The Cubs released rendering and details about their proposed renovation or, in their words, restoration of Wrigley last night.
First off, the term restoration is about as stupid as saying Carlos Marmol is a good closer. It's not a restoration. If it was, they'd be tearing the lights down, removing the press box and putting bleachers back in the batters' eye area of center field.
It's not a restoration. It's a renovation...a renovation along the same lines of what was done with Fenway Park and Royals Stadium.
But that's not the point of this post.
Tom Ricketts today finally made a threat to move the team if they do not get their way as far as these renovations are concern.
What's the point?
No, I'm serious. At this time, what the hell is the point of threatening to move?
Is there something we don't know here?
Supposedly both Tom Tunney and City Hall have agreed to the changes. They don't need anything else. The rest of the "approval" process should, for the most part, be routine.
Why make the threat now? It would have been help for them if they had made it years ago. Now? Unless there is some process that we don't know about standing in the way, the threat is not only empty, but completely pointless.
They don't need to threaten to move. The Cubs are going to get their renovation.
The real question is when can they start their renovation. Time is quickly ticking for the Cubs to be able to start this renovation following this season.
The Cubs are in a situation where they need all parties involved to rubber stamp this thing so it can get started in short order.
The correct threat the Cubs should be making right now isn't to move the team permanently to some place like Rosemont. The threat should be to move the Cubs out of Wrigley for a season so they can complete the renovations by the date they want.
Ricketts should be threatening to move the team to U.S. Cellular Field or Miller Park for a season.
You want something that is taken seriously? That's it. You want something that will get the rooftop owners on board quickly? That's it. Slightly obstructed views will affect a small number of rooftops and will only have a marginal affect on their sales.
Temporarily relocating for season? You can bet a majority of those rooftops will go bankrupt if the team moves out of the stadium for a year. Most of them are in situations of narrow revenue margins already. No Cubs baseball at Wrigley for one season would be devastating
That will shut up just about all the critics of this renovation plan in very short order, and is much more effective than some bull crap threat to move the team to Rosemont.
