Opinion: With Wrigley revamp, Cubs would have to actually win

Crain’s Chicago Business blogger Joe Cahill says the Chicago Cubs are committed to winning more than ever, and it has nothing to do with highly paid baseball players.

Investments planned at 100-year-old Wrigley Field will put the pressure for winning ways on the Cubs, something he says they’ve not had considering the “loveable losers’” throwback home field. The experiences of old-school Wrigley – paralleled only by Boston’s Fenway Park – for years have been part of the team’s charm in drawing fans win or lose.

But the park’s relatively new owners, the Ricketts family, have plans to install seven large advertising signs and outfield video boards to drum up funding for a $575 million stadium renovation and redevelopment of the surrounding area, including the addition of an office building and hotel.

Considering Wrigley as an annuity of sorts, generating reliable income despite a losing product, Cahill says revamping the Friendly Confines is a risky business move. Time will tell if it pays off for the club’s first World Series title since 1908.
 
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