The Chicago Cubs are the loveable losers of Major League Baseball and the team has played in Wrigley Field for nearly 100 years, which is why owner and chairman Tom Ricketts has been trying to get a large renovation for the legendary park going and why he said that the team could one day leave.
According to ESPN.com, Ricketts said on Wednesday that without a new renovation that would bring new signage as well as a 6,000-square-foot video board at the stadium, the team could consider leaving the park for good. Ricketts said that for the first time in public despite also saying that the plan was to stay, but he added that the team, needs to create more revenue to remain profitable at the park.
The report says that there is a plan being worked on that would cost $500 million for renovations and could include the video bard as well as other signage. Ricketts said that the issue came from being unable to generate revenue from "our own outfield" and that the team could consider moving due to that. Rosemont, Ill., Mayor Brad Stephens has already proposed an area of land where a new stadium could be built, but Ricketts was not that ready to say the team would leave.
Ricketts made his speech at the City Club of Chicago and showed a plan and architectural rendering of the video screen and said that there would be minimal blockage from rooftops and added that the team lost out on $20 million a year that could be used to improve the stadium.
Wrigley has many traditions because it is so old, one being the rooftop seats and some owners of those seats were weary that a screen wouldn't block them from seeing games. Ricketts said that the seats grossed "$250 million in the last 10 years" and Ricketts also said that in recent years those tickets have gone out and sold individually, going right up against the Cubs themselves.
"The rooftops have grossed over $250 million in the last 10 years. And while I think many people view rooftops as incremental group events, over time they have shifted to selling individual tickets and have become direct competitors, selling both season tickets and aggressively discounting tickets on Groupon and other sites."
"I'm not sure how anyone is going to stop the signs in the outfield, but if it comes to the point that we don't have the ability to do what we need to do in our outfield, then we're going to have to consider moving," Ricketts told reporters. "It's as simple as that."
