Cubs announce LED board and patio in RF bleachers for 2012

[TruffleShuffle]

the major downside being that the colin cowherds of the world would deride people for leaving their mom's basements only spend the whole time at the game looking at their ipad or smartphone.

[crazycooter]

the major downside being that the colin cowherds of the world would deride people for leaving their mom's basements only spend the whole time at the game looking at their ipad or smartphone.

 

I stopped listening to Cowherd after Ricketts bought the Cubs. I knew he trolled his audience a lot, but there's not much else on the radio in my area in that time slot. So, I listened anyway. The day the Cubs sale was announced he was trolling Cubs fans hard. He said Ricketts had overpaid and would run the team into the ground to make his money back. Of course, he was using an 8 year old valuation of the franchise to make his "argument."

 

I decided to fire off an e-mail pointing that out just to see what would happen. I even included a link to the most recent Forbes valuation of the team. To my surprise he read my e-mail on-air, at least in part. IIRC, he didn't read the part where I called him out for lying, made it sound as if the most recent Forbes numbers were something I made up, and then said I was a delusional Cubs fan for thinking the Cubs were worth that number.

 

So, I guess what I'm saying is that if Cowherd and people like him think it is stupid, it is almost necessarily a good idea.

[javy knows my name]

the major downside being that the colin cowherds of the world would deride people for leaving their mom's basements only spend the whole time at the game looking at their ipad or smartphone.

 

I stopped listening to Cowherd after Ricketts bought the Cubs. I knew he trolled his audience a lot, but there's not much else on the radio in my area in that time slot. So, I listened anyway. The day the Cubs sale was announced he was trolling Cubs fans hard. He said Ricketts had overpaid and would run the team into the ground to make his money back. Of course, he was using an 8 year old valuation of the franchise to make his "argument."

 

I decided to fire off an e-mail pointing that out just to see what would happen. I even included a link to the most recent Forbes valuation of the team. To my surprise he read my e-mail on-air, at least in part. IIRC, he didn't read the part where I called him out for lying, made it sound as if the most recent Forbes numbers were something I made up, and then said I was a delusional Cubs fan for thinking the Cubs were worth that number.

 

So, I guess what I'm saying is that if Cowherd and people like him think it is stupid, it is almost necessarily a good idea.

 

I enjoyed this post a lot

[Soul]

Well, it's not like Cowherd and his crew are going to allow actual points to made by his audience that undermine his show.

[samhainn77]

Funny how there is more criticism of this on the Cubs official site than there is here. Looks like real Cubs fans can actually discuss the merits of this somewhere it might make a difference without just kowtowing to management on some amateur site. Nice non-affiliated "fan message board" — what are you people stuck in the 90s? Turns out YOU'RE THE ONES LIVING IN THE PAST.

 

This can't be real.

[Soul]

Real or not, it's pretty [expletive] awesome.

[Irishoshea21]

I like what they are doing in the corner. As I mentioned earlier, that right field section has become a mess since the bleacher expansion.

 

As for the LED board, be a fan of it because it will increase revenue. 99% of why it is there is to put up a big Budweiser sign (or more between innings). No one needs to see a picture of Ryan Dempster. The "stats" they add will likely be mostly meaningless (the side boards already have pitch count and the upper boards have pitch speed). I'm all for making stats more readily available, but this will be very disappointing in that capacity. It's there for more signage, more revenue and that's a good thing. It's much nicer than the Toyota sign.

 

One more note, put me in the group that has no desire to add a massive jumbotron to the ballpark. Because it is overwhelmingly obvious that a jumbotron does not provide any worthwhile video, I think they will be able to increase revenue in less obnoxious ways. Increasing smart phone access (and creating video/advertising revenue streams) is an important next road to explore.

[Guest]

The "stats" they add will likely be mostly meaningless (the side boards already have pitch count and the upper boards have pitch speed). I'm all for making stats more readily available, but this will be very disappointing in that capacity.

 

There's thousands of seats in the stadium that either can't see those other boards, can't see them very well, or can't see them without looking completely away from field action. Getting that information in one spot within the field of vision of the field of play(I have no idea how else to say that) is very useful.

[Guest]

The "stats" they add will likely be mostly meaningless (the side boards already have pitch count and the upper boards have pitch speed). I'm all for making stats more readily available, but this will be very disappointing in that capacity.

 

There's thousands of seats in the stadium that either can't see those other boards, can't see them very well, or can't see them without looking completely away from field action. Getting that information in one spot within the field of vision of the field of play(I have no idea how else to say that) is very useful.

 

Also, the fact that the rendering shows some pitch count stats and such doesn't mean the board is going to be showing those stats 100% of the time. There's plenty of information that can go up there that there was no room for before in any practical sense.

[Irishoshea21]

The "stats" they add will likely be mostly meaningless (the side boards already have pitch count and the upper boards have pitch speed). I'm all for making stats more readily available, but this will be very disappointing in that capacity.

 

There's thousands of seats in the stadium that either can't see those other boards, can't see them very well, or can't see them without looking completely away from field action. Getting that information in one spot within the field of vision of the field of play(I have no idea how else to say that) is very useful.

 

Also, the fact that the rendering shows some pitch count stats and such doesn't mean the board is going to be showing those stats 100% of the time. There's plenty of information that can go up there that there was no room for before in any practical sense.

 

I agree with both of you, and I hope that they can do a little more than just pitch speed/count. There is a lot of potential to pull this off in a good way that increases revenue and information. However, I am a little reluctant to believe they will maximize this because the side LED panels (1b/3B line) could have been used more effectively and aren't. Perhaps new management will do more than the bare minimum.

[Post Count Padder]

I like it. Could be a cool feature.

[J.R.]

I wish they would standardize the fonts used within the ballpark. Use the same style as is on the original scoreboard, and render the characters in white on a green background.

 

It's a wonk's argument, but they can configure these boards any way they wish. Consistency here would really tighten up the presentation.

[seanimal]

wonkiness aside, some consistency is in order. the marketing department has really done a great job of quilting together a patchwork of suck when it comes to that sort of thing.

[Guest]

Love this.

 

 

http://networkedblogs.com/sLlgU

 

some NSFW language.

[Theo]

I have news for people. Wrigley Field is not a museum. It is a functioning major league ballpark whose job is to maximize revenues for the team so that it can have a strategic edge over the other teams that don't make as much money.

 

=D> =D> =D>

[crazycooter]

Well, it's not like Cowherd and his crew are going to allow actual points to made by his audience that undermine his show.

 

I didn't expect that they would. I was surprised, though, that they bothered to take an e-mail that made legitimate points and blatantly misrepresent what it said. I'm sure they had an inbox full of e-mails that would have served his purposes without any need for misrepresentation.

[Soul]

Well, it's not like Cowherd and his crew are going to allow actual points to made by his audience that undermine his show.

 

I didn't expect that they would. I was surprised, though, that they bothered to take an e-mail that made legitimate points and blatantly misrepresent what it said. I'm sure they had an inbox full of e-mails that would have served his purposes without any need for misrepresentation.

 

Maybe they get off on distorting people's comments.

 

More likely, their inbox is full of stuff that is barely readable. If you bothered to construct complete sentences, it was probably enough to make it stand out.

[Old Style]

The seating area reminds me of the Green Monster seats and the party patio looks like what the Sox put behind the RF seats at Fenway.

[CubInOK]

Love this.

 

 

http://networkedblogs.com/sLlgU

 

some NSFW language.

http://www.obstructedview.net/images/stories/Theo_banner1.jpg

This is the best blog banner ever. Nothing can ever top it in the history of the internet.

[Old Style]

Assuming the structure will not be actually built by M.C. Escher as this drawing suggests, I don't see what is so terrible about it. Right now, that area is a bunch of chain-link fence and mostly empty bleacher box seats. Behold the wonder of 1970s-style fencing!

 

HAHAHAHAHA

[Guest]

Love this.

 

 

http://networkedblogs.com/sLlgU

 

some NSFW language.

http://www.obstructedview.net/images/stories/Theo_banner1.jpg

This is the best blog banner ever. Nothing can ever top it in the history of the internet.

 

it really is

[TruffleShuffle]

Assuming the structure will not be actually built by M.C. Escher as this drawing suggests, I don't see what is so terrible about it. Right now, that area is a bunch of chain-link fence and mostly empty bleacher box seats. Behold the wonder of 1970s-style fencing!

 

HAHAHAHAHA

 

yeah i found that line hilarious too.

[javy knows my name]

Assuming the structure will not be actually built by M.C. Escher as this drawing suggests, I don't see what is so terrible about it. Right now, that area is a bunch of chain-link fence and mostly empty bleacher box seats. Behold the wonder of 1970s-style fencing!

 

HAHAHAHAHA

 

yeah i found that line hilarious too.

 

I was about to shout that out myself.

[Ryne Ween]

As long as they dont reach for a former player based nickname for the addition im down.

[seanimal]

and here i was hoping it would be called Sosa's Swillpad