on it. I have been a proponent for a video board at Wrigley...but I am not for the getting ride of the big center field manually operated scoreboard either. So the only two logical places for a video board to be placed would be on top of either the Budweiser building or the Torco/Miller Lite building.
So I've built up a bunch of info here with out actually stating what is going on (unless you went to that link)...
For the 2009 season, the Budweiser building became the Horseshoe Casino building. This did not make the Cubs too happy. And baseball in general is rather paranoid about gambling of any sort anyway. Now that the Ricketts family has taken over the team, it seems the Cubs are starting to take some steps against the owners of the Horseshoe casino building by putting up some advertising in the bleachers of their own, thus blocking TV cameras and others from actually seeing the Horseshoe ad.
Thou shalt not gamble on baseball!
In most circumstances, I would be applauding this. The Cubs need all the ad revenue they can get...and they get nothing from an ad they don't really approve of anyway. And I have never really liked the fact that the owners of these buildings have taken advantage of the fact that the Cubs play baseball next door to them. (I know the roof top owners actually have an agreement now with the team over fans watching the games from the roof tops, but I still think the Cubs are getting ripped off.)
Maybe they are just trying to save money so balls don't go on the street. (pic by Michael Tercha of the Chicago Tribune)
But in this case, I think the Ricketts' should be trying to maneuver themselves a little better here. I think the Budweiser/Horseshoe building is the best place for a video board to go up. If the family doesn't want to put one up now, fine. But it is in the best interest of the team for the to play nice with the owners of that building so they can negotiate a deal to put a video board up there at some point when they need to.
So Tom and family, be careful on how you handle this situation!
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