Tom Ricketts is ready to move forward with Wrigley upgrades … if the city will

We talked a few weeks ago about the Cubs’ new and improved (i.e. privately financed) Wrigley Field renovation plans. Tom Ricketts spoke to MLB.com and it sounds like they’re set to begin. They’re just waiting for city sign-off on the aspects of it that require approval, such as an increase in the number of night games, allowing advertising to block the rooftops across the street and allowing the closing of Sheffield Avenue for weekend games. About all that:

“There’s a lot of things we have to deal with at Wrigley Field that other teams don’t,” Ricketts said on Sunday. “Whether that’s signage restrictions, rooftops, other people selling Cubs gear right outside the park — all of that is great for [the city], but it doesn’t help us. We have to get those resources back into the team so I can give those to [president of baseball operations] Theo [Epstein] to put on the field or to get those resources into improving and preserving the third-largest tourist attraction in the state.”

With all of the time I spend slamming team owners for wanting public handouts, this point, with respect to the Cubs anyway, does get neglected from time to time.  I realize that the Cubs have gotten a lot of goodwill from the rooftops and the neighborhood and things like that — and I know that in recent years the team has even gone into business to some extent with the rooftop owners — but the Cubs are sort of treated like a public good more than other teams are.

What’s more, they’re expected — mostly out of tradition — to give away an awful lot. Views and ticket revenue to the people across the street, nighttime revenue to the bar and restaurant owners.  I don’t think that mandates public financing or anything, but I think it does make their challenges somewhat unique and demands a bit more flexibility on the part of the city so the team can remain competitive.