RealGM

MESA, Ariz. - The Cubs are hoping to play at least part of a season at U.S. Cellular Field during the proposed reconstruction of Wrigley Field, assuming they succeed in their plan to sell Wrigley to the Illinois State Facilities Authority.

That was just one newsworthy item from an interview with Cubs beat reporters Friday with Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney at HoHoKam Park.

The ISFA already runs and operates U.S. Cellular Field, so if the Cubs begin a $250 million renovation of Wrigley, Kenney said it's likely they would play part of a season on the South Side with a little scheduling help from the American and National leagues.

"Maybe we don't need to be out for a whole season," he said. "Maybe construction would start [the] last day of the season, it would go through the off-season and maybe call it until June to get some major work done. Maybe you could phase it in over time."

Grang33r wrote:Is there any art-work of the reconstruction?

I can see it now: A human barricade of White Sox fans, stretched completely around U.S. Cellular Field, refusing to let the Cubs' team bus and 40,000 of their fans inside the ballmall. They will carry war clubs. They will make threats with their crudest Ozzie Guillen language. They will take Ronnie (Woo Woo) Wickers hostage and remove his dentures.

They will stone these interlopers, with real stones and Steve Stone alike. And they'll effectively tell Cubdom to go to hell, even if the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority -- which owns and operates The Cell for the people of the state -- rubber-stamps the blasphemous concept of the North Siders playing home games on the South Side while Wrigley Field is reconstructed.

I'm not sure if the city can survive this cross-cultural baseball collision. Will sitting in The Cell's upper deck, still ridiculously steep, give vertigo to Cubs fans used to intimate sightlines? How will they deal with not having dozens of bars within steps of the stadium? Will Lou Piniella snoop around Guillen's office and find all sorts of interesting things? Won't A.J. Pierzynski be paying off clubhouse attendants to execute anti-Cubs pranks? How loud will the laughter be when Cubs fans realize the Sox have ivy in the outfield? And, in the touchiest issue, what happens when the Cubs draw a half-million more customers to Sox Park than the Sox draw to Sox Park?

Like it or not, the double-dip is going to happen, folks, assuming Sam Zell sells Wrigley to the ISFA and cuts a deal for the Cubs to play as many as 81 games at The Cell. Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf can hiss and moan and call his political friends, but he'll have little influence over an authority that smells a rare opportunity for extra revenue. If the Cubs want to play nine miles away, it will be their choice. And really now, won't it be one of this city's great sociological lab experiments, watching the ultra-popular global team with the 100-year drought invading the fortress of the second team with the built-in inferiority complex?

Posey H8er wrote:What kind of reconstruction are we talking about? Like replacing old and worn out concrete? Hell, if it lets Wrigley last another 50-75 years then I would be okay with it.

hermes wrote:well at least there will be a few sellouts at the cell this year

nitetrain8603 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Few more, yes. The Cell does sell out contrary to whatever Cubs fans think.

The improvements would fix the structure of the building such as the concrete, but also call for the fixing of the entire concourse, and renovated bathrooms along with other major upgrades via HOK. I won't delve too deep into it.