As the Chicago Cubs and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority iron out a deal for the authority to operate Wrigley Field, two sports design professionals with personal ties to the team and its neighborhood have suggestions for enhancing and preserving the stadium.
Under a deal the Cubs recently proposed, the authority would buy Wrigley for $1 and take over responsibility for maintaining and renovating the 94-year-old building over the next 30 years. The two parties are negotiating an agreement separate from Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell’s effort to sell the Cubs.
The Cubs and their architect of record, HOK Sport, have done an admirable job of adding more premium seats and commercial signs inside Wrigley the past several years without encroaching on the architectural integrity of a ballpark whose marquee, center-field scoreboard and ivy-covered outfield walls are protected as city landmarks.
Those efforts should continue with a few more tasteful tweaks, according to Chris Lamberth, a designer for 360 Architecture and a former resident of Wrigleyville, the three-square-mile area around the ballpark. Lamberth wants to see the Cubs upgrade amenities in the section of terrace reserved seats behind home plate, where the upper deck overhang prevents hundreds of fans from seeing the scoreboard.
“I would like to see improvements in the old electronic boards suspended from the underside of the upper deck, showing runs/strikes/balls/outs/innings only, to perhaps a few subtle video boards,” Lamberth said. “Right now you have a few small old tube TVs hanging in select spots.”
The LED strip under the center-field scoreboard
is one of the few at Wrigley Field.
Vittorio Ansourian, an architect for Ellerbe Becket who became a Cubs fan growing up in Florida watching games on WGN-TV, thinks the Cubs could extend the length of the LED ribbon boards on the front of the upper deck without destroying the Wrigley experience. Right now, there are 70-foot-long LED boards in the left- and right-field corners and a LED strip under the center-field scoreboard.
Both agree that building a big video replay board is not the answer, despite the opportunity to generate additional revenue by selling ad space on the structure. The ballpark remains the only major league stadium without a big screen.
“The purity of baseball is still there,” Ansourian said. “If you miss a play, you’ll have to wait to see it on ‘SportsCenter.’ This forces everyone to pay attention to the game and not worry about taking your kids to the jungle gym in the second inning.”
They would also like to see Wrigley’s precast concrete panels on the exterior walls changed. Said Ansourian: “The only thing that bugs me is the skin of the building … it’s not inviting to the surrounding area.”
SHOW ME THE TICKET: As Live Nation develops its new ticketing venture for a 2009 rollout, it’s a no-brainer that the company will leverage its status as North America’s biggest concert promoter when competing for Ticketmaster’s arena and stadium accounts.
“We’re not promising events right now, but certainly the idea is we can combine our content operations and help people out there as well as do the ticketing,” said Bryan Perez, Live Nation’s CEO for global digital.
Teams and facilities, however, should not feel as if their chances of booking a Live Nation-produced show would be reduced if they decide against signing a ticketing contract with the promoter.
“It’s not an either/or thing,” Perez said. “Just because you don’t sign up with our ticketing system doesn’t mean we’re not going to supply content.”
Don Muret can be reached at dmuret@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
