Wrigley Renovation Thread

[Guest]

And I'm sure it could be worked out that many of the Wrigley Stadium staff could do the Cubs games at the Cell so they were not without employmnet.

 

 

I think a lot of them work at both, too, IIRC.

[Irishoshea21]

162 games at the Cell could easily be done logistically.

 

I'm not sure the playing surface could handle that.

[Guest]

162 games at the Cell could easily be done logistically.

 

I'm not sure the playing surface could handle that.

 

Do baseball games really put that much of a stress on baseball fields?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

162 games at the Cell could easily be done logistically.

 

I'm not sure the playing surface could handle that.

 

Do baseball games really put that much of a stress on baseball fields?

Not with a competent ground crew.

[C.C.]

And the Cell does. I'm sure the owners are going to like the extra cash flow.

[Irishoshea21]

162 games at the Cell could easily be done logistically.

 

I'm not sure the playing surface could handle that.

 

Do baseball games really put that much of a stress on baseball fields?

 

If you take into account batting practice and additional drills, absolutely. Teams re-sod all of the time, and that includes 7-10 day stretches over the summer of road trips. You're playing with fire if you're giving yourself 7 months of games every single day with no back-up plan incase resodding needs to take place.

 

If the Cubs had to play 81 games away from Wrigley Field, I'm not convinced every single one could be at the cell. I would think a 75/25 (or whatever) split between the Cell and Miller Park is more realistic.

[J.R.]

81 more baseball games spread out over six months won't do near the damage that events like the Wrigley concerts or Raiders games in Oakland do. Besides, field condition does not seem to be a priority of MLB at this point.

[Irishoshea21]

81 more baseball games spread out over six months won't do near the damage that events like the Wrigley concerts or Raiders games in Oakland do.

 

No, but when a team has road trips you can put in football games/concerts because you have time to get the field ready again.

 

The point I'm trying to make here is pretty simple. If the Cubs are forced to play their 81 "home" games away from Wrigley Field. I can't imagine all 81 being at the cell. It's far more realistic that Miller Park would get at least a few homestands. There is nothing feasible about scheduling 162 games in one ballpark, especially if you have to consider rain delays and potential make ups.

 

Additionally, I'm sure the Cubs would want to target their large fan base in Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin. And with no red line running to the cell next year... this would pose a real problem if the cubs are going to be away from wrigley as soon as next season.

[Theo]

They want Rham to help them with stadium renovations, but daddy Rickets can piss away 12 million on a lost cause

 

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/09/17/joe-ricketts-ad-campaign-romney-republicans/70000498/1#.UFdC67JlQ1A

 

Joe Ricketts is a [expletive] joke.

[Guest]

That was a bad post.

 

Getting help from the city is not only beneficial from the business sense, but also justified considering how the city has restricted the team's efforts to maximize revenue.

 

Joe Ricketts is not the Cubs.

[Theo]

If I'm Rahm, I see no incentive to help the Ricketts out. They already have shown their hand by admitting they would never move the team.

[Sammy Sofa]

It's a huge asset to the city. This isn't someone trying to squeeze public funds for a pet project.

[Sammy Sofa]

I mean, we're talking about something that's literally falling apart.

[KingCubsFan]

If I'm Rahm, I see no incentive to help the Ricketts out. They already have shown their hand by admitting they would never move the team.

If it starts crumbling, Ricketts will absolutely move it. And Rahm will be left with a useless landmark and a neighborhood that would be severely harmed economically.

[Theo]

I think he needs to playing that card now. I have no idea why he came out and said that a while back. The only way these deals seem to get done now is a threat of a move.

[Sammy Sofa]

The threat of an unusable Wrigley is more viable than threatening to move.

[Cubswin11]

The threat of an unusable Wrigley is more viable than threatening to move.

Those are kinda one in the same, aren't they? If Wrigley becomes unusable then they need to find another location. They at least need to start threatening a move to the burbs somewhere. Or at least out of the city of Chicago so that Rahm will do something about the massive amount of lost tax revenue with such a move.

[Banedon]

I think he needs to playing that card now. I have no idea why he came out and said that a while back. The only way these deals seem to get done now is a threat of a move.

 

Rahm isn't dumb. He already understands this stuff.

[Guest]

The threat of an unusable Wrigley is more viable than threatening to move.

Those are kinda one in the same, aren't they? If Wrigley becomes unusable then they need to find another location. They at least need to start threatening a move to the burbs somewhere. Or at least out of the city of Chicago so that Rahm will do something about the massive amount of lost tax revenue with such a move.

 

That's his point. The Cubs didn't give up some huge leverage card by saying that they want to and intend to stay in Wrigley Field. The reason renovation is needed is the deteriorating condition of the ballpark. That threat remains no matter how badly the Cubs want to stick around.

[ScrubMD]

As Theo will tell you, the key to poker is saying that you have pocket aces every hand. That way everybody else folds. It's called bluffing.

[ScrubMD]

"Yeah, I know you're the head of a billion dollar enterprise in my city, but you want a different person to be President than I want to be President. Go to hell!"

[Cubswin11]

"Yeah, I know you're the head of a billion dollar enterprise in my city, but you want a different person to be President than I want to be President. Go to hell!"

Father/Brother wants, I think. Ricketts sister I think is a pretty strong Obama supporter and Tom I think keeps his political affiliations/ideals behind closed doors from what I've gathered.

[Sammy Sofa]

The threat of an unusable Wrigley is more viable than threatening to move.

Those are kinda one in the same, aren't they? If Wrigley becomes unusable then they need to find another location. They at least need to start threatening a move to the burbs somewhere. Or at least out of the city of Chicago so that Rahm will do something about the massive amount of lost tax revenue with such a move.

 

How are they one and the same? If the Cubs left the city would still have to fix the place up if they wanted to keep using it; that's why that's the more pressing issue for the Cubs to use as leverage as opposed to pointlessly "threatening" to move.

[AlwaysaCub]

This renovation should have started this year, to coincide with the talent nadir, to be ready when the team was approaching contention. But now, the Red Line renovation realistically makes hosting 140 baseball games in a season infeasible for the next 3-4 seasons. The Cubs could only renovate Wrigley a) after the Red Line reconstruction is completed b) if they play home games in some combination of Miller Park, Busch Stadium (that could be fun), and Principal Park (Iowa), or c) if they play somewhere kooky like Soldier Field or a temporary stadium or even the entire season on the road like the Port Ruppert Mundys.

 

We also have to remember that this renovation will take some time. The occasional chunk of the upper deck has been known to literally fall off - basically the upper deck will have to be completely rebuilt. This will also be done to maximize skybox potential (don't be surprised about a second level of skyboxes more or less where the roof is now). It will probably take 2 years, though past Cubs reconstruction projects have done remarkably in finishing on or ahead of schedule.

[Cubswin11]

This renovation should have started this year, to coincide with the talent nadir, to be ready when the team was approaching contention. But now, the Red Line renovation realistically makes hosting 140 baseball games in a season infeasible for the next 3-4 seasons. The Cubs could only renovate Wrigley a) after the Red Line reconstruction is completed b) if they play home games in some combination of Miller Park, Busch Stadium (that could be fun), and Principal Park (Iowa), or c) if they play somewhere kooky like Soldier Field or a temporary stadium or even the entire season on the road like the Port Ruppert Mundys.

 

We also have to remember that this renovation will take some time. The occasional chunk of the upper deck has been known to literally fall off - basically the upper deck will have to be completely rebuilt. This will also be done to maximize skybox potential (don't be surprised about a second level of skyboxes more or less where the roof is now). It will probably take 2 years, though past Cubs reconstruction projects have done remarkably in finishing on or ahead of schedule.

Yeah it's gonna take time. I don't think they are going to [expletive] around with just making sure concrete doesn't fall anymore and add some skyboxes. I think the plan is to virtually tear down the entire shell and re-build it. I doubt most of the original structure stays outside of the field/OF Walls/Bleachers/Possibly Scoreboard.