Wrigley 2014: plan begins under Ricketts
According to ESPN 1000’s Bruce Levine the plan to renovate Wrigley Field by 2014 (the ballparks 100th) will continue under new owner Tom Ricketts. Levine gives out the details:
Part of his plans for Wrigley centers around the 100th anniversary of the famed ballpark.
Rickets and team president Crane Kenney will petition Major League Baseball to have the 2014 All-Star Game at Wrigley Field.
At that point, the new ownership group hopes to spend between $200 million to $300 million in modernization and renovation of Wrigley for the celebration.
Some highlights of Ricketts’ goals are:
• To refurbish the grand stand and upper deck. The plan will include new sky boxes, restaurants and bars as part of the infrastructure.
• A new building — known as the triangle building — adjacent to the west side of the park. That will house team offices as well as a hall of fame and multiple retail shops and restaurants. The building will extend from the edge of the park on the west all the way to Clark Street; and on the north to Waveland. A multi-tiered parking facility also is scheduled to be constructed as part of this new area.
• Expanded wash rooms and a food court that will feature top restaurants and areas for families with young children to move around and relax in Wrigley’s vast new corridors.
• A multi-purpose LED electronic scoreboard that will give fans the ability to see replays for the first time in history at Wrigley. The other purpose of the scoreboard will be to realize a significant amount of income selling advertising. Finding a location for the scoreboard may be tricky for the Cubs. Any change in Wrigley must receive permission from the landmark authority, which has final say-so over the historic structure. The Cubs could avoid that hassle by making a deal with a rooftop owner to have the scoreboard on an existing roof. Size and weight will determine if that would be feasible. In 2005, the Red Sox grossed $25 million in revenue from their scoreboard advertising. Both the city of Chicago and the neighborhood will have their say as to what noise pollution a new scoreboard outside of the ballpark would create. It’s likely the current scoreboard would remain intact due to the significance of the structure in the landmark deal.
Tom Ricketts appears to be committed to improving the experience of Cubs fans with a better product on the field and an improved ballpark.
• Naming rights are a viable means of income that the Cubs will have to explore as a part of their new business plan. The New York Mets have a 20-year deal that brings in $20 million per season with Citibank. Yankee Stadium, owned by the Steinbrenner family, refuses to mess with history by selling naming rights for their new park.
So naming rights, a jumbotron on a rooftop, anything that will generate revenue in the ballpark is on the table. One thing that the Ricketts family was adamant about in their press conference today was that all revenues would go back into the Cubs. If that is the case, Cubs fans should applaud these changes.
wpbc
jackfsu
jeremyt32
More revenue to spend on the Cubs??? wow….we dont need more overpriced athletes…lets build this team from the ground up… then maybe pay to keep a few of the good ones. Screw the overpaid free agents. They dont work, at least not for Jim Hendry.
bigdave
October 30, 2009 at 1:48 pm
texiera and sabathia have worked out fairly well for the yankees. i think you need a combo big dave. good farm system and occasional free agent addition.
wpbc
October 30, 2009 at 2:35 pm
bigdave: seriously? Do you know how difficult it is to develop enough players and have them hit the bigs at the same time with enough talent to win the title? You have to watch a LOT of shitty baseball to accumulate the draft picks/prospects to get that to work. I’m sure Marlins fans aren’t complaining about their 2 WS rings, but there’s a reason why those games are so sparsely attended. The Cubs have huge revenues. They should use them (wisely).
So yes, they should be developing prospects (Starlin Castro looks like a star, btw), but the Cubs have no excuse not so spend money on FAs too.
berselius
October 30, 2009 at 3:15 pm
i think there is a part of the fanbase that wants the cubs to sign the biggest and best free agent every season. there is part of the fanbase that want them to be the minnesota twins. the trouble is somewhere in between lies where the cubs are. it probably doesn’t satisfy either one of the parts of the fanbase i describe above.
wpbc
October 30, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Did Levine really worry that the JumboTron about “what noise pollution a new scoreboard outside of the ballpark would create”? The screen on the rooftop won’t make any noise, the sound will play inside the ballpark. Somebody take Bruce to Best Buy and show him how SurroundSound works.
Andy
November 2, 2009 at 9:04 am
Andy, Bruce still has a black and white zenith at home.
wpbc
November 3, 2009 at 10:35 am
How about improving the exterior of the ballpark, so the front doesn’t look like the inside of an inner-city high school?
Mike
November 21, 2009 at 8:21 am
I’m told the Cubs definitely will leave the old scoreboard as is, and not seek change to landmark ordinance. This disappointed me. It’s both a relic and poor money-maker.
Numerous hints the last few years a new scoreboard atop LF rooftops is in the offing. Very odd, the thought of Cubs parterning with rooftop owners they clearly dislike, and have reason to. Even odder, trying to visualize two boards–one obselete and in the park, one across Waveland, outside the park. I just don’t get anything about this.
Seems to me Option 1 above makes the most sense.
Get the ordinance amended. New board replaces old board. One board. Located within. Fan-friendly. Contemporary. Megamillions in new revenues.
Separately, I agree that Wrigley’s exterior needs a big upgrade. It was beautiful on the outside in the 1950s.
mikec
February 9, 2010 at 10:17 am