Ballpark Changes in the Majors
2006 was an interesting year in ballpark circles, with the long-anticipated new home of the Cardinals opening (and being christened with a World Series championship) and the completion of long-awaited renovations at both parks in Chicago.
The new park and changes for 2006
THE CARDINALS
While teams in other cities made noises about moving if they didn't receive a new park, there was no chance that baseball-mad St. Louis would ever be without their Cardinals! Oh, both the team and the governmental entities made some noise along the way, though. The Missouri legislature adjourned in May 2002 without approving the financing package the team wanted, and the team started making suggestions that they would leave the city of St. Louis to build a new ballpark elsewhere -- like in East St. Louis, Illinois. This was a completely ludicrous notion, but the team tried to act serious about it just to gain some leverage.
I don't know if it worked, but an incredible story unfolded just before election day, November 5, 2002. On that election day, St. Louis voters passed a proposition that any public contribution toward sports stadiums had to be approved by the voters ... but hours earlier, the Cardinals and the city completed a deal to build the new ballpark in St. Louis after all. Does the new proposition apply to the new stadium deal for the Cards? Nope. Says the city's deputy mayor, "In essence, the (new) ballpark is grandfathered in." To be fair, there was a significant amount of private money put into the stadium (in the article on the team's website, it emphasized the private financing four times in the headline and opening paragraphs of the story), but the timing of the deal did smell fishy. Another bump in the road occurred in April of 2003 when the Cards had to fire the firm that they'd hired to help them arrange private financing for the project. Seems one of the principals at the firm had been named in a federal terrorism investigation. Anyway, after all of the delays and bumps in the road, the new stadium had been pushed back two years from the original target date, meaning it didn't open until April of 2006. HOK, whose international headquarters are just a couple of blocks from the site, developed the design. We'll have a full review of the completed ballpark in May.
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| The Cards are playing in their new home now, as cars zoom by on Highway 40 just a few feet away. The interior does have a classic ballpark look, though.
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THE WHITE SOX
The 2006 season sees the completion of a five-phase renovation project on U.S. Cellular Field, and the changes are both profound and wonderful. That's why we prepared a full review of the White Sox ballpark that highlights the numerous changes made over the last two years. The only aspect not yet completed is the systematic replacement of the seats, as the original light-blue ones are being replaced by more-comfortable dark-green theater-style seats.
THE CUBS
While it's never a good idea to tinker with perfection, the Cubs were willing
to risk it. Prior to the 2006 season, they enlarged and enhanced the bleacher sections
in the outfield of Wrigley Field, and underway is a new building next door to house parking and retail space. The team's proposal also requested
that they be allowed to play more night games, which the neighbors vehemently
opposed. However, before they could move forward with the construction
projects, several entities had to grant permission because, after all, Wrigley
is a designated historic landmark. Since the Cubs had so much trouble gaining approval, the remodeling was pushed back and pushed back.
Finally, it looked like the work would be done before the 2005 campaign --
but countless legal and neighborhood challenges made that impossible, too.
One problem is that the city of Chicago refused to grant permission to have
the necessary supports built for the expanded bleachers. Note that the proposed
changes to the ballpark -- while not earth-shattering -- would change
the look of (a) the bleachers, especially from the outside and (b) the nearly
perfect brick backstop currently in use. Another problem is that the city and the team locked horns over the safety of the concrete in the main seating bowl, after a couple of chucks of elderly cement fell on the seating sections in the lower deck in 2004. By the way, there was an
interesting battle that brewed between the team and the owners of the buildings
across Waveland Avenue and Sheffield, which border the back of the bleachers.
Those owners, naturally, wanted to continue the longstanding practice of
selling tickets to folks to watch the games from the roofs of those buildings.
The Cubs felt that this practice was tantamount to stealing their "product,"
and the accusations and legal posturing seemed endless. Progress was made on two fronts as the Cubs entered the 2004 season: they
obtained the right to play a few more of their home games at night (22 in
2004, 26 in 2005 and 30 in 2006); and they reached a settlement with the
majority of the owners of the buildings across Sheffield and Waveland. Finally in March 2005, the Cubs received all the approvals required to expand the bleachers (adding 1,790 seats and a restaurant) and to construct a new five-story structure (for parking, another restaurant and stores) directly next door. The work commenced following the 2005 season.
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