Cubs Owner Tom Ricketts Keeps Wrigley Field Family-Friendly

Tom Ricketts, chairman of the board for the Chicago Cubs, believes baseball fans will enjoy games more if they can converse between innings.

Toward that end, he said Sunday that he believes that Wrigley Field’s blend of live organ music, proximity to an adjacent baseball village, and a wholesome family atmosphere is the key to his team’s success.

The soft-spoken Ricketts was at the ballpark to greet more than 500 media representatives attending ipw 2025, an annual conference designed to promote international travel to the United States.

New Players Help

He is the guiding force in keeping the Cubs first in the National League Central Division. The development of Pete Crow-Armstrong, the slugging center fielder; the signing of former Japanese stars Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga, and a trade for hard-hitting outfielder Kyle Tucker, obtained from Kansas City last December, have been key factors.

The Cubs are trying to replicate their 2016 world championship – the first by the team in 108 years.

But they’ll have to win their division, then prevail against such difficult challengers as the wealthier New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Steve Cohen can sign anybody he wants to,” said Ricketts, whose projected 2025 luxury tax payroll of $218 million ranks 12th among the 30 teams but first in the NL Central.

According to Roster Resource, the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, and Phillies all exceed $300 million.

Although Ricketts believes revealing player salaries increases the asking prices of others, he doesn’t see any other option.

“Word would get out anyway,” he said. “Some enterprising writer could always find out.”

In an effort to maintain a family atmosphere and attract young people who could be fans of the future, Ricketts said the Cubs try to keep prices low on tickets, concessions, and parking. Wrigley Field is also a short walk from Chicago’s Red Line train, the only route in the country that links two major-league ballparks (Wrigley on the North Side and Guaranteed Rate Park, home of the White Sox, on the South Side).

Top-Paid Manager

Although other teams pay their players more, the Cubs have the highest-paid manager. The team convinced Craig Counsell to leave the Milwaukee Brewers with a five-year, $40 million contract signed after the 2023 season.

With a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh on Father’s Day, the Cubs improved their record to 44-28 – 23-12 at home – and stayed five games ahead of the Brewers in the division race.

They also packed Wrigley Field to capacity with nearly 40,000 fans – and dozens more seated on apartment building roofs across the street.

Once a source of controversy in the North Side neighborhood, the apartment-house ticket sales are now regulated by the Cubs, which bought the buildings.

The Ricketts family purchased the team and the ballpark from The Tribune Company for $900,000 in a deal that was formalized by Major League Baseball in 2009.

Tom Ricketts is the brother of Pete Ricketts, former governor and now junior U.S. Senator from the State of Nebraska.