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Cubs Can Install Wrigley Field Signs, Judge Rules

By Ariel Cheung | February 19, 2015 12:24pm
 The Wrigley Field expansion would include video boards behind the left and right field bleachers, as well as five signs.
The Wrigley Field expansion would include video boards behind the left and right field bleachers, as well as five signs.
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Chicago Cubs

WRIGLEYVILLE — A federal judge denied the request of Wrigleyville rooftop owners to block sign construction at Wrigley Field.

During a hearing early Thursday, Judge Virginia Kendall said the owners of Skybox on Sheffield and Lakeview Baseball Club did not prove the video board and signs would permanently cost them business or demonstrate a need for the temporary restraining order prior to a May hearing, the AP reported.

Thursday's decision was part of an ongoing lawsuit in which the rooftop owners accuse the Chicago Cubs of violating their 20-year agreement, attempted monopolization and deceptive business practices.

The Cubs asked the judge to dismiss the motion earlier this week. They argued the rooftop owners failed to prove they would permanently lose business prior to trial. Even if the Cubs lose at trial, the team noted, they could still resolve the situation by paying the owners for the lost revenue.

In a reply submitted by the rooftop owners' attorney, Thomas Lombardo, the owners claimed the video board would obstruct customers' views and "there can be no rooftop business without views into Wrigley Field."

"Once installed, it is lights out for the plaintiffs," Lombardo wrote. "Their very purpose for existence will cease."

Lombardo and the Cubs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In their response, the Cubs said the $575 million renovation could not move forward without the right field video board.

Carl Rice, vice president of ballpark operations, outlined Wrigley Field's need for a video board and the restoration that would "accommodate the needs of a modern Major League Club" in a statement.

Rice said Wrigley Field was the last surviving Federal League ballpark and drastically inferior to modernized ballparks like Boston's Fenway Park, Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park and the St. Louis Cardinals' Busch Stadium.

The Cubs also note they received government approval as required in the 2004 contract between the baseball team and rooftop owners.

Rice said the $2 million custom-designed video board would increase the volume of LED space by more than 350 percent.

The signs and video boards are also incorporated in the overall design of the reconstruction, Rice said. Steel columns, which were ordered from the steel mill in August, are designed to support both the bleachers and the signs, court records state.

"This structure is engineered to work as a single, interconnected unit," Rice said in his court statement. "If the Cubs were not installing the outfield signs, including the video board, the architects and engineers would have used different steel and utilized a different design."

The Cubs and Wrigley Field are 95 percent owned by a trust established for the benefit of the family of Joe Ricketts, owner and CEO of DNAinfo.com. Joe Ricketts has no direct involvement in the management of the iconic team.

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