Fenway, other iconic venues provided inspiration

Not surprisingly, Fenway Park provided inspiration to the Chicago Cubs on several fronts, with a remake that made an art form of creating concourse space and incorporating modern, revenue-generating accoutrements without stopping the historic ballpark’s heart.

The Boston Red Sox gave the Cubs access to their ballpark, their expertise and their books. Cubs executives also toured a range of other renovated iconic facilities from across sports.

At Madison Square Garden they saw their first bunker suite. Wrigley now has six of them, each priced at $1 million a year. At Augusta National Golf Course, they saw Berckmans Place, a high-end hospitality area that provided the inspiration for Wrigley’s 1914 Club. They went to Lambeau Field and the Rose Bowl.

“In each of those, you have to ask what features you’re willing to change and which you’re going to protect,” said Crane Kenney, Cubs president of business operations. “What do you add? Which won’t you touch and why? We asked those questions.”