Judge: Restore beer ad over Wrigley

CHICAGO, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- A baseball-loving judge in Chicago says he won't let a contract dispute hide a familiar big red beer sign overlooking Wrigley Field.

"With any luck, I'll see the sign when the White Sox play the Cubs in the World Series," Cook County Circuit Judge Martin Agran, a Sox fan, joked in making his ruling.

Agran, in a temporary restraining order Friday, said a dispute between Anheuser-Busch and building owner Tom Gramatis should not obscure the iconic rooftop Budweiser sign Gramatis had covered with a tarp, the Chicago Tribune reported Sunday.

Gramatis, who has owned the building near Wrigley Field since June, said he covered the sign after Anheuser-Busch failed to make its quarterly $86,000 rental payment for the ad.

The beer giant contends Gramatis failed to send the invoice, while Gramatis claims the late payment violated the lease and he wants Anheuser-Busch and its sign out of there so he can find new ad tenants for his roof, the Tribune reported.