What’s life without a little bit of controversy, eh?
Over the past few years, the Cubs have been in something of a constant battle with the City/Mayor/Alderman over a great number of important items, including, most usually, the renovation and expansion of Wrigley Field and the surrounding area.
But lately, the video boards, rooftops, and even the Park at Wrigley have all taken a back-seat to the debate about adding more night games to the Cubs schedule.
In short, the Cubs are provided a smaller night-game allowance than the rest of the teams in Major League baseball (the average is 54, the Cubs get just 43), and the Cubs want that gap to close. From the Cubs’ perspective, the lack of night games is hurting the team both financially and competitively (both of which, as we’ve explored previously, are accurate assertions).
The City, on the other hand, is arguing that if the Cubs use their concert allowance for night games instead of concerts, their overall number of night games every season would be closer to the league average. The issue the Cubs (and I) take with that is that other teams are still not forced to decide between the extra revenue of non-game night events and night-games, but I’ll put a pin in that for now.
Today’s discussion is that it’s no longer just the Cubs president of Business Operations Crane Kenney lobbying for more Cubs’ night games, now the manager Joe Maddon has gotten involved.
“This constantly having to get up and rush to the ballpark and not having a normal method during the course of the day, it does matter, because when you’re on the road it’s entirely different,” Maddon said, per the Chicago Tribune and CSN Chicago.
Indeed, Maddon went as far as to suggest that his players actually get more rest and pre-game preparation when they go on road trips than they do when they’re at home, which, obviously that’s not something you love to hear.
Of course, being the leader that he is, Maddon assures everyone that his team will deal with whatever schedule their given and will win with it regardless. Though he does add that it would be “disingenuous” of him to suggest that it’s all cool beans (those – the beans – are my words).
“We just play too many day games during the week,” Maddon said. “We just do.”
You can read the rest of his comments at the Chicago Tribune and CSN Chicago for the full context. How appropriate for us to have this conversation today, on the anniversary of the lights being turned on at Wrigley Field for the first time, back on August 8, 1988:
On this date in 1988, the lights turned on at #WrigleyField.#MakeHistory, presented by @JimBeam pic.twitter.com/HenuC8ImAJ
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 8, 2017
8-8-88! The first night game at Wrigley Field, which gets rained out and rescheduled for the next night! At lead we have this gem #Cubs pic.twitter.com/R8nwWrHmuQ
— crawly's cub kingdom (@crawlyscubs) August 8, 2017