On May 1, 2013, during a talk at the City Club of Chicago, Cubs owner and chairman Tom Ricketts said that if the team wasn’t allowed to increase advertising signage in its ballpark, including a 5,700-square-foot video board in left field, the Cubs might bolt.
Because, for decades—and even now, as the team prepares to contest its first World Series since 1945—the Cubs’ main draw has been Wrigley Field.
Maureen Martino, executive director of the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce, says that local business owners are excited about the changes: the combination of a winning team and redevelopment is going to bring in more people, and may, she says, answer the perennial question “How does the neighborhood survive when there’s no game, or during the winter?”
