Sports owners are constantly trying to find new avenues to increase their revenues. Every team brings in money from ticket sales, concessions, and TV money to name a few of the largest sources of revenue streams. However, there has been a movement towards teams owning all of the area surrounding their stadium as well. By doing this, the team can increase revenues via restaurants, bars, and hotels that all encapsulate the full game day experience for fans. A family can go see their favorite team play for an entire weekend and never have to leave the vicinity of the stadium for food or lodging.
As this type of money is emerging from the areas immediately surrounding the stadium, more and more people want a piece of the pie. Chicago is no different. The rooftops of the tall buildings around the stadium are able to see into Wrigley Field and give the people on the roof a great view of the game. These rooftop tickets are often much more affordable as well. The owners of these buildings have taken advantage of the situation and sold tickets to watch the games up there. This hurts the Cubs business as people who might normally buy tickets to the game are now paying less to watch it from outside the stadium. This represents a Coasian problem. In theory, the Cubs owners and the surrounding building owners should be able to negotiate a solution to the problem since property rights are defined. However, there are high transaction costs between the two parties that inhibit a deal being reached. Over the years, the owners of the Cubs have bought out some of the buildings and companies that offer these rooftop tickets for a view of the game. To impede the businesses that they did not acquire, the Cubs built large obstructions such as a huge scoreboard to block the view from those locations. When there is millions of dollars on the line, a mutually agreed upon arrangement is very difficult to reach. With the help of Coase, this problem could have been solved in a more efficient manner long ago.
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