63USA TODAY Sports Anti-Obama ad campaign stalls Wrigley renovation --http://usat.ly/N5gGQg
CHICAGO (AP) – As the baseball season began, Chicago buzzed about plans to upgrade wilting Wrigley Field. Then word spread that the patriarch of the family that owns the Cubs considered bankrolling a $10 million racially-tinged campaign against President Barack Obama, at the same time the team sought his hometown's help with its $300 million renovation.
By Jamie Squire, Getty ImagesWrigley Field, which opened in 1914, was set to receive a $300million renovation until word spread that the patriarch of the Cubs' ownership family was going to bankroll a $10million campaign to defeat President Obama.
By Jamie Squire, Getty Images
Wrigley Field, which opened in 1914, was set to receive a $300million renovation until word spread that the patriarch of the Cubs' ownership family was going to bankroll a $10million campaign to defeat President Obama.
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Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the president's friend and former chief of staff, has since refused to negotiate financing or even take phone calls from the Cubs chairman. A best-selling author took to the Internet to vow never to step foot in Wrigley again.
Now fans are left wondering if the complicated financial deals and presidential politics mean the team's owners will have to put more money into the stadium, and less into building a winning ballclub.
"He's got $10 million to spend on that nonsense. He should spend $10 million on pitching," longtime fan Pam Paxton said of Joe Ricketts, head of the Cubs-owning Ricketts family, as she waited for Wrigley's bleachers so she could watch the last-place team.
