Editing Wrigley Field (section)

===Rooftop seats===
{{more citations needed section|date=April 2017}}
[[File:Wrigley Field and Wrigley Rooftops.jpg|thumb|right|View of the right field bleacher seats before the 1060 Project renovations began]]
[[Image:Wrigley Roof.jpg|right|thumb|April 2006 view from a rooftop across Waveland Avenue]]
[[File:Eamus Catuli zero 20170608 210539.jpg|thumb|[[Eamus Catuli]] sign at "AC0000000" during the [[2017 Chicago Cubs season]], in recognition of the Cubs victory the previous season]]
{{See also|Wrigley Rooftops}}

When Wrigley Field was constructed, the buildings along Waveland and Sheffield avenues gave spectators a view of what was going on inside the ballpark, but did not become popular spectator areas until the [[1929 World Series]]. The [[1938 World Series]] brought paying spectators to the rooftops, however, fans typically sat in lawn chairs and brought their own food and beverages. In the mid-1980s, rooftop owners began to organize more formally as businesses, seeking to extract more revenue by updating the rooftops with bleacher-style grandstands. The Sky Box on Sheffield opened in 1993, originally catering primarily to corporate groups. Today, it is complete with a two-tier roof deck, indoor clubhouse, fully staffed bars on three levels, and an elevator.<ref name=":0" />

In 1998, the city started requiring rooftop owners to have a license and began to regulate the venues. In 2003, relations between rooftop owners and the Cubs worsened when the team put up a large screen to block the view of the rooftops, exemplifying what is known as a [[spite fence]]. The Cubs then sued most rooftop businesses that year, claiming they were stealing from the team's product and "unjustly enriching themselves".<ref name=":0">{{cite news |title=Wrigley Rooftops' Quirky Past Preceded Big Business, Sour Relationship with Cubs|first=Becky|last=Yerak|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-wrigley-rooftops-history-1028-biz-20161027-story.html|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=October 27, 2016|access-date=May 16, 2017|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2004, the building owners agreed to share a portion of their proceeds with the Cubs. Rooftop owners were required to pay the team 17% of their gross revenue in an agreement lasting until 2023.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Cubs Owners Invest in Neighbor|first=Ameet|last=Sachdev|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2010/05/20/cubs-owners-invest-in-neighbor/|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=May 20, 2010|access-date=May 21, 2010}}</ref> The Cubs obtained permission from the city to expand the ballpark's own bleachers out over the sidewalks and do some additional construction on the open area of the property to the west, bordered by Clark and Waveland, and to close the remnant of Seminary Avenue that also existed on the property. The rooftop seats are now effectively part of the ballpark's seating area, although they are not included in the seating capacity figure.

In July 2016, former rooftop owner R. Marc Hamid was convicted on nine counts of mail fraud and illegal bank structuring.<ref>{{cite news |title=Former Wrigley Rooftop Club Owner Convicted of Hiding Revenue|first=Jason|last=Meisner|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-cubs-marc-hamid-skybox-trial-0723-met-20160722-story.html|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=July 22, 2016|access-date=April 25, 2017|language=en-US}}</ref> Hamid had been underreporting attendance at the Sky Box on Sheffield from 2008 to 2011, and covered up over $1 million in revenue while also avoiding hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes and royalties that violated the agreement rooftop owners had with the Cubs. In January 2017, he was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ex-Wrigley Rooftop Owner Given 18 Months in Prison for Cheating Cubs|first=Jason|last=Meisner|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-wrigley-rooftop-owner-sentencing-met-20170109-story.html|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=January 9, 2017|access-date=April 25, 2017|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2013, the owners threatened suit when the team announced plans to renovate the stadium and potentially disrupt the sight lines. In May 2014, when the rooftop owners did not agree to a scaled down plan for renovations, the Cubs' owners announced their intentions to implement the original 2013 plan for renovations even if it meant battling the issue in court. Cubs owner Ricketts said Wrigley has "the worst player facilities in Major League Baseball...I am saying it is the time to invest in Wrigley Field and do the things that our competitors do."<ref name="autogenerated1" /> By the end of the 2016 season, the Ricketts family had acquired ten of the rooftop locations, with a financial stake in an eleventh.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ricketts Family buys 10th Wrigley Field Rooftop|first=Danny|last=Ecker|url=http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160410/BLOGS04/160409814/ricketts-family-buys-10th-wrigley-field-rooftop|work=[[Crain's Chicago Business]]|date=April 10, 2016|access-date=December 21, 2016}}</ref>

Some of the rooftops became legendary in their own right. The Lakeview Baseball Club, which sits across Sheffield Avenue (right-field) from the stadium displayed a sign that read "Eamus Catuli!" (roughly Latin for "Let's Go Cubs!"—''catuli'' translating to "[[wikt:whelp|whelps]]", the nearest Latin equivalent), flanked by a counter indicating the Cubs' long legacy of futility. The counter was labeled "AC" for "Anno Catulorum", or "In the Year of the Cubs". Prior to the team's 2016 championship, it read "AC0871108", with the first two digits indicating the number of years since the Cubs' last division championship as of the end of the previous season ([[2008 Chicago Cubs season|2008]]), the next two digits indicating the number of years since the Cubs won the National League Pennant ([[1945 Chicago Cubs season|1945]]), and the last three digits indicating the number of years since their last [[World Series]] win ({{wsy|1908}}). After winning the World Series in 2016, the sign was updated to "AC000000". As of 2025, the sign says "AC090909".