Cubs confirm bleachers won’t be ready by opening day
The business risks associated with renovating a 100-year-old ballpark have become a reality for the Chicago Cubs. During the team’s annual fan convention on Saturday, Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney confirmed that phase one of their five-year renovation plan, which was focused on rebuilding the outfield bleachers and adding new scoreboards in left and right field, will not be complete by opening day.
Tearing them down was the easy part.
Rebuilding them, unfortunately, has proven to be just the opposite of that.
As we noted in November, frigid temperatures, snow and strong winds, essentially your typical Chicago winter conditions, immediately put them behind schedule. Though construction crews did get a reprieve in December with mostly mild weather conditions, they were knocked further off schedule when the City of Chicago ran into problems installing a new water pipe system.
Kenney acknowledged that the Cubs were aware that setbacks and delays may arise. At one point, he says they talked to the Milwaukee Brewers about moving games 90 miles north to Miller Park, but ultimately decided against it. Now they’ll be forced to enact their contingency plans, which will include relocating owners of bleachers tickets.
The Cubs say 4,500 seats will be unavailable to begin the season. It’s expected the left field bleachers will be ready to open by May 11, with the right field bleachers opening later the same month. Construction will continue even on game days to make sure those goals are reached.
Obviously, that part is far from ideal. The Cubs admittedly rolled the dice a bit by moving forward with the project and hoping for its completion by opening day. They’ll no doubt hear their share of complaints and will obviously lose some early season revenue as a result of these delays, but once it’s all complete, we’re guessing it will have been worth the hassle.
Also, in news that’s pretty closely tied to this story, the Cubs have agreed to buyout three rooftop owners in Wrigleyville, according to a Chicago Tribune report.
As has been well documented, the Cubs have been in a battle with rooftop owners in recent years as it relates to Wrigley Field’s renovations and the additions of new signs and the two new scoreboards. Cubs ownership has been working to buy them out as a way to settle the feud while gaining more control of the money Cubs fans spend during the season. Though a purchase price was not revealed, it’s obvious the Cubs are serious about moving forward with the buyout plans and are making some strides.
It’s definitely another layer to this story that’s worth keeping an eye on.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
