As I have been to Wrigley for a seat move for the last 7-8 years you always get to see what they are doing. Usually pretty simple stuff, mostly maintenance.

They have a ton going on inside. enough that they claim they were not going to have the upgrade event and when City O Fools attends he will agree the circumvention of the site is due to the numerous projects. Not sure what they all are, but more than I have seen in any season.

Not even sure we will see the results of it this year as I think they might just be redoing some of the plumbing and sewer lines, but maybe I get a new trough by my seats? Livin large!

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Are they installing a trough-type sink? They have those at Jacksonville airport.

_________________
-"God is great. Beer is good. And People are crazy!"

Yeah.....that's not a sink....

_________________

eewww..Jeffer?

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I swear, it's a sink. That water just keeps running and flows down. It was odd. Also, people weren't flinging their shlongs into it, so I think

_________________
-"God is great. Beer is good. And People are crazy!"

From what I've read, they've done nothing to upgrade the players facilities relative to a workout area, indoor batting cages so guys pinch hitting can get loose, etc. So basically the place remains a fucking museum.

Is it to late for Mark Cuban to buy out Ricketts??

there is no room close to the dugout for BP. The space is the locker room and the clubhouse.

there is a urinal though!

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

So we can put a man on the moon but can't find a way to put in a batting cage close to the dugout at venerable Wrigley Field? It just seems Ricketts is having real money issues and is pushing off these renovations because of what, 2 roof top owners? Something seems amiss and I think it has everything to do with the onerous debt servicing cost and the drop in attendance putting a big time squeeze on Fanboy.

What's the timetable now for having everything done? 2016? 2017?

What a joke.

And what's this crap I read about the covenants in the debt servicing agreement about what they can and cannot spend on free agents?? WTF is that about???

Maybe they'll step to the plate and sign this Japanese stud Tanaka?? Supposedly these covenants allow that?? Really!

We shall see.

It just seems like we have a middle market owner operating a major market team and the timetable for everything seemingly is being pushed back more and more.

Wow after all the Tunney and residents Against Everything my mind is blown that Ricketts still gets shit about this construction timeline.

_________________
Kenny Williams fell for the banana in the tailpipe

The batting cages are going to be put in, just not this offseason, I am guessing next offseason as that is going to be some major work. They are going to demo all the seats in the lower section on the cubs side and dig down to create more space, so they will have a batting tunnel and other space, right next to the dugout.

They couldnt do it this year due to the late start they got, due to the late approval.

It takes me months to get any construction started with Plans, permits, etc. so I can imagine how many times they cubs heard "Oh, tommy is out till Monday" due to all the furlough days at city hall'

I dont blame Ricketts for the delay, as he tried plan after plan and now he knows what it must be like for a smaller developer to try and do anything in the city!

I blame Ricketts for being so naive in his purchase of the Cubs, that it took him 2 years of due diligence 2007-2009 and then two years of watching Hendry run this club to figure out they need to do things different. Its something any fan could have told you. He was sucked in by good guy Jim Hendry who basically treated Ricketts like a VIP guests and introduced him to all his baseball people.

Ricketts needed his own people from Day 1. Thats 2007! You dont buy a business you have never been in without some type of consultant who works for you! Not the guy who is at the company now!

All that said, I am sure debt holds them back to some degree. But they do need to realize they are going to need to take the first step in getting the talent before they can see the fruit from the new revenue streams.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Right, but you don't have Julian Green working for you.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Oh, I dont doubt they got it as streamlined as possible, they got their permits faster than I can get a demo permit, but even the simple amazing task of the process of printing the permit is controlled by the gay hispanic guy with an attitude. He gets exhausted after pressing PRINT 3 times and needs a break. And of course if he is OFF that day, it takes a computer team of 4 people to print the actual permits.

My very first permit for a rehab I went to do it all by myself and the inspectors did show me pity as they could tell i was a lost soul, but it still took me 3 weeks of being at city Hall, every day, all day from 8 to 4. Not sure many have that kind of time to do nothing else but wait.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Flaming gay guy, who you pay for the permit and he prints it out.

first, you need the email notice from him, which usually takes 2 days! Why it takes him 2 days to send email that says the permit is ready to be picked up, still is a mystery, but then you get there, you stand in line to get to the bulletproof glass! You give him an address, he looks it up, gives you a total and a sigh, you give him a credit card or check, then he says you can sit down while he prints it up (second sigh). he then prints up 3 or so at a time. Then takes lunch!

This is his entire job

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

You don't need to speculate on what they're doing, BigFan.

The Cubs put out a video of what's being done on there RestoreWrigley website. Pat Hughes narrated it.

http://www.wrigleyfield.com/plan

Figured it was somewhere, thats what they showed at the B of A theatre downtown,

Outside of the retrofit of the Clubhouse, I think it does a terrible job of showing what will be really developed. Lots of blurred general structures. Lots of use of the word "More" when it came to bathrooms and Point of Sale places.

When can easily be seen is the wider concourse and I assume you will then able to enter somewhere down the 3rd base line as right now its either Home plate or LF gate.

used to always use the United Club entrance halfway between Home and the Rf entrance, never anyone there, always a veteran move.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Agree with this entirely. I don't think they fully realize your last point though. They're waiting for the TV deals to get done, but the FA classes are only getting weaker. Not saying they should've signed Cano because they shouldn't have. Plenty of other players that can help though.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Construction has been underway inside Wrigley Field since the end of the season, and new manager Rick Renteria acknowledged Tuesday that it has prevented him from seeing what his office looks like.

But much of the hyped $300 million renovation project remains in limbo, with the Cubs still trying to convince the Rooftop Owners Association to drop its threat of a lawsuit before beginning anything substantial.

Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts on Tuesday night declined to address rumors the team is closer to an agreement with two Sheffield Avenue rooftop owners whose view will be affected most by a beer sign planned for the right-field bleachers.



"There have been a lot of different ideas thrown out," Ricketts said at the winter meetings. "I'm not sure where we're at in terms of (being) closer or farther."

Ricketts wouldn't confirm only two right-field rooftops would have their views obstructed by the ad, as some rooftop owners suggest.

"It depends," he said. "There are a lot of conversations. Nothing definitive."

Ricketts has been unwilling to increase President Theo Epstein's baseball operations budget based on revenue projections from when the signage and a jumbo-sized video board in left field, leaving the Cubs acting like a small-market team.

Ricketts said he did not know when the new clubhouse renovation would begin and had "nothing to report" on a new local TV deal. The Cubs exercised an option to get out of their WGN-Ch. 9 contract after 2014.

Asked why he couldn't simply install the video board for 2014, Ricketts replied: "I think we're looking at everything as a package."

Ricketts still has faith in Epstein's game plan, believing the improved farm system eventually will produce dividends.

"We're doing the right stuff, absolutely," he said.

But he declined to speculate on when the Cubs would become significant offseason players.

"I'm not sure," he said. "It's about just making the team better."

psullivan@tribune.com

Twitter @PWSullivan

_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

May I ask those in the know about this issue a question? Why doesn't Ricketts give these rooftop owners 5 million each and buy the frickin' properties?

_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Why doesn't he tell them to fuck off and good luck in court and bleed them dry until they beg him for 2 million just to get out from under the court paperwork?

That assumes he's actually interested in putting a championship team out on the field at some point in the future ... otherwise, there's no point in rooting for his pocketbook to grow.

_________________
Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

I think you have stated your dislike before for the multi-billionaire who did want to buy the Cubs,but I often wonder what they would look like with Cuban running them.

_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Why would fans of the team root for their bumblefuck stooge of an owner to breach a contract and "bleed people dry" in bad faith for the sake of erecting a billboard?

_________________

Some will not sell. Take Lukas, the guy owns 3 rooftops, the Cubby Bear, Sports corner, Vines and about another 40 properties in Wrigleyville. he has a $20 mill mansion in Lake Forest, whats he doing with Ricketts $5 or $10 mill? Assuming he makes more than that in 1 year.

I then assume Beth Murphy wont sell for almost any price.

$5 M is about $2 M below what these buildings sold for 10 years ago.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

This is what I want to hear from my owner!

Allright Tommy!!!

Cubs baseball: we may be good in 2017!!!!

Alderman Tunney still creating problems for Rahm on this one! Bullshit with hotel entrance and where trucks will come in on Patterson.

Here is my idea. The 10 houses on Patterson west of clark call all be subject to Eminant domain. Give them all above market, this is no more than $15 mill + the rickets make the existing street a dead end, so a majority of the cry babys there will have zero thru traffic and the others can take their money and move on and the Rickets get the street.

Tunney is being a such a little shithead on this whole project. The only problem is he was the only one who wanted the job, The only guy running against him is the guy who owns THE ALLEY

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

that is an excellent idea.

Which means it won't happen.

_________________
Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

I know one owner who is saying the noise will be an issue! THEY LIVE BEHIND THE MCDONALDS 24 HR DRIVE THROUGH RIGHT NOW! cant Duplicate that kind of Ambience anywhere

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

It sure sounds like it. Doesn't he realize that any improvements the Cubs make to Wrigley Field and Wrigleyville will ultimately end up helping him and his ward by providing more revenue and more jobs to the area?

_________________

The job of alderman sucks. I think these guys find it out quickly after being elected but by then they are afraid to give up the power. There has to be at least 10 of them over the past few years who have walked away from the position for a quiet job with better pay and less hours. The one's who stick around are the one's who are either not smart enough to parlay it into something better or are making private money because of their public position.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I don't know, those houses on Patterson look rather nice. I don't think the city should go around razing people's homes so that the Cubs can make more money. What have the Cubs done to earn that right?

_________________