Sting, Police To Play Wrigley Field
City Council Pushes Cubs To Give Up Night Game
POSTED: 10:07 am CDT March 13, 2007
UPDATED: 11:16 am CDT March 13, 2007
CHICAGO -- Sting and the Police will headline a pair of nighttime concerts at Wrigley Field over July Fourth weekend, thanks to an ordinance advanced by a City Council committee Monday that requires the Cubs give up a night game in return.
The Police won't make it official until Wednesday, when the full Council signs off. But sources said the band has agreed to play Wrigley on July 5 and 6.
The star of the show was originally scheduled to be the Dave Matthews Band, whose bus driver unloaded 800 pounds of human waste on a tour boat passing under the Kinzie Street bridge in 2004. But Matthews' wife is due to have a baby around that time.
The concert precedent began in 2005 with a pair of Labor Day concerts by Jimmy Buffett. In exchange, the Cubs agreed to donate $150,000 to neighborhood schools, take a one-year break from concerts and forfeit one of their 30 night games the following season. The Buffett concerts ended at 10:30 p.m. and seating was capped at the baseball-game limit of 41,000.
This time, the Cubs were hoping to avoid the night game penalty -- until local Alderman Tom Tunney, of the 44th Ward, put up a fuss.
Tunney demanded -- and the Cubs agreed -- to play only 29 night games in 2007. The team has also agreed to cut off stadium sales of beer and alcohol at 9:30 p.m., provide security in and around Wrigley until 2 a.m., and monitor sound levels during and after the concert.
The motivation for the concert series is money that would not fall under Major League Baseball's revenue-sharing umbrella.
For every dollar the Cubs earn on game days, 34 cents must be shared with other teams. For every dollar raked in at a concert, the Cubs get to keep 100 percent.
Tunney also intends to hold the Cubs' feet to the fire on construction of the stalled 400-space parking garage that was supposed to follow a 1,790-seat bleacher expansion.
"I've told them they've got to commit to building this building," he said.
(Chicago Sun-Times Inc.)
