Gallagher snags naming rights for Chicago Cubs’ Wrigley plaza
Reprints
Having finally vanquished the Curse of the Billy Goat in 2016, the Chicago Cubs are moving full steam ahead with a plan to make Wrigleyville a year-round destination — and now have a familiar insurance-sector partner to help in that endeavor.
Ahead of a snowy 2018 opening day for the Cubbies at Wrigley Field on Monday, the 2016 World Series champs announced that the team and owner Ricketts family have reached a multiyear agreement with Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., which will become the official insurance brokerage, benefits and risk management services partner of the baseball team.
The deal includes exclusive naming rights to the entertainment plaza, Wrigley Field’s western gate, now named Gallagher Way, the left field bullpen door and a videoboard feature sponsoring late-inning “insurance runs.”
Formerly called The Park at Wrigley, Gallagher Way is a key component of the Ricketts family’s vision to transform the neighborhood into an attractive year-round destination for tourists, residents and Cubs fans, according to a statement issued Monday.
“My family is thrilled the Chicago Cubs can partner with Gallagher,” Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts said in the statement. “We admire their 90-year history of business and civic leadership, and we share their deep ties to Chicago.”
The curse was allegedly placed on the Cubbies in 1945 by Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis, who was angered about being denied entry to the stadium because his goat’s smell annoyed other baseball fans. He claimed the Cubbies would never win another World Series, beginning that year when the team lost to the Detroit Tigers. The curse lasted 71 years, from 1945 to 2016, until the Cubbies finally broke it by beating the Cleveland Indians in an instant classic, extra-innings Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
Good thing the Cubbies have Gallagher on tap to help look for an insurance solution just in case another stinky goat shows up with a mischievous owner at Wrigley.
Read Next
-
Contractor says Apple needs glass walls like it needs a hole in the head
They say people who work in glass-walled buildings might attempt to walk through them. That’s what a contractor told Apple when it was building its Cupertino, California, headquarters — a warning ignored, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
