Aldermen Road Trip To Cleveland To Root On Cubs

Progressive Field
Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, is setup for baseball's upcoming World Series against the Chicago Cubs. Charlie Riede / Associated Press
Progressive Field
Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, is setup for baseball's upcoming World Series against the Chicago Cubs. Charlie Riede / Associated Press

Aldermen Road Trip To Cleveland To Root On Cubs

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

As the Cubs take on the Cleveland Indians Tuesday night, they will have at least two Chicago aldermen cheering them on from the stands. 

Aldermen John Arena and Ricardo Munoz, both lifelong Cubs fans and members of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus, are heading east with two friends to cheer on their team for their historic run for the World Series. 

Cubs tickets have been a bit of a touchy subject around City Hall lately. The Chicago Board of Ethics recently ruled elected officials can no longer buy face value playoff tickets from the Cubs unless they are attending the game in an official capacity, like throwing out the first pitch. 

Many aldermen are not pleased with the change after years of cashing in on the perk. Ald. Nicholas Sposato, 38th Ward, said he has been in talks with both the executive director of the Board of Ethics and the city’s inspector general. Sposato said he doesn’t think he is “doing anything wrong” by buying tickets directly from the Cubs because it does not make him biased when voting on city proposals involving the team. 

Meanwhile, aldermen like Munoz, 22nd Ward, and Arena, 45th Ward, are trying to find other ways to watch the historic games in person.

“The minute they clinched, I started thinking about ways of watching every game possible,” Munoz said. 

Munoz and Arena are driving the five-and-a-half-hour drive to Cleveland’s Progressive Field with two friends. Munoz said he spent Monday night cleaning out his truck and preparing for the trip. He said they found the tickets on StubHub for about $1,000 each.

“Cleveland’s not that far away, so we’re able to drive out there and (we) haven’t done a road trip in a while,” Arena said. “Being 50 years old, that’s a long time behind me, but I guess I’ll be reliving some of my youth.”

Arena said he didn’t have a problem abiding by the Board of Ethics ruling. And as a season ticket holder, he said he’s also got tickets for Game 4 at Wrigley Field. 

Lauren Chooljian covers city politics for WBEZ. Follow her @laurenchooljian.