Chicago Cubs purchase deal rich in financial potentialhttp://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... 6415.storyThere also is renewed interest in Tribune Co.'s shelved idea to construct a triangular-shaped building that would include stores and restaurants along Clark Street and create a pedestrian walkway outside Wrigley, similar to Yawkey Way outside Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox.
On game days, Yawkey Way is closed to traffic, and ticket-holders enter it, and the ballpark, through turnstiles. The setup, and wide mix of vendors, is similar to Eutaw Street outside Baltimore's Camden Yards, where the Orioles play, and enables the teams to profit from pregame spending.
Before Yawkey Way, fans were spending pregame dollars in the neighborhood of Fenway, but they weren't coming in.
"People didn't pass through the turnstile until right before the game," said Janet Marie Smith, senior vice president of planning and development for the Red Sox and architect behind the renovation of Fenway and development of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. "In order to stay competitive, we've got to make money."
Similar efforts at Wrigley, which has protected status as an official city landmark and must retain its traditional look, might aid the ballpark but could come at the expense of neighborhood street vendors, restaurants and bars.
But for making the most of a team's out-of-the-park potential, the New York Yankees, with the development of the YES Network, are considered the model to emulate. The regional cable TV channel, in which the Yankees have a minority stake, broadcasts Yankees and the National Basketball Association's New Jersey Nets games and has been the most-watched regional sports network nationally for six consecutive years.
Terms of Tribune Co.'s broadcast-rights contracts with the Cubs are confidential, but they are believed to extend about a decade, creating a future opportunity for the Ricketts family to exploit those rights, possibly by creating their own Cubs network. Tribune Co. also owns the Chicago Tribune.
Other revenue-generating opportunities have potential but also may have to wait. The notion of selling some version of naming rights at Wrigley is off the table, sources said.
