The reopening of Wrigley Field's left- and center-field bleachers after a five-week delay "was cause for celebration in the not-so-cheap seats and the Cubs' front office alike," according to a front-page piece by Paul Sullivan of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein said before last night's game, "It's great, it's going to feel like a second opening day." Sullivan writes the Cubs "may be the only team in baseball that could spin a five-week construction delay as part of the master plan instead of a self-inflicted glitch," but they "managed to pull it off." After the gates opened for last night's game against the Mets, fans "rushed in to check out the surroundings." The "biggest addition" debuting yesterday "was 'The Well,' a sunk-in area that runs from the flagpole in left to the actual outfield well." The standing-room area "is a moat-like feature that will cost up to $82 and be used for group outings, though regular fans will be allowed to use it for free the rest of the month." It looked "exactly like the popular Top of the Green Monster seats at Fenway Park, with one drawback." Anyone 5'5" or under "will have a difficult time seeing over the wall standing up, and the stools are too small to use." There are "still some kinks that need to be worked out, like the non-operating elevator at the center-field entrance." While the concourses "are huge, the new exits in the middle of the left-field bleachers are so narrow only one person can fit through at a time" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 5/12). In Chicago, Mitchell & Briscoe note the bleachers' capacity "will increase by about 500, which will offset the loss of seats in the bowl during other phases of the renovations." Cubs VP/Ballpark Operations Carl Rice said capacity at Wrigley "will remain 42,495" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 5/12).
INSIDE SCOOP: Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney visited the Cubs' broadcast booth during last night's game, saying of Wrigley's upgrades, "There's more room to move around and we got rid of some of the choke points that happened really in center field where the concession lines would interfere with the pedestrian concourse and by having new spaces behind there will allow everybody to get around." He added, "We're able to bring some new amenities in terms of better concession, fresher food. We've got 20 new points of sale, so in addition to getting through the concession lines quicker there's going to be a better food product once you get there." Kenney said of The Well, "There's room for 15. The middle space is a little bit bigger, more like 25, and you have a view right over the wall. It's all group space, so it's meant more to mingle and walk around and visit with everybody in your group rather the person on your right or left, which is one of the things we learned when we opened the Bud Patio a couple years ago." He added, "We've learned a lot by being last with our video boards, seeing what everybody else does. Some of it we like and some of it doesn't fit for Wrigley, and we're not going to do." Kenney said the right-field bleachers will open June 11. He added, "And then we're going to celebrate the bleachers being fully back online in July 3rd. So they're still a work in progress; left field, still a little bit of work going on underneath. Everything works in terms of concessions and restrooms and obviously the seating, and the same thing will be true in right field. June 11 it will be open; we'll still be doing a little bit of work behind the scenes" ("Mets-Cubs," CSN Chicago, 5/11).
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: ESPN’s Keith Olbermann talked to Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein prior to last night's game and said, “I have ripped your organization every chance I could this year about the bleachers not being open on time. Tonight, right behind you, they are going to be open, and not that much behind schedule. So my congratulations on that.” Epstein joked, “What’s a couple of months between friends?" He added, "We’re excited to have the bleachers back online tonight. It’s been kind of an odd atmosphere looking up and seeing a construction zone instead of seeing the Wrigley faithful. I know our fans are excited about it” (“Olbermann,” ESPN2, 5/11). SNY’s Gary Cohen noted, “Everything has to change after a while." Wrigley is "still a bit of a mess outside, but things are coming along nicely” (“Mets Pregame,” SNY, 5/11).
