Zell No : Wrigley Field Deal Killed

THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

Tribune Co. Chairman Sam Zell has rejected former Gov. James Thompson's secret plan to acquire and renovate Wrigley Field for at least $400 million without raising taxes and now plans to package the Cubs and their landmark stadium in a private transaction, sources said Monday.

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But sources said Zell has rejected the state's proposed terms because it relies on a novel and untested financing plan: the sale of individual seats at Wrigley as if they were condominiums.

Zell, Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney and their advisers have concluded that the equity plan and its tax ramifications would violate both the Internal Revenue Service code and the rules of Major League Baseball, the sources said.

They said Thompson's plan called for selling several thousand seats to raise money for ballpark renovations. The purchase of the ballpark could have been covered by state bonds backed by future ticket revenue.

But the plan could have driven away potential buyers of the franchise. The next Cubs owner could have been denied revenue from the best seats in the house.

Since Gov. Thompson could not fund the deal with a sales tax, he had to find another source of funding, so he came up with this wacky idea.  The whole Wrigley Field sale has been a huge mess.