The frenzy among Chicago Cubs fans to snag pricey and scarce tickets to World Series games at Wrigley Field has now landed in divorce court.
Court documents obtained by The Associated Press from Cook County Circuit Court on Friday say a woman this week submitted an "Emergency Petition For World Series Tickets'' to see Game 4 on Saturday against the Cleveland Indians.
A judge's order says the tickets for Saturday are held by Nancy Riddle's estranged husband and fellow Cubs fan John Riddle. Judge Marya Nega ruled after in-court arguments that the husband can keep the tickets for himself and the couple's 12-year-old son but should pay for a new ticket for Nancy Riddle in a "comparable'' section to his.
The cheapest available tickets start at around $3,000.
The Cubs haven't won a World Series title since 1908, and long-suffering fans are paying a minimum of thousands of dollars per ticket to attend games at Wrigley Field. Even standing-room tickets on sites such as StubHub started at around $2,500, with tickets for most actual seats going for at least five figures and some sellers asking for more than $100,000 for prime box seats.
The husband's lawyer, Michael Berger, declined to name his client in a Thursday interview. But he did describe the legal tussle, saying his client landed the World Series tickets because he bought a season-ticket package deal with his friends this year before divorce proceedings began in April.
Berger said he objected to the notion that because the Cubs hadn't made it to a World Series in 71 years, the request for the judge to intervene on the ticket issue was an emergency because the Cubs might not make it back to another World Series in the wife's lifetime.
Berger is a fan of the Cubs' crosstown rivals, the White Sox, and said he reluctantly acknowledged to the court during arguments before the judge that the Cubs "are a great team.''
"Even if the Cubs lose this time, it is likely -- regrettably -- that they will be back to the World Series again soon,'' he said in a Thursday phone interview.
One team, the NFL's Green Bay Packers, has a clause in place to handle similar situations: "Upon divorce or separation, we will honor a stipulation authorizing retention or transfer of tickets to one or both of the parties. Without stipulation or agreement, the tickets shall revert to the Green Bay Packers who shall have the right to divide them tickets between the parties."
The law firm representing Nancy Riddle, Davis Freeman LLC, declined any comment.
Information from ESPN's Darren Rovell and the Associated Press was used in this report.