Columnist: Could Cubs buy Arlington Park and make it a 'new Wrigley Field'?

The longer the Bears allow the land that once housed Arlington Park to “lie barren, the more rumors will ripple” that Cubs owner Tom Ricketts and family are “eyeballing a plan to purchase the 326 acres,” according to Jim O'Donnell of the Chicago DAILY HERALD. In the grand scheme, the Cubs “would continue to play the majority of their games at Wrigley Field Classic and transfer a lesser number to a new Wrigley Field Northwest.” The high-tech stadium “would replicate as much of the historic Wrigley Field as practical with futuristic ivy amenities.” Those upgrades would include “more suites, a hotel and condos overlooking the park, an expanded field surface behind the foul lines to more easily accommodate football and soccer games and a retractable roof” and “much more fan-friendly parking.” Game days, and especially nights, in Arlington Heights “would allow the legacied ballpark to be used for high-grade new-mill watch parties with live entertainment enhancers” (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 12/2).