The home schedule at Wrigley Field wrapped up on Wednesday, and the Chicago Cubs weren’t messing around when they said work on the renovation would begin in earnest thereafter.
Check out these pictures of the work already going on the park, courtesy of BN’er Darth Ivy (hosted via your social media platform of preference). Some of this work started before the season ended, mind you, but it’s still great to see things moving along.
First, the Facebooks:
And the Twitters:
Work at Wrigley, immediately after conclusion of the home season. I love it. (Thanks to BN'er DarthIvy for pics.) pic.twitter.com/u3wiz9GqXr
— Brett Taylor (@BleacherNation) September 25, 2014
Soon, the outfield walls will start coming down to accommodate the bump out. And the digging in the triangle property there will begin.
Meanwhile, that rooftop lawsuit – the one featuring only some of the rooftops, and against the City/Landmarks Commission – is going through the predictable procedural wrangling. The City has sought to have the case removed from state court to federal court because of some of the claims involved (Tribune). The rooftops will have a month to respond to that, and then there will be a period of motions before the City/Landmarks Commission even respond to the complaint and before there is any discovery. In other words, the process will be looooooooong.
Consider me glad, again, that the Cubs are proceeding with the renovation regardless of the lawsuit, which seeks to invalidate the Landmarks Commission’s approval of the revised renovation plan (the extra outfield signage being the primary beef). The Cubs – who have not yet shown any inclination to get involved in the suit, despite it impacting their own rights and privileges (wanting to avoid discovery, perhaps?) – must be confident that, regardless of what happens in that eventual lawsuit, the worst thing that could happen would be that they wouldn’t get the five extra signs. In any case, I expect negotiations with the rooftops to resume/continue throughout the offseason.