Chicagoans? Who are those guys at Wrigley?

[LizW]

There are some guys protesting, it looks like, on the corner at Wrigley Field. I saw them on the webcam but I can't read their signs. What's it about?

http://www.cubworld.com/category/a_cubworld_cam

Turn speakers down before clicking. The page has loud music.

[orleans]

1. probably something to do with this?

Please repeat after me: It doesn't matter.

There, don't you feel better?

If a corporation is silly enough to plunk down $50 million a year to have its name grafted onto Wrigley Field or, worse, if it is silly enough to erase the very mention of Wrigley, let it. And if that corporation believes people are suddenly going to start referring to the ballpark as Viagra Field or Can You Hear Me Now Stadium, it not only is silly, it is delusional.
Buying naming rights to Wrigley is like buying naming rights to the sun.

The romantics who are in an uproar about a possible name change need to save their indignation for something that matters. The joke will be on the corporate rube who believes that, by acquiring naming rights to the ballpark, he's buying high-quality advertising. What he will buy is a shunning of Amish proportions. If I know one thing, it's that few people will pay any attention to a name change in the way a company would like.

It always will be Wrigley.
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-080228-cubs-naming-rights-rick-morrissey,1,7374571.column

and this

Zell won't hesitate to sell Wrigley Field naming rights
1 day ago

CHICAGO (AP) — The chief executive officer of the Tribune Company says he won't hesitate to sell the naming rights to Wrigley Field — even if baseball purists don't like the idea.

During an interview on CNBC, Sam Zell says despite Wrigley Field being known worldwide, he didn't get a discount because he wasn't going to use the naming rights that the field represents.

Zell said he plans to sell the Cubs and Wrigley separately and in his own time frame. He also disclosed that Major League Baseball has approved "four or six" potential ownership groups and that any one of them would be fine.

The sale of the team has been delayed by Zell's plan to sell the team and the stadium separately, and to have a state agency acquire and renovate Wrigley.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hKqMWw5utXxtzMNEzjLC_9jkfalQD8V2MRN00

[LizW]

2. Ohhhhh. Probably correct.

The same thing happened to our tiny minor league field and it pissed people off no end. We absolutely refuse to use the corporate name.

I can only imagine how people would feel about the selling out of Wrigley Field.

[murielm99]

3. Boy is this guy opening a can of worms.

He has no idea what the Cubs fans WORLDWIDE might bring down on his head. If he thinks the Curse of the Billygoat is bad, he ain't seen nothin'.

Remember when Dallas Green wanted to change the scoreboard? He didn't know what hit him.

There was another brouhaha today, and the protest could be related to that. They want to have more night games this year and in the future. Some of the residents of Wrigleyville were stirred up about that today, too.

[mac2]

4. Ya...the tax payers will pay and they will profit.

Our family have protested the high cost of tickets for games. We pay for the stadium and then we can't afford to go.

If they pay their beginning players so much money ($30M) why can't they build their own stadium or at least 50% of it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrigley_Field Wrigley Field history.

It wasn't so long ago that the City of Chicago couldn't keep their trains going. They were even going to cut lines.

They don't care about using tax dollars to build new stadiums and put spy cameras everywhere.

The governor wants to build a new bridge over the Mississippi and charge a toll. How long will it be before that is privatized and purchased by Spain or China like our highways in Indiana, etc.?

The Tribune owner Zell is pretty arrogant. Of course he doesn't care that the stadium is history for the citizens of the town and known around the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tribune
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribune_Company
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Zell

Zell will sell it off to a foreign country and they will name it...La Cosa Bowl. I hope his newspapers (Chicago and LA) both go belly up. They are now full of trash and propaganda anyway. So is their radio station.

[WillowTree]

5. Apparently these jamokes didn't learn anything from Macy's.

Chicagoans tend to be 1) loyal and 2) very attached to our history. Macy's has been struggling in Chicago because they couldn't leave well enough alone and went and killed-off Marshall Field's. Personally, I've not so much as considered setting foot in a Macy's store since they changed them over and I never will, despite the fact that I can literally see one of their stores from my office.

Put a different sign on Wrigley Field, and I'll still be a Cubs fan, but you won't find me, and a lot of other die-hard Cubs fans, hanging out at Clark & Addison anymore, either. Nor will whoever puts their own name on it ever see a dime of my business. No way. Really, really dumb idea if they do it.

[orleans]

7. U.S. Cellular Field, LaSalle Bank Theater, etc

what a crock. i can't stand these behemoths that change the name. i think it sounds stupid as hell, and is the height of arrogance. btw--since lasalle bank is sold and bought by ? bank of america? does that mean the theater is going to be changed to bank of america theater? (give me a break! like the "shubert" theater wasn't good enough. i know what you mean. i've never been in a macy's either!)

[MidwestTransplant]

6. Zell also blamed Clinton and Obama for the bad economy. I kid you not.

The way he sees it, telling people things they are already know is talking down the economy.

[dysfunctional press]

8. Wrigley's hasn't owned "Wrigley Field" for quite some time...

that should be a bit of a clue to someone who might want to buy the "naming rights"- the Tribune Co. had owned the ballpark and with it the "naming rights" for quite awhile- and THEY couldn't even think about changing it to "Tribune Park or some other such nonsense.

in chicago, united airlines got the naming rights to the new stadium, the United Center -but all the sportscasters just call it the "U.C." on the air. after all, american airlines still spends money on advertising at the tv stations too.

and the new comiskey for the white sox- U.S. Cellular bought the naming rights for U.S. Cellular Field. but the sportcasters just refer to it as "the cell". again- other cellphone companies spend ad money at the stations too.

wrigley field will ALWAYS be wrigley field.