What To Do With Wrigley Field: The Problem

As the first part of a series of posts on Wrigley Field, we are going to discuss the problems with Wrigley, and why something needs to be done with the facility that the Cubs call home.

I did an intro to this subject last week.

As many of you know, I am very much for the Cubs demolishing the old park and building a new one. That doesn't mean I don't love the ballpark...because I actually do. But I love the Cubs more than the ballpark. And, quite frankly, Wrigley Field is one of the reasons that the Cubs have gone 101 years without a World Series title.

So, let's break down the problems into three categories here. Problems for the players, problems for the management, and finally problems for the fans.





Problems for the players:

Luckily for the Cubs, for many players, there has still been a lure to play for the team: the fans, the atmosphere, and probably the big-ass contract that the team tends to hand out.  But one thing that isn't a big draw for potential players out there is the facilities.  Sure, Wrigley is a beautiful field to play on, but everything else about it from the player's perspective is just plain bad.

The players' clubhouse is the smallest in baseball, and would be not much more than a closet at most other newer ballparks.  You know, when a player gets to the major leagues, I don't think that player deserves to have a locker in a room that is as spacious as a high school locker room.  I have made the comparison in the past with the Cubs clubhouse with the new Yankee clubhouse at their new stadium.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The Motel 6 vs. the Ritz Carlton, which would you prefer?

Besides the clubhouse, the issue for the players really comes down to training facilities...or lack there of.  Almost all new ballparks have batting cages by the clubhouse which allows players to warm up during the game, which is important for pinch hitters and such.  The Cubs can only use their batting cages during batting practice because they are situated under the bleachers.  It's actually kinda fun watching the parade of Cub players making their way out there during the visiting team's batting practice before every game.

There is little if no room for video analysis for players and coaches.  Very little room for weights and excise equipment.

This all adds up to an inadequate facility for a major league team.  


Problems for the management:

The Cubs have one of the smallest amounts of full time employees in the Major Leagues.  Part of this is due to the mismanagment of the Tribune Company.  But another reason is that, honestly, the Cubs don't have any place to put any more people.  Now, normally I would say that it isn't a big deal for the Cubs not having a huge non-player payroll.  But, someone that watches the game very closely will often notice some very little details in games where the Cubs appear completely out matched .  What I'm getting to here is that the Cubs lack a good number of qualified scouts.  Having a good scouting staff is hugely important.  How many times do we see it where a pitcher who has never faced the Cubs before does great against them?  Well, part of the reason for this is that the Cubs don't have enough scouts out there to get reports for the team to prepare itself against these players.

And I blame this on Wrigley...if the team was able to expand its offices, it could hire more people that not only could scout other teams, but also hire people to help support those scouts, do research and so on.  (And a facility that had good video review rooms would help too as I mentioned earlier.)

The other problem with Wrigley is that while the team does sell out over 99% of its seats every season, the revenue that can be squeezed out of the ballpark is about tapped out.  Except for a handful of minor marketing possibilities, there isn't much more the cubs can get from selling seats. Also, the all important luxury boxes are severly out of date, and there are little possiblities of adding more of them or expanding the current ones.

Can someone get rid of the horrible concrete facade on Addison St?

The eventual solution will be, since the seats are likely to sell out no matter what, to raise ticket prices...and raise them a lot.  I started to get my season ticket package in 2003, and luckily for me, that was right before a waiting list started for them (which occurred after the magical 2003 season...what a great time to have gotten in on that, eh?)  Since then, the price of my ticket package has gone up over 50%...probably more if I were to do the math.  Unfortunately, this has been about in line with payroll cost increases and this is why I get so pissed when this team blows as much money on questionable players like Milton Bradley, Jason Marquis and Alfonso Soriano. 

The Ricketts' have said they want to still have average families come to the games and keep at least some tickets affordable.  Well, that isn't going to happen unless other revenue sources are found.  If the team is going to try to spend money in a Yankee-esque fashion, then they will need to raise revenue in a similar way.  If they if Wrigley is to remain much as it currently is, then the result will be ticket prices going into the statosphere.  If not, then payroll will have to be cut and the office staff will have to shrink even more.

Also remember, the owners for the Cubs are $450 million in debt right now.  That is more than the value of probably over half the franchises in baseball. 


Problems for the fans:

Look...face it...Wrigley Field is a DUMP!

The concourses are dark, small and have a smell of mold and sewage.

The seats are cramped as are the aisles.

The bathrooms are hellish.

No parking.

Horrible traffic.

Bad food.

and I could go on and on.

People talk about history at Wrigley Field and how it is like going to a game in the old days.  I hate to tell you this, but going to a game in the 1940's at Wrigley Field is not like going to a game now.  If you went to a game in the 1940's, there was probably only about ten to fifteen thousand people at the game.

Wrigley's inner guts verses the new Yankee Stadium's.  I'd go to the bathroom in either place.

Wrigley Field was not designed to hold 41,000 people every game.  It wasn't designed to hold 3.1 million people every season.  Yes, it does have 41,000 seats in it, but the rest of the facility was not designed to hold that many people.

Any new stadium build now is designed to comfortably handle a full capacity crowd.  The seats are comfortable, the bathrooms are not disgusting and don't have lines.  The concessions are plentiful.

My parents, who buy some of my tickets every season, travel a lot.  They have visited many other ballpakrs over the last few years (something I have not had the fortune to do in many years).  This past season they were making a trip to the east coast, and were passing through Cincinnati.  They were going to spend the night there and called me while they were approaching the city and asked if the Reds were home and if there were any tickets available.  I checked, and, yes, they were home and (of course) there were tickets available at Great American Ballpark.  The walked up, bought some of the cheapest tickets in the park for a game there.  My parents report back to me was this, "The worst seats at that stadium are better than the best seats at Wrigley."

Yep.  They are probably right.

It pisses me off that Cub fans are not demanding better!  It pisses me off that we keep showing up for games in such a crappy stadium.  If the team was playing somewhere else other than that neighborhood, attendence would plummet because that ballpark is such a piece of junk for the fans and the product on the field isn't much better.  And they sure as hell wouldn't want to pay that much for a ticket.  


Conclusion:

There you have it.

Demolish the place.  Please.  Ok, well that's not going to happen, but what this does tell me is that there is more to do here than some minor piece-meal renovations.  Besides, maybe the billy-goat curse is only on the ballpark, not the team!