According to a report from Crain’s Chicago Business, Tom Ricketts sat down with Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday to discuss finishing the process of approving plans to rebuild Wrigley Field and keep the team in Chicago.
Ricketts met with the Mayor at his office in City Hall according to Greg Hintz and had a “rather cordial sit-down” with “no histrionics or threats to split for the burbs.”
Hintz reported “there was general agreement that the framework the two agreed on a while ago for $500 million in work around and inside Wrigley will be on a fast track, with the final approval of at least the Wrigley-proper portion of the deal – signage, jumbotron, et al – before the City Council breaks for the summer. In other words, well before Labor Day.”
Greg Hintz pointed out that he is hearing the Cubs are still not happy with the last minute changes made to the night game ordinance. At the time the new ordinance was passed, the team was reportedly very unhappy about the tweak in the ordinance that would allow the city to decide when the Cubs can or cannot make up postponed games.
According to the report, the team and Ald. Tom Tunney are on the same page but Hintz is “hearing things that the alderman is up to.” Hintz did not go into specifics.
The bottom line is that the Cubs need to be able to run their business and be allowed to make the necessary renovations to Wrigley Field to not only generate more revenue but get the worn down facilities up to Major League standards for the players.
Full Report from Crain’s Chicago Business