Rooftop businesses that line streets outside Wrigley Field and offer views of Cubs games received troubling news Thursday.
According to the Chicago Tribune, a federal judge denied a request by two of the businesses for to stop the Cubs from installing a video board in right field.
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The businesses, Skybox on Sheffield and Lakeview Baseball Club, sued in January claiming the video board would block their customers' views into the stadium and wipe out ticket sales. The lawsuit also accused the Cubs of violating antitrust law, saying it sought to "bully" rooftop properties into selling out to the Cubs, the Tribune reports.
Although the Cubs have a revenue-sharing agreement with the private rooftop owners, U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall ruled in favor of the club, allowing construction to continue.
“Because the rooftops have failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims that the Chicago Cubs breached the License Agreement and engaged in anticompetitive practices, and that the Cubs are somehow excluded from the antitrust exemption that applies to Major League Baseball, the Rooftops’ motion for preliminary injunction is denied,” Kendall wrote at the end of her 35-page ruling, which was obtained by the Tribune.
Despite their privately funded $575 million renovation and development project being way behind schedule, the Cubs announced Tuesday that Wrigley will be ready for opening night Sunday, although the outfield bleachers will not be open.
Construction crews finished installing a massive 42-foot-by-95-foot video board in left field on Wednesday. When the renovation project is complete, Wrigley will feature new home and visitors' clubhouses, new bullpens, an outdoor plaza, renovated luxury suites and press accommodations and a new hotel. Those additions will be put into place incrementally over the next several offseasons.