Former Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) battled the Cubs over all things Wrigley Field for two decades, prompting the Ricketts family that owns the team to bankroll a challenger that Tunney handily defeated.
When Bennett Lawson replaced Tunney, his former boss and mentor, he set out to “lower the temperature” and improve a relationship with the Cubs that he called “unnecessarily confrontational.”
“There’s ways we can disagree without … having it blow up,” Lawson said Thursday.
Now Lawson’s “hard reset” with the Cubs could set the stage for Chicago’s iconic ballpark to host the 2027 All-Star Game, and possibly, for the team to achieve its long-standing goal to play more night games at Wrigley to level the playing field with other teams.
Lawson is so confident that his $30 million security plan will pave the way for Wrigley to be chosen for the 2027 All-Star Game that he’s already planning for it.
“There will be venues at Navy Pier and downtown, in addition to the ballpark,” Lawson said. “That’s ultimately a decision that’s up to Major League Baseball. … [But] when the announcement comes out, hopefully we’re selected. … We’ll be waiting and excited for it.”
For years, the Cubs made an all-or-nothing demand to close Addison and Clark on game days.
The tandem of Tunney and then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel refused, fearing that street closings would turn a stadium area bustling with new development into a “four-square-block bubble” where nobody could get in or out.
Lawson’s plan keeps the streets around Wrigley open, while surrounding the ballpark with anti-terrorism-rated, removable concrete bollards and widening sidewalks along Addison Street. The $30 million cost would be shared by the state, the city and the Cubs.
“If we were to have a hard closure around the ballpark for every hour of every game [and] two hours before and two hours after, it really limits the movement through — not only the neighborhood, but a good chunk of the North Side,” Lawson said. “By using the movable bollards, we can close the streets as needed when they’re most full, then reopen them once the crowds die down.”
Lawson noted that the bubble around Wrigley “would be needed in order to secure the All-Star Game” for the ballpark for the first time since 1990, and the fourth time in its 111-year history.
“The biggest piece of that is the billion dollar investment that the Ricketts family put into the stadium. Most new stadiums get the All-Star Game within a few years after” stadium projects are completed, Lawson said. “Part of the conversation is that we should be doing those things that secure the ballpark and help safety in the community, but would also give us a leg up for any All-Star Game consideration.”
The $30 million security plan was just the latest example of Lawson’s “hard reset” with the Cubs.
Over the last two years, he has also persuaded the City Council to give the Cubs the go-ahead to sell hard liquor at the rooftop clubs they own surrounding Wrigley and install two new rooftop signs on buildings owned by the billionaire Ricketts family.
The sign ordinance could have rekindled the debate about sign pollution at the landmark ballpark, but it didn’t turn out that way. The Cubs added a Coca-Cola sign at 1040 W. Waveland Ave. and a Benjamin Moore paint sign at 3623 N. Sheffield Ave. with barely a whimper.
That’s how much the relationship between the Cubs, the local alderperson and the Wrigleyville community has improved, and how much Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts has honored his commitment to improve the nation’s second-oldest ballpark with sensitivity.
Next year, the Cubs have an opening to achieve yet another long-standing goal: permission to hold more night games at Wrigley.
The ceiling has gone from 12 night games per season when lights were installed in 1988 to the current limit of 43 night games each season. That includes 35 night games the Cubs can schedule and eight more that can be added by Major League Baseball.
Lawson was asked whether he would be open to an increase that inches the Cubs closer to the MLB average of 54 night games per season.
“We can always talk about it. It’s part of the community conversation,” he said. “My biggest concerns remain about Fridays and Saturdays. Friday and Saturday nights are off limits unless it’s a MLB game. That was done to make sure that other businesses in the neighborhood had a bite at the apple on what are the busiest nights of the week.
“The neighborhood has to be about more than just the Cubs. If it was every night during the summer, that’s all we would have left.”