Cubs Move? Hope It Never Happens (Chicago, Rosemont: closing, clubhouse, marketplace)

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Drover

A 6,000 square-foot gewgaw explicitly designed to assault your visual senses perched on the outfield wall is a hell of a big deal if you ask me. I can't think of any other single item that could blight the historic ambiance of the place more than that infernal thing. Go ahead and tear down the ivy and plaster over the brick walls while you're at it.

Holy f****** s***, it's way worse than I had ever feared. Not only does it absolutely dwarf the original center field scoreboard, which IMO should have always remained far and away the central focus of the outfield perimeter if they wanted to maintain the "historic" ambiance, but it absolutely dwarfs everything else in the stadium. It's a huge, gigantic, retina-scorching eyesore. You can't look away from it if you try. No more home runs onto Waveland, or at least not nearly as many. As best I can tell, the only remaining historic ambiance in this place would be the ancient bathrooms (if they haven't been renovated already) and the marginally edible hot dogs. I'll still support the Cubs but I don't think I'll lose sleep if I never see another game at Wrigley again; what's the point if the experience is now little different than seeing a game anywhere else in the league?

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by Drover

Holy f****** s***, it's way worse than I had ever feared. Not only does it absolutely dwarf the original center field scoreboard, which IMO should have always remained far and away the central focus of the outfield perimeter if they wanted to maintain the "historic" ambiance, but it absolutely dwarfs everything else in the stadium. It's a huge, gigantic, retina-scorching eyesore. You can't look away from it if you try. No more home runs onto Waveland, or at least not nearly as many. As best I can tell, the only remaining historic ambiance in this place would be the ancient bathrooms (if they haven't been renovated already) and the marginally edible hot dogs. I'll still support the Cubs but I don't think I'll lose sleep if I never see another game at Wrigley again; what's the point if the experience is now little different than seeing a game anywhere else in the league?

Not exactly subtle, is it?

Some people will never understand that "bigger" is not always "better"...

This will cut down on the crowd standing outside Wrigley, hoping to catch home run balls..

[Ace Rothstein]

Sounds like it was a literal **** show at Wrigley last night.

"An Absolute **** Show": Tales From The Wrigley Field Bathroom Lines

The Rickets family have proven to be amateurs so far when it comes to running a MLB franchise.

[Chicago60614]

Yeah looks like it was a disaster. Only a few functional toilets meant people were waiting for 30-60 minutes to go to the bathroom, this is for mens and womens. The cubs resorted to giving people passes and were sending them across the street to use the bathrooms in neigboring businesses. People were apparently just peeing everywhere inside the stadium by the 6th inning and peeing into cups sitting all around. Total mess, no wonder everyone left so early.

Lots of reports they totally ran out of food as well by the 6th inning or so.

They're apparently going to bring in tons of porta-potties for tomorrow's game. Not sure if they took out the troughs and put in urinals as they reduced the number of bathrooms overall. Even with a few upstairs bathrooms out of service, sounds like people who didn't know that were still trying to come upstairs to pee due to lines hundreds of people long downstairs.

The bathroom lines snaked through the entire concourse area and then out into the stands. I've never seen that, just hundreds of people lined up back and forth in the stands just trying to get to the back areas of the stadium. Sad sight, sure ruined the night for those who showed up. Very glad I didn't get tickets!

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Ace Rothstein

Sounds like it was a literal **** show at Wrigley last night.

"An Absolute **** Show": Tales From The Wrigley Field Bathroom Lines

The Rickets family have proven to be amateurs so far when it comes to running a MLB franchise.

Hey, but at least they got the jumbotron up and running. First things first!

I've heard the CFD had to roll the pump truck out of the fire house and hose down the alleyway under the L tracks to rinse off the pee from the fans who had nowhere else to go. It's entirely possible that this is an exaggeration.... but the sad part is, it's entirely possible it isn't.

Sounds like they definitely should have done a deal to get as many of their home games in Milwaukee and the Cell as they could while they at least finish up the bathrooms.

[Ace Rothstein]

Pretty crazy that the health department allowed them to use the stadium in the shape it is in. I heard there was one women's restroom open for the entire lower level. There is no way that is legal.

[jwaiter]

Bathrooms are important.

[ForYourLungsOnly]

hopefully the bathroom incident will kick construction into high gear

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Drover

Not only does it absolutely dwarf the original center field scoreboard, which IMO should have always remained far and away the central focus of the outfield perimeter if they wanted to maintain the "historic" ambiance, but it absolutely dwarfs everything else in the stadium. It's a huge, gigantic, retina-scorching eyesore. You can't look away from it if you try. No more home runs onto Waveland, or at least not nearly as many.

I agree, the "Jumbotron" (do they even call them that anymore?) is ridiculously stupid-looking in that location, and it's a just a shame to take the focus of the back of the park off the old 1930's score board. Wrigley Field has been seriously defaced, and the Rickett's should be ashamed. The one reason I had to go to Cubs games, the traditional feel and ambiance of the park, has been marginalized to the point that I will not feel compelled to support more losing teams with my attendance.

They should have gone with multiple smaller screens that were better-integrated in to the building. The idea of a single giant screen is silly, and adds very little to the game that couldn't be accomplished with smaller screens.

[Hendu]

Originally Posted by Ace Rothstein

Sounds like it was a literal **** show at Wrigley last night.

"An Absolute **** Show": Tales From The Wrigley Field Bathroom Lines

The Rickets family have proven to be amateurs so far when it comes to running a MLB franchise.

Let me preface this with I'm a Sox fan, and I have absolutely no love for the Cubs.

But the guy is spending $500 million of his own money to make badly needed upgrades to the park that will keep the franchise competitive for decades to comes. Sure, he should have admitted defeat and played a season in Milwaukee rather than a construction zone. And sure the Jumbotron will take getting used to, though it's going to be a big revenue generator.

He's also brought in some very smart baseball people to run the draft and on-the-field operations. If I were a Cubs fan, I'd be feeling pretty good about the future with Ricketts in control.