What’s the deal with the lack of advertising/billboards/electronic displays at Wrigley. Who or what (thankfully) keeps them out?
- Tradition. 2. Wrigley Field is now a City of Chicago Landmark, so the Landmarks Commission would have to approve.
Is the commission regularly pressured to relent?
There’s been a lot of controversy lately in connection with a plan by the team’s new owners to put up a Toyota advertisement - see:
Any idea how much annual revenue that sign will mean?
I didn’t truly appreciate Wrigley as I grew up. It really is pleasant. Here in San Diego, we have a new stadium. Nice enough, but talk about visual pollution! When you start to pay attention you soon realize that there is, quite literally, no place to get away from it. Atop the urinals and even on the inside of the stall doors, it’s everywhere. Maybe I’m getting intolerant in my old age, but I really find it offensive. And if anyone believes it will keep ticket and/or concession prices in check, I’ve got a deal on some swampland in Florida for them.
The article says two million bucks over three years. I know what you mean about ads. The renovation of Navy Pier was criticized for that reason - advertising signs on seemingly every flat surface.
Okay, now…I’m as much of a Wrigley Field fan as the next guy. Used to take walks around it during my lunch break when my office was a few blocks down the street. (We’ve since relocated to Printers’ Row, unfortunately.) I love the inside of it, too.
But I don’t understand what the huge fracking deal is over the Toyota sign (other than the fact that it’s Toyota, and we probably don’t want to have the Cubs advertise a car that people are afraid to drive). There’s no indication that it would be a permanent sign and ergo wouldn’t actually deface or modify the building. And really, any time I go to a professional sports place – Yankees Stadium (the original, haven’t been to the new one yet), the Cell, Soldier Field, Citi Field (which, btw, is a REALLY nice place), even Wrigley – I make a point of counting all the corporate fecal logos I see in some form, and they ALL have a ton. This would just make it a ton plus one.
Perhaps it’s my advancing years, but I view the park-like setting of Wrigley Field as the last vestige of civility in MLB.