Six weeks after the Chicago Cubs told rooftop owners they were done negotiating, the rooftop businesses are looking to strike a deal over signs at Wrigley Field.
Two owners said Thursday that the rooftop businesses have agreed not to sue the team if it sticks to last year's plan to install a video scoreboard and one advertising sign in the outfield and pull back from its recent push for more signs with more potential for blocked views.
The rooftop owners reached out to the Cubs with the offer in recent weeks to resolve their long-running disagreement over proposed outfield signage that threatens their businesses and a tradition unique to Chicago.
"The rooftops have been working very hard to find a solution that works for everyone," said Jim Lourgos, who co-owns the rooftop at 3639 N. Sheffield. "I haven't heard from the Cubs yet."
Cubs spokesman Julian Green did not specifically address the rooftops' offer but provided a statement Thursday that the team will move forward with its revised plans. In May, the Cubs unveiled a new renovation blueprint for the 100-year-old stadium that is dramatically different from the Wrigley plans the City of Chicago approved last year, and Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts declared it was time to stop negotiating with the rooftop owners.
In addition to the video scoreboard and right-field sign that were approved, the Cubs want five more signs in the outfield and other changes to the ballpark. Since the stadium is a city landmark, the team has to get approval for signs and other major ballpark changes from the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.
The landmarks commission is set to review the revised plans at a July 10 meeting.
"We are 100 percent focused on presenting our revised expansion plan to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks," Green said. "Our construction timetable depends on getting the required approvals at that meeting so that must be our priority at this time.
"Again, we're not prepared to lose another year and jeopardize delivering on the promises we made to our players, fans, partners and neighbors."
Ald. Tom Tunney, whose 44th ward includes Wrigley Field, confirmed that the rooftop owners had agreed not to sue if only two signs are erected.
Tunney, who opposes the plan to add signs beyond the two, said seven signs ringing the outfield would obscure or block views from inside the ballpark out to the rooftops-a unique characteristic that the City of Chicago cited when it declared the ballpark an official city landmark in 2004.
Fifteen of those buildings have been turned into rooftop businesses that sell tickets for their bird's eye views into the stadium. The Cubs sued the rooftop owners in 2002, alleging copyright infringement and arguing that the rooftops "unjustly enrich themselves to the tune of millions of dollars each year."
The sides agreed on a settlement in 2004 in which rooftop owners would to pay the team 17 percent of their revenues for 20 years. The team typically receives $3 million to $4 million annually, an attorney who represents the rooftops has previously told the Tribune.
That contract - hammered out by Tribune Co., parent of the Chicago Tribune, when it owned the team -- has become central to the dispute and a document each side interprets differently. The rooftop owners believe that it prohibits the Cubs from putting up anything that could obstruct views of the field from the venues. But the current Cubs owners believe it allows the team to expand or renovate the stadium as long as it receives a public agency blessing.
The Ricketts family, which bought the team in 2009, would like to preserve the historic stadium for future generations of Cubs fans and is willing to spend more than $300 million on the renovation without the kind of special public subsidies seen in other stadium deals in Chicago and around the country. The owners also propose investing $200 million in a hotel, office building and public plaza outside the ballpark, which the city has already approved.
But the Cubs said a year ago they wouldn't begin construction without assurances that they wouldn't be sued by the rooftop owners. So the parties negotiated for months over a way to make both sides happy.
In May, while declaring an impasse with rooftop owners, Tom Ricketts upped in the ante in the bitter dispute by unveiling a renovation plan that included seven outfield signs. Mayor Rahm Emanuel voiced his support for the additional signs but also chafed at additional changes proposed by the club.
Ricketts' gambit to increase signage may have produced his desired result whether or not he gets permission for seven signs. The rooftop owners, who haven't always agreed with each other on negotiating strategy, now seem willing to live with a large scoreboard and a second sign in right field.
"I'm agreeing to work with my rooftop associates," said George Loukas, who owns three rooftops. "Personally, you know, if I was by myself I would let the judicial system take care of it. But because I want to be part of the team and I'm a team player, this is going to be for the good of the other rooftops as well as the Cubs."
Ryan McLaughlin, a spokesman for all of the rooftops, declined to comment, citing the ongoing negotiations.
If the Cubs and the rooftop owners reach an agreement that limits the team to erecting the two, already-approved outfield signs in exchange for a promise that the rooftop owners will not sue, a key issue would be what happens at the end of 2023, when the Cubs' revenue-sharing contract with the owners expires.
The Cubs would presumably press for city permission to erect the five additional outfield advertising signs when the agreement ends. Approval of that plan would guarantee the team a new revenue source and prevent the Cubs from having to undergo another political battle over signs in the future.
But new signs would almost certainly obscure or block views into Wrigley from more rooftops.
The rooftop viewing perches sit atop three-story masonry buildings that line Sheffield and Waveland avenues. Most of the buildings were constructed between 1895 and 1915, according to a 2003 report on Wrigley from the city's landmarks commission. The rooftop stands have been built since 1990, and several owners have spent millions of dollars renovating the apartment buildings to meet new building codes adopted just for their businesses.
"There's always time for an agreement between the Cubs and rooftop owners, before or after the Landmarks Commission meets," said city spokesman Adam Collins. "The mayor's hope has long been that both parties come together to resolve the issue, allowing for a renovation of Wrigley Field that respects its traditions, creates jobs and makes investments in the neighborhood."
Tribune reporter Hal Dardick contributed to this report.