Rooftop owners agree to pay Cubs

January 11, 2004

BY SHAMUS TOOMEY AND FRAN SPIELMAN

The owners of rooftop seats and beer gardens overlooking Wrigley Field have agreed to pay the Cubs a $15 to $25 fee for each rooftop ticket sold under a tentative deal that could end their bitter dispute, officials said Saturday.

The 20-year pact calls for the Cubs to drop a copyright infringement lawsuit against the rooftop owners that was set for trial Feb. 23. The team also agreed to compensate rooftops whose sightlines would be blocked if bleachers are expanded in the next eight years, according to Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) and others familiar with the agreement.

With the Cubs claiming that about 1,700 fans pack the rooftops each game to steal a bird's-eye view, such a deal could net the team about $2 million a season.

The deal has been agreed to by 11 of 13 rooftop owners but has not been signed, a source said. If it is approved in federal court, it would put out one fire in a neighborhood battle that has raged for years. But it's far from the final base the Cubs must round to get their 1,800- to 2,000-seat bleacher expansion.

Tunney, for one, first wants to see how the neighborhood and the Cubs handle a proposed 12 additional night games. A plan to phase in those games over several years was recently stalled by Mayor Daley, but Tunney says he hopes it can be revived in time to add more night games in 2004.

Tunney, whose ward includes the ballpark, suggested, however, that the new rooftop money, which could flow to the Cubs during the 2004 season, could preclude the need for an expansion.

Top Cubs officials could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Despite the pending obstacles, Tunney was pleased with the tentative deal struck Friday.

"Anything that keeps these businesses out of court is productive," Tunney said. "We've got a phenomenon here where the rooftops are part of the ambience of the ballpark. Now they're going to do some joint marketing and celebrate this unique field. I'm happy they stayed out of court."

The dispute escalated when the rooftop owners built large seating structures and charged fans upward of $150 a game. The Cubs argued that the rooftops were no longer a mom-and-pop operation but a business that was leeching up to $10 million off the Cubs each year.

And when the rooftop owners tried to hold up the bleacher expansion because it could block their prime views, the Cubs fired back by stringing up wind screens across Wrigley's chain-link bleacher fences in 2002.

In December 2002, the dispute went to court when the Cubs sued the rooftop owners. The team asked a judge to award damages and permanently bar rooftops from charging customers to watch games.

The rooftop owners would drop their opposition to the expansion under the tentative deal. Other neighborhood groups still oppose the expansion, however.

Contributing: Toni Ginnetti