April 03--Allowing the Cubs to continue with all of their renovations of Wrigley Field, a federal judge on Thursday denied a request by two nearby rooftop businesses for the Cubs to stop installation of their right-field video-board.
The Cubs said this week the video-board won't be done until July, but the ruling avoids another setback for the team's $375 million overhaul of Wrigley Field. The team initially planned for a bleacher expansion project -- which also includes four advertising signs along the outfield walls and the major video-board in left field -- to be completed by Sunday's opening day, but it's long been hampered by various delays.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall -- just three days before Opening Day -- could mean an ending to the acrimonious dispute between the team and Skybox and Sheffield and Lakeview Baseball Club. The two businesses -- controlled by Edward McCarthy -- sued in January claiming that the 2,250-square-foot right field video board will block their views into Wrigley Field and wipe out ticket sales, leading to them becoming insolvent.
"Because the Rooftops have failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims that the Chicago Cubs breached the License Agreement and engaged in anticompetitive practices, and that the Cubs are somehow excluded from the antitrust exemption that applies to Major League Baseball, the Rooftops' motion for preliminary injunction is denied," Kendall wrote at the end of her 35-page rulng.
The rooftops' preliminary injunction sought to halt installation of the right-field video board and any signs that would block their views into the historic ballpark. Other rooftop businesses whose views may be blocked by any signs or the video board in left field are not part of the suit.
Renovation of the 101-year-old ballpark is months behind schedule. The left-field bleachers are now set to open in early May while the right-field bleacher seats won't be ready until at least June. Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts said last week the work will likely bleed into a fifth year. As recently as March 20, the team had maintained that its four new signs and two video boards would be ready when it opens the season Sunday against the Cardinals.
The legal sparring has centered on interpretation of sections in the 20-year-old revenue-sharing contract that allowed the businesses to sell tickets to watch Cubs games from their bird's-eye views. The contract predates the Ricketts family ownership of the team but was written by some current team employees, including president of business operations Crane Kenney.
The rooftops separately accused the team of engaging in anti-competitive behavior while trying to create a price-fixing scheme with the rooftops, violating terms of the contract, and team Chairman Tom Ricketts of defaming the rooftop business.
The Cubs have asked for the suit to be dismissed.
Both sides focused on two sentences within the contract. The first states, "The Cubs shall not erect windscreens or other barriers to obstruct the views of the Rooftops, provided however that temporary items such as banners, flags, and decorations for special occasions, shall not be considered as having been erected to obstruct views of the Rooftops."
The second states, "Any expansion of Wrigley Field approved by governmental authorities shall not be a violation of this Agreement, including this section."
The rooftop businesses have said signs are not an expansion of the ballpark, and that the contract should be weighed against the circumstances under which it was developed, which was for the Wrigley bleacher expansion from 2005.
Cubs attorneys argued that signs are an expansion of Wrigley. They also point out that governmental authorities have approved Cub's requests to make any major changes to Wrigley Field, which is a designated Chicago landmark. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks and the City Council have signed off on every aspect of the stadium's renovation over the rooftop owners' objections.
An appeal by the rooftops is possible.
In February, Kendall rejected the rooftops' emergency request to stop the video board installation. She based her ruling partly on how the businesses hadn't shown how their bottomlines would be impacted.
Records filed in the case on behalf of the rooftops show a small net income and the possibility of major losses should ticket sales drop because of blocked views.
Cubs' attorneys have disputed the rooftops' claims of imminent financial duress.
Tension has long marked the relationship between the Cubs and more than a dozen rooftops lining Waveland and Sheffield Avenues. In fact, the 2004 agreement serves as the settlement between the rooftops and the team (then-owned by Tribune Co.) which sued for copyright infringement.
But rancor grew after the Ricketts family purchased the team in 2009, in part because of what rooftop business owners and area residents have called unfair negotiation tactics.
The Ricketts family has bought three of the rooftop operations with plans for more as it expands control of the dollars that Cubs fans spend.
The Cubs have contracted with Anheuser-Busch InBev for a sign on top of the right-field video board.
At a court hearing last week, the Cubs attorneys said that the infrastructure of the right-field video-board is directly linked to the renovations.
Kendall's ruling comes nearly a week after one of the investors in Skybox of Sheffield, Marc Hamid, was indicted on federal criminal fraud charges. Prosecutors allege that from 2008 to 2011 he hid more than $1.5 million in revenue to avoid paying about $600,000 owed to the Cubs, as well as in state and local taxes.
Hamid's attorney said that Hamid will fight the charges. An attorney for McCarthy -- who invested in Skybox in 2013 -- has said that Hamid's responsibilities have been terminated.
jahopkins@tribune.com
