Turns out that when the Chicago Landmarks Commission signed off two weeks ago on adding new ads pretty much all over Wrigley Field except for a new giant outfield scoreboard, they really meant all over:
The plan envisions putting a “branded name in white letters” on the clock face at the top of the landmark, hand-operated center field scoreboard. LED ads could also be affixed to the gooseneck lights atop the center field scoreboard.
Another idea outlined in the program is for a “sign grown into bushes” in the area of center field where there are no bleacher seats. That section, known as the “batter’s eye,” features bushes used to provide a dark background to help batters see the pitches better.
And the program allows the team to put up mesh ads along the basket that lines the top of the outfield wall which prevents fans from falling onto the field and sometimes catches home run balls as outfielders stand below with their gloves outstretched.
The sign plan also calls for “rotating or permanent signage” along the brick walls in left field and right field. Green said that is a reference to the infield walls on the left and right field sides and there are no plans to alter the ivy-covered outfield walls.
The Chicago Tribune helpfully provides a photo essay of places all these ads might go, in case “signs grown into bushes” isn’t vivid enough for you. Cubs spokesperson Julian Green says asking for permission “doesn’t mean we’re going to ask for all of this,” necessarily, and at least some of the resulting signage could end up looking like the color-coordinated ads that now cover Fenway Park’s Green Monster. Still, it should be clear, if it wasn’t already, that Tom Ricketts’ plans for redoing Wrigley is to plaster ads on every available surface. Because he needs the money, doncha know.
Yeah, well.
I’ve been a cub fan for more than 30 years and Ricketts is already well on his way to making me think about other alternatives. Bad/incompetent ownership that fails utterly to understand what it’s teams actual appeal is can do that.
He claims to have “grown up” at Wrigley field, attending his first game in 1984. Perhaps he did attend his first in ’84, but he doesn’t seem to have grown up.
He overpaid badly for this asset. Now he thinks he can still drive impressive ROI by annihilating the very thing that has made the Cubs popular (and no, it’s not good baseball that’s done that. Not even close).
Sure. Go ahead. Put a trained bear on a pole out in the CF bleachers and have him do tricks for the morons who will pay to watch this gong show. Sew LED ad boards right into the bear’s fur. Seems to me like I’m not the only long time Cub fan who is already sick of the Ricketts BS.
I wonder how he’ll feel when the crowds (which are already down to the 30-32k range most games) drop into pre-Sandberg era numbers. When I started watching the Cubs, 15-18k in the seats was considered good, 22-24k exceptional. Some of that has to do with the then-prevalent national disinterest in the nation’s pastime… but certainly not all.
@ John, I couldn’t agree more! As some friends & colleagues (we’re all long suffering Cub fans in the Chicago area) were discussing just the other day, the attendance seems to be “decent,” from the TV shots I have seen on the sports report when watching the 10:00PM news (I just can’t watch the Cubs), BUT…it’s my belief that we are in summer, TOURIST season, and the attendance goes up with the tourists who are in Chicago to see the grande dame of baseball stadiums, NOT the team playing in the stadium. Once school begins again, and vacation comes to a close (mid to late August), as we have seen in seasons past, the attendance will take a nose dive.
Cubs fans I speak with who have been fans for awhile are simply fed-up…in fact, how many jokes were made about the Blackhawks bringing the Stanley Cup to Wrigley this past weekend, and what a great thing it was for Cubs fans and the Cubs organization to have the Championship Cup within the friendly confines, because it will be the ONLY time a Championship trophy is raised within the confines of Wrigley Field!
Are there MLB rules related to “batter’s eye” in centerfield? I know with the egos of Rahm and Ricketts in the room they probably don’t think anything else in the world matters but the the end result does actually have to be a legal MLB playing field. One previous iteration of this deal had the City Council approving when rain delayed games could be made up — something that isn’t quite how MLB handles things now.
The whole idea of putting more ads in the stadium does seem short-sighted. And really unnecessary in an age when your TV revenue probably makes the incremental signage profits look like chicken feed.
Dan;
I think that’s always been true of the Cubs. April attendance (after opening day) is usually not the greatest. Truth is, it’s pretty cold until mid May. And, as you say, the tourists aren’t really in town yet. As to whether the decline in Sept is because the tourists have all gone or the Cubs having been out of the pennant race for 4 months by then, well, I just don’t know…
As a long time Cub fan, I’d like your opinion: Can Ricketts mismanagement of this business do it permanent damage? Could we, say in ten years, be looking at 1970’s level attendance? Or will the “new” Cub fans (sorry if that sounds derogatory towards them, it isn’t meant to be) keep flocking to plunk their hard earned cash down?
Keith: It seems to me like “modern” sports owners tend to emulate George C. Scott’s character from “Dr. Strangelove”, General Turgidson.
They are terrified of any sort of economic gap, or potential economic gap, that might exist. So any possible earning opportunity – whether you are in a large market or small – has to be exploited, no matter how crass or damaging.
Given the way state laws are circumvented or abolished to make way for anything the team owners want, I’m genuinely surprised that stadium vendors aren’t allowed to sell heroin until at least the 8th inning.
I always figured it burned Steinbrenner that he couldn’t figure out how to get a cut from the guy who used to walk around the old Yankee Stadium bleachers offering “Yankee joints, one dollah, one dollah.”
@Dan, I cannot let your erroneous comment go uncorrected. The Blackhawks bringing their Cup by for a visit is not “the ONLY time a Championship trophy is raised within the confines of Wrigley Field.” Clearly, you are forgetting the 1963 NFL Champion Chicago Bears.