Back within the opening week of the 2006 season, in a Chicago Tribune article accompanied by cartoonist Rick Tuma’s illustrations, I supplied some predictions of what a Wrigley Field expertise could be like 20 years sooner or later.
“No one knows what Wrigley Field or the Cubs will look like 20 years from now,” I wrote. “But at this rate there will be far fewer day games, bleacher tickets will cost $400 and the manager still will be barking about his players’ fundamentals.”
The 2006 Cubs had been 98 years into the franchise’s well-known World Series drought and getting into the ultimate 12 months of the Andy MacPhail period, which started with the ill-advised advertising slogan “We’re Working On It” and ended with the dismissal of Dusty Baker.
Though three years stay till 2026, I’ve given up on most of my predictions, a few of which had been purposely foolish, akin to “rent-a-glove booths” for followers and a piece of the right-field bleachers formally designated as “Wooville,” adopted by a proposal from an alderman to remove Wooville as a “neighborhood nuisance.”
I additionally predicted that in 2016 the Cubs would construct a glass skywalk connecting the Addison Street L station to the ballpark — which I nonetheless consider would work — and that in 2023 the workforce lastly would erect a statue of former slugger Sammy Sosa, which clearly gained’t occur below the Ricketts household possession.
I envisioned “pop-up Jumbotrons” arriving in 2012 to placate a era of followers who wished video replays on the outdated ballpark and 4 sportsbook kiosks — situated within the bleachers, the left- and right-field concourses and below the neon marquee — after sports activities playing could be legalized in 2018. (It was legalized in Illinois in 2019, so I missed it by one 12 months.)
The solely predictions which have come true are far fewer day video games and the removing of the ugly concrete slabs that lined the brick exterior of the outer wall to revive its authentic look.
What I couldn’t predict was a boutique resort owned by the Cubs homeowners and situated throughout the road from Wrigley with a collection that goes for $6,584.17 for 3 nights in July.
But that was the worth Marriott’s web site listed Monday for a Friday-Monday keep on the Hotel Zachary in the course of the upcoming Cubs-Cardinals collection. A every day $75 valet parking charge was not included, however presumably every room features a free bar of cleaning soap — a luxurious I lately found shouldn’t be supplied in any respect Marriott properties.
If the Rickettses can discover some suckers from Missouri or downstate Illinois keen to pay that type of coin to observe their last-place workforce play the sub.-500 Cubs, extra energy to them. No one has ever accused the Cubs homeowners of being dumb, with the one exception maybe.
There are loads of cheaper accommodations downtown, however nothing can beat the expertise of Cubs-Cardinals weekend. And visitors are only some steps from Bernie’s, in order that they don’t must name an Uber after postgame consuming.
It’s a win-win-win for the Rickettses, the Cubs and Cardinals followers with tons of cash to blow.
As summer season hits its candy spot in Chicago and the Cubs dangle between being consumers and sellers on the commerce deadline, it’s nearly as good a time as any to acknowledge the magnetic draw Wrigley has on baseball followers.
Some franchises want a profitable workforce to promote tickets. The Cubs as soon as wanted solely sunshine and beer. But after complaining advert nauseam they wanted extra night time video games to be aggressive, now they really want solely beer.
Marcus Stroman, who is ready to earn a nine-figure deal when he opts out of his contract, doesn’t appear to grasp why the Cubs may commerce him or Cody Bellinger by Aug. 1 in the event that they’re seemingly out of competition.
“Everyone is always putting this emphasis on ‘Oh, we need to play good in seven days, 10 days, and then we can be buyers,’” he mentioned Saturday. “But I really don’t consider in that. This division is broad open, after which in the event you even look deeper than that, as a corporation why would you not wish to be aggressive for a number of years — 12 months after 12 months after 12 months?
“Belli is a guy who changed our lineup. Why would you want him to get away? Why would you want a guy like myself (to get away) who goes out there and gives you quality starts in a league that’s incredibly hard to do?”
The reply is straightforward. The Cubs can change Stroman and Bellinger with cheaper gamers, nonetheless play at a sub-.500 tempo in a foul division and proceed to attract just below 34,000 followers. Meanwhile, the resort the Cubs homeowners constructed nonetheless can cost greater than $2,000 an evening for a collection towards an outdated rival.
Winning isn’t a necessity, even because the Cubs preserve they’re placing each greenback they make proper again into the workforce. Contending is good, however the phantasm of contending is all that basically issues.
If Stroman and Bellinger are gone on Aug. 1, the Cubs will begin promoting the promise of the prospects they bought in return, identical to they did when Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Báez had been dealt in the course of the Great Summer Sell-off of 2021.
The Rickettses absolutely wish to win, however they realize it’s not a prerequisite to maintain the wheelbarrows full of money flowing. Wrigley all the time will likely be a bucket-list vacation spot for baseball followers, which is why it was sensible for the homeowners to spend money on the neighborhood, to monetize each nook and cranny of the ballpark, to carry rock concert events that may be heard from miles away, to construct a sportsbook and to let paying clients hit golf balls from the higher deck when the Cubs are out of city.
Wrigley is their ATM.
Who is aware of what the Wrigley Field expertise will likely be like 20 years from now? I’m finished predicting. But I do know somebody will likely be making a lot of cash off of followers’ love of the long-lasting ballpark.
Wrigley is the reward that retains on giving.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com