Wrigley Field's brilliant brand spots

While the club owners have thankfully bucked the trend of selling venue naming rights to the corporate world, they've obviously found other ways to turn a profit in recent years. The Friendly Confines are also financially friendly...so to speak.

Chief among the advertising options are on-field placements, which re-emerged a couple of years back. One I always notice during televised Cubs games is Under Armour, plastered on the double-doors between the ivy, in left-center and right-center fields. Commercial space doesn't come much better. Unless it's on Kim Kardashian's backside, that is.

You've probably noticed the dugout logos too, which have displayed Sears, Walter E. Smithe and more recently, State Farm. But perhaps the most innovative are the ads on nearby buildings, especially those across Waveland and Sheffield Avenues.

In Sunday's game between the Cubbies and Dodgers, the broadcast team discussed various "landmarks" just outside the park, including the Miller beer sign atop one of the residential properties. I'm sure the owner loves the goldmine he's sitting on, but you wouldn't want to be caught walking by a window in your jockey shorts would you?