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Put Down Your Nanowrimo And Leave The House
Sox Shuffle Continues
Part of the shenanigans involved with the Tribune selling Wrigley Field to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority are renovations to the ballpark, which apparently are going to be so major that even with construction beginning immediately after the regular season ends, the Cubs might have to find a temporary home potentially well into the following season. Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney's choice for that move? U.S. Cellular Field.
"To be honest, the architects really drive this, because they talk about lead time on ordering steel, etc., and how this would all work," Kenney said."There's a school of thought that (sports architectural firm) HOK has that you could actually phase it in and not lose a season at Wrigley. But then the question is, do you want to live through three years of construction? Or do you want to take the pain and maybe lose one season or a major portion of one season and just get it done?"
Anyone else nervous about the kinds of changes to Wrigley that would take at least 9 months? Zell and company are already pushing that landmark restrictions be relaxed as part of the deal, and while Mayor Daley has publicly stated he's against such a thing, he's already flip-flopped on other aspects so we don't have a lot of confidence that he'll stay with his position. All of this is expected to be paid for with a nifty new kind of TIF.
The question is, since about half the Cubs fans in attendance at games are there for the Wrigley party, with the rest afraid to head to the scary unknown south of Madison, how high would the attendance numbers be for these relocated games?
While we're on the subject of Wrigley, Kenney also indicated that he really doesn't give a hot damn about changing the stadium's name, invoking his constitutional right to do so. In fact, from his use of the past tense in this statement, it seems some changes to the famous marquee have already been tested out:
"Thankfully, we have the First Amendment that protects us. ... We're just changing the letters. If we wanted to call it [a different name], the marquee would look the same. It would just say [a corporate name rather than Wrigley Field over 'Home of Chicago Cubs]. We've modified the lettering."
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Up to three years of construction? Yeah, that would have to be quite the overhaul; but you know it's just about adding more luxury boxes, and probably adding some handicap accessibility, because they'd have to get in compliance with the ADA to add the boxes.
I am a Cubs fan, and I know that baseball is primarily a business, but they're really starting to rub that fact in our faces.
Hey. I've got a goose that lays golden eggs. I am sick of waiting for it to lay said eggs, though. Hmmm. What if I cut it open? Then I will get all the eggs at once! How can it fail!
how can it fail? i don't know. but i'm a cubs fan, and i will wish all the worst for that organization if they do all this shit. all the fucking worst.
some of us actually go to see baseball played in a beautiful, historical park.
Id rather they cancel the Cubs season than play on the southside.
I'm with Joshua. I'm a Cubs fan who enjoys going to Wrigley to see the Cubs play but I'm not dragging my ass down to the the Cell to see the Cubs play the Marlins.
Since taxpayers throughout the state will likely be paying for this project either directly or indirectly, I look forward to some consideration regarding tickets when the Cubs play at home against some of my favorite teams.
I mean, the taxpayers will get a benefit out of this, right? The taxes that likely will be used to pay for this project will not just help rich people make more money, right?
Cub fan here. I would have no problem with them renovating/redoing the grandstand portion of Wrigley...it needs a ton of work on the interior concrete, the exterior concrete/chain link fence-walls (added much later than when Wrigley was built) are REALLY ugly and vaguely prison-esque, and the whole thing smells like urine and stale beer. I'm not even gonna get into the number of terrible seats underneath the upperdeck beyond noting that there are many...
The best parts of the ballpark have to be kept: the ivy, the sightlines into the neighborhood, the scoreboard, the bleachers (though they've been destroyed by high ticket prices and yahoos already), the marquee, etc. but the grandstand suuuucks. Fix it up, play a season in Comiskular, and when the Cubs outdraw the Sox in their own stadium, another taunt can be added to the list...
Did some corporate douchenozel just hide behind the first amendment, the right to free speech and expression, as a means to justify making a gob of money for renaming a building?!?!?
Yeah, I see four horsemen riding up damen.
Rapture me home jesus!
That actually takes the cake for the worst invocation of Free Speech I've ever heard. Just for kicks, Congress should pass a law forbidding Wrigley Field from being renamed. Then, maybe, he'll get to use his first amendment rights.
are they going to move all the bars down to the southside too? what about the douche's with the popped collars? what about the dudes that show up in the fourth inning wasted and leave after the seventh inning to go back to the bar? i can't see how this can work ...
Hahahahahahahahaha!
(deep breath)
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
/Sox fan
PB,
I just started likeing you a little bit more.
If this happens, then Cubs fans can finally prove that they aren't the oblivious beer guzzlers they've long been pegged to be. If they can flock to the south side to cheer for the Cubs, I'll be the first person to apologize for all the times I've called them clueless about baseball, just in it to get on TV, be obnoxious and binge drink.
On the other hand, if they watch from the safe haven of their Ye Olde Irish Pub of choice in Lakeview, then they will have proven right all of us who have long suspected that their loyalty is really to the spectacle that is Wrigley, not to the Cubs.
I wonder how many millions of taxpayer money Jim Thompson & his shyster firm are going to get out of this scam?
Cub fans still have taunts after 2005? That's some funny shit. Please go to Milwaukee and play your season, don't piss up our park.
That place is a dump. Tear the whole fucking thing down (save the actual field) and build anew.
Im a huge baseball fan, and have respect for history and tradition, but the stands that surround wrigley are dilapidated, trashy, and most of all unsafe. Save the tradition of the field itself and rebuild.**
**Hey, maybe then your team could shake that curse and actually make it to the world series again!