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Chicago Cubs (3x World Series Champions)

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ORD_Buckeye said:
6.5 back from the Brewers now. Solid lead to be the top wild card slipping away to the Padres. Can the Cubs dig deep enough to truly live up to their legacy for late season collapses and miss the playoffs entirely?
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Mets have dibs on that faceplant as we stand here today.
 
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Inside a Wrigleyville rooftop owner's fight with the Cubs​

On a recent night at Wrigley Field, the view from beyond left field was almost perfect. There were the iconic bleachers ... the ivy on the outfield walls ... the field bathed in light. Pete Crow-Armstrong was batting, and the near sellout crowd was chanting: "M-V-P!"

But Aidan Dunican, standing on the rooftop of his four-story apartment building across the street, was pointing out what he couldn't see -- mainly pieces of the infield because of a gauzy, translucent screen affixed to the left-field grandstand that obscured his view, and that of the 50 or so patrons who had paid to watch the game from his rooftop.

The Chicago Cubs installed the screens two seasons ago, along with large letters that advertised a 50-50 raffle that further blocked portions of the field from Dunican. This was no accident: the Cubs sued Dunican and his rooftop business in 2024, arguing he was illegally profiting off their property.

"I was worried it would affect ticket sales," Dunican said in his Irish brogue, while he pointed at the screen. He later added: "People are still coming."

But Dunican now has more pressing concerns than the screens.

On Sept. 30, the same day the Cubs' season ended, a federal judge ruled in favor of the team, ordering Dunican to stop selling tickets to his rooftop -- a victory for the Cubs who have called his operation "parasitic." Dunican told ESPN he is weighing his options for an appeal and intends to continue to fight to keep his 30-year-old business going next season --in what could be considered a quixotic fight against the inevitable or a principled stand for the little guy.

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The Cubs installed screens to partially block the view from Dunican's rooftop.

"There's bullying tactics," Dunican said. "And you see how billionaires are pushing around everyone else today. And I live here. So I'm not going to do anything else."

Wrigley, tucked among apartment buildings and residential streets, is a jewel-box park famously part of the neighborhood that bears its name. And part of that charm is the rooftop seating on the apartment buildings just beyond the outfield, which has been a popular destination for fans since the 1990s and the heyday of Sammy Sosa.

The Ricketts family, which owns the Cubs, are like most owners these days, turning their investments into a collection of assets beyond the team itself. The family owns Wrigley Field itself, co-owns the TV network that broadcasts Cubs games and, increasingly, owns the buildings that house the rooftops around Wrigley Field. Ricketts' businesses have bought and acquired 11 buildings and their rooftop businesses surrounding the park. They've reached revenue-sharing deals with others.

Dunican, 64, was the last holdout. He bought his property in the 1990s, knocked down what was there and built a four-story building with two decks of inclined seating on the roof. He lives in the third-floor apartment.

"It's a classic David versus Goliath story and David is being totally squished," said Tom Moore, an attorney who represented a group of rooftop owners more than a decade ago in negotiations with the Cubs and the city. Most of his clients ended up selling to the Ricketts.

Of Dunican, Moore said: "I wish him well. Usually Goliath beats up David."

Somewhere between $100 and $300 got you a seat at Dunican's Wrigley View Rooftop, along with an open bar until the seventh inning and all the Chicago-style hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches you could eat. The rooftop holds around 200 people, and if Dunican didn't sell 50 tickets for a game, he usually wouldn't open.

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Dunican's business includes a bar and food options, and guests sit in stadium seating atop the roof.

Dunican said the business usually generates around $1 million annually before accounting for expenses. Until 2024, he was paying the Cubs around 17% royalties due to a 2004 agreement signed by all the rooftops in business at the time.

When that deal expired after the 2023 season, Dunican hoped to extend it. The Cubs said no, Dunican said. He offered 20% of his gross revenue, but the Cubs wanted 30% for regular-season games and 40% for postseason games, he said. "It would have put me out of business," he said.

The Cubs argued Dunican needed an agreement with the team to profit off the games. They paid nearly a billion dollars to refurbish the stadium plus hundreds of millions more annually on running the team and Wrigley upkeep every year. Any money spent with Dunican might be spent on tickets and concessions inside the park, they argued. (The Cubs also argued Dunican was misusing their logo on marketing materials, which Dunican acknowledged.)

Dunican countered that if the Cubs are so offended by his business they should block his view more completely. Further, he said, the city gave him a license to operate his rooftop specifically during Cubs games.
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