Wrigley Rooftops Back In Federal Court... Again

Just when you thought it was over:

The rooftop businesses that struck out in court are asking for an extra inning with the Chicago Cubs.

Skybox on Sheffield and Lakeview Baseball Club filed court papers Wednesday, asking U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall to reconsider her decision to dismiss their lawsuit against the team and asked permission to file an amended complaint.

Oh, come on now. This is like the Cubs going up to the Mets this week, tapping them on the shoulder and saying, "Uh, we know you just swept us out of the NLCS but we know we can beat you four out of seven right now and we've got a ballpark sitting empty so won't you please come back to Chicago so we can beat you and go to the World Series?"

The incredulous look you'd see on the Mets' faces is pretty much the incredulous look I had on my face when I read this article this morning. Here's the reason the article cites for them doing this:

The two businesses — owned by commodities trader Edward McCarthy — requested Kendall to allow them to amend claims related to antitrust violations by the team in its pursuit of acquiring rooftop businesses. In throwing out the lawsuit last month, Kendall had cited Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption, long upheld by the Supreme Court, and that the Cubs cannot be limited in how they distribute their product.

McCarthy's businesses — which also filed for new counsel — hope to argue that the exemption would not apply because the six rooftop businesses acquired by the Ricketts family this year aren't directly owned by the Cubs. They wrote they want "to clarify the nature of the antitrust theory and the relevant market, as well as to include in the record the correct corporate identity of the party who has been seeking to monopolize that market."

With all due respect to various lawyers I know, all this is going to do is make the lawyers rich, without changing the end result. It's a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Also for the attorneys here, here's a link to the court filing if you are interested in reading it.

At some point these rooftop owners are going to have to acknowledge that they messed up by their aggressive tactics against the Cubs, that they've lost, and throw in the towel. The article ends with this:

The new attorneys for McCarthy's rooftops, James R. Figliulo and Stephanie D. Jones, declined to comment, citing the litigation.

A Cubs spokesman also declined to comment.

The court should, with all respect due to the parties involved, also decline. It's a slow news day, so that's why I posted on this topic, but let's hope this is the last we ever hear about this.