Feb 16, 2008 1:25 pm US/Central
Cubs Threaten To Block Rooftop Owner's View
Lawsuit: Tom Gramatis Is Not Honoring Profit-Sharing Agreements
CHICAGO (STNG) ―
The Cubs have filed a lawsuit - and started testing decorative banners that block the bird's-eye view of Wrigley Field - to punish a rooftop club owner who is refusing to honor a 2004 agreement to share 17 percent of his profits with the team.
Tom Gramatis operates three rooftop clubs in the 3600 block of North Sheffield. At one location, he failed to share any of his 2007 profits with the Cubs. At the other two, he's trying to cut a better deal because the buildings are new and cost more than he originally anticipated.
Four years ago, the Cubs and the rooftops buried the hatchet after an acrimonious dispute that saw the team put up windscreens to obscure rooftop views. The team also filed a copyright infringement lawsuit designed to put the private clubs out of business.
Rooftop owners agreed to pay the Cubs 17 percent of their gross revenue for the next 20 years or $1.7 million based on a 2003 take of $10 million. In exchange, the Cubs agreed to market the rooftops and adjust the compensation rate downward if rooftop views were adversely affected by a 2006 bleacher expansion.
It didn't happen. Both sides have thrived under the arrangement. The 14 existing rooftops raked in as much as $18 million last year as the Cubs made it to the National League Division Series. They reportedly shared over $3 million of it with the team.
Now, Gramatis is threatening to upset the carefully-crafted arrangement. And the Cubs are not about to let it happen.
"It's disappointing because we have a healthy and growing partnership with all of the other building owners. We hoped to be beyond that aspect of our relationship with the neighboring rooftops and have been for four years. [But] if we let him operate without a license, he's going to be able to take advantage of all the other partners we work with," said Crane Kenney, the Tribune Co. senior vice-president who oversees the Cubs.
"He wants a better deal. Why should we [give it to him]. He's essentially got the same economic prospects that the other rooftop owners have. We don't think it's fair to give him a competitive advantage."
Gramatis and his attorney Paul Bach did not return repeated phone calls.
The lawsuit filed Friday seeks to hold Gramatis to the 2004 profit-sharing agreement or force him to shut down. But, the Cubs are leaving nothing to chance. Since there may not be a ruling in the case in time for opening day, they're pursuing, what Kenney called, "self-help remedies: dark decorative banners hung from a pole in foul territory along the right field line to block the views from Gramatis' two new rooftop clubs.
That's a more sophisticated version of the balloons used in 2004 to punish another recalcitrant rooftop owner.
(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2008. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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