Pact allows Cubs to phase in 12 night games

February 7, 2004

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

After years of contentious negotiations, the Cubs and City Hall finally cut a deal Friday to phase in 12 more night games at Wrigley Field after the team agreed to several minor concessions demanded by Mayor Daley.

The agreement means the Cubs could phase in the first four additional night games by the 2004 season, even though season tickets already have been sold. Single-game sales don't start until Feb. 27.

The Cubs had been limited to 18 night games each year. Friday's deal ups that to 30 within three or four years. The schedule, which still must be hammered out, will either add four night games in three consecutive years, or four games in the first two years and two games in each of the next two years.

The Cubs will present the agreement to the neighborhood Monday night at Wrigley's Stadium Club. It is expected to be approved by a City Council committee Tuesday and the full council Wednesday.

Exactly how and when the first new night games will be shoe-horned into the schedule won't be decided until after full council vote, sources said.

To nail down the agreement, the Cubs agreed to adjust their yearly contribution to a neighborhood protection fund for inflation, according to sources.

Daley also convinced the Cubs that arbitration should be the primary, if not only, vehicle to resolve future disputes with Wrigleyville neighbors if the team doesn't live up to its promises. The mayor argued such disputes don't belong in the courts, the sources said. The life of the agreement was whittled from 15 years to 12 at Daley's insistence.

Community leaders and Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), whose ward includes the ballpark, were thrilled that the long-running night game saga finally was coming to an end. They needed the deal to get locked in place this year to get the Cubs to fund community protection plans that are not funded in Daley's hard-times 2004 budget.

''I'm ecstatic,'' said Jim Ludwig, president of the Lake View Citizens Council. ''It's great. Obviously, it's long overdue. All the protections can go into place. We've got a happy customer in the Lake View neighborhood. Remote parking will be beefed up. There will be tons of good things.''

The protections include improvements in neighborhood traffic congestion, sanitation and parking. The Cubs agreed to establish a $1 million fund for that program.

''I feel very positive,'' Tunney said of the deal. ''Our concern is to have the neighborhood protection in place for this season. Without an agreement, we would have had minimal protections. I'm anxious to move this process forward. We've got to concentrate on having a winning team.''

The groundwork for Friday's deal was laid late last month. A City Council committee approved limited landmark status for Wrigley without so much as a peep from the Cubs. That was significant because Cubs president Andy MacPhail and baseball commissioner Bud Selig at one point joined forces to oppose the landmarking. The Cubs went so far as to hint that Wrigley's future was endangered.

The limited scope of the landmark designation allowed the Cubs to add 200 premium seats in three rows behind home plate. The seats will sell for between $200 and $250 apiece, bringing the Cubs an extra $3.2 million in new cash each year. The Cubs also will get $1.7 million a year thanks to a deal cut with rooftop owners, who agreed to fork over 17 percent of gross revenues in return for their view of Wrigley.

The new night games add yet another revenue stream, with more money expected from television ads and boosted attendance. More night games, depending on when they are scheduled, also could give the players a break from the summer heat -- an issue ballplayers have said for years works against the Cubs.

MacPhail declined to comment on the deal Friday. But sources said the team decided it can live with the changes imposed by Daley, who now can save face after blocking a night-game deal months ago.

The deal also means the Cubs have checked off yet another item on a to-do list that included dealing with the rooftops, adding the premium seats, increasing night games, building 2,000 more bleacher seats and constructing a restaurant, garage and Cubs Hall of Fame on adjacent property.

The latter two projects still remain, but the pressure to add seats immediately has eased with the new revenue.

Contributing: Shamus Toomey