Schaumburg Boomers Stadium poised to become Wintrust Field
Schaumburg Boomers Stadium is expected to become Wintrust Field next Thursday through a new six-year naming-rights deal reached by the baseball team and Wintrust Financial Corp.
Because the village of Schaumburg owns the stadium, trustees' vote on the agreement, scheduled for Tuesday, is one last formality that must occur first.
Boomers General Manager Michael Larson said the agreement is for $250,000 per year, with an option to extend for another four years at a higher cost.
In a written statement, Wintrust CEO and founder Edward J. Wehmer expressed enthusiasm for the agreement.
"At Wintrust, we like to align ourselves with the organizations that make this area so unique," Wehmer said. "Especially those, like the Boomers, that bring so much fun to our community. It's been a pleasure to partner with the team and we're excited to strengthen that partnership with Wintrust Field."
Schaumburg Mayor Tom Dailly said the village supports the new name for its 21-year-old baseball stadium.
"We're just extremely happy and couldn't be more pleased that it's Wintrust," Dailly said. "I find it absolutely amazing that we have a business that put its faith in something when baseball wasn't able to be played this year. It shows you where the business community is at. There will be baseball back in Schaumburg."
With the Chicago White Sox using the field for its taxi squad this year, the Frontier League's becoming a partner of Major League Baseball and the many socially distanced special events that have occurred at the stadium, the ballpark has been a source of much positive news in the village this year, Dailly added.
Larson also was inclined to look at the bright side despite the pandemic's impact on the Boomers' main business.
"We were having a really good offseason before we shut down," he said. "It's been, all things considered, a pretty good year, but we'd rather have been coming off of a baseball season now."
Much of the sign changes at the stadium, including the replacement of the main marquee, are expected to take place before the end of fall. Smaller changes will likely wait until spring, but the stadium is expected to be fully rebranded before the start of the 2021 season.
The Boomers were granted an amendment to their lease earlier this year that would allow them to be released from it if their 2021 season is canceled because of COVID-19.
But Larson emphasized at the time that the option is unlikely even in that worst-case scenario, and less likely now with the new naming-rights agreement in place, he said Thursday.