Filed under: Cubs, NL Central, MLB Biz
Corporate sponsorship has become such a way of life in this country that sometimes it becomes so ubiquitous that I wonder if it's lost all meaning. Think of the Budweiser Building behind the bleachers in left at Wrigley Field. Has that sign ever made you want a Budweiser? OK, maybe nothing's ever made you WANT a Budweiser. But the point is that the sign is there seemingly because it's always there. Except that now, it might not be there any more .
There are some legal wranglings going on between the new owner of the building and Anheuser-Busch that may cost Bud its prime location right behind Wrigley's home run alley in left. It's all pretty complicated, but it boils down to Tom Gramatis, the new owner of the Bud Building, claiming that Anheuser-Busch missed a payment and failed to respond to the notice he sent, which gives him a right to void the lease and, presumably, sell the advertising space before the playoffs start for huge, huge amounts of money. AB is calling shenaningans and the whole things is going to court. Until a decision is made, the roof remains covered by a brown tarp.
It's funny because, as i mentioned in the first paragraph I really think that few people think of the sign as an advertisement and many more think of it as a part of Wrigley. But if something (say, Dunkin' Donuts) replaces it before the playoffs, then everyone talks about the new sign in the outfield and the new purchaser suddenly gets not only prime advertising space outside of Wrigley, but a ton of free exposure on national TV. I think Gramatis probably knows this and that's what's driving him.
