The Future of Wrigley Field

While the season is young and before we get into the debates over player performance, Cubs success or failure, etcetera, I think some thoughtful reflection on the future of Wrigley Field is in order for Cub fans and Chicagoans generally. The pending sale of the Cubs organization may well include the Field, or, some say, it may not. The point is that for the first time in decades, the question of whether the Cubs will play baseball from the Wrigley venue in years ahead is up in the air.

I would expect that any new ownership would at a minimum lease Wrigley for at least a short term of years, like 6 or 10. It would take years to find an alternative location or figure out how to rebuild the park while still using it. Nevertheless, given its location, Wrigley Field is very valuable real estate, and its future will affect a lot of people.

In the papers today at least two writers take the ball park itself to task. Mike Imrem of the Daily Herald likens it to a way over-the-hill movie star that cannot accept the fact it has no future. See here. Rick Morrissey of the Tribune restates an earlier opinion that the place is an over-hyped “dump”. See here. And in a major Tribune story this morning Sam Zell himself is quoted as acknowledging the field may be separately dealt with due to its obviously valuable location. He continues: "You should assume that I am probably a good enough real-estate man not to get left with the old maid," he said of Wrigley.

Therefore the issue of Wrigley Field’s future is squarely on the table. It will confront and challenge any bidder for the team and the City, Cub fans, Wrigleyville residents, real estate owners and developers for at least the coming year.

So, what is the best outcome for Cub fans and the City? I personally would like to see an effort at preservation of the Field and the abutting blocks, so that even in 2099 a person can zip to Wrigley in his computer guided vehicle, or on the new magnetized smooth elevated train, and savor what life was like in the mid-twentieth century, watching a baseball game, played on green grass, within ivy covered walls, with wooden bats and balls made the same as now.

Such an effort is going to call for a lot of cooperation from various interests, including Tribune Company, new owners, and the City itself. Certainly renovation or reconstruction will have to be part of the enterprise. (Unless there’s a way to add ladies bathrooms and clean vending space while also improving the safety of the structure.) Absent a major effort succeeding, we may wind up watching the cubs in Maywood or Arlington Heights.