The Chicago Cubs are planning to upgrade the visitors clubhouse at Wrigley Field, addressing one of the ballpark’s most glaring issues.
The home clubhouse was renovated before this season, marking a major step in the ongoing modernization of Wrigley Field. While the Cubs players were afforded the luxury created from that project, work on the visiting side has still not begun.
Clubhouse space for the visiting team remains cramped and largely out-of-date, which was evident recently because of the increased media presence that comes with the playoffs and World Series. In the short run, this will continue to be the case, but the Cubs now have a plan in place to overhaul the visitors clubhouse by 2019. More from the Chicago Tribune:
Asked before Game 3 when it will be done, Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer joked: “Hopefully never.”
Work is expected to being in 2018, with completion expected in 2019 — the final phase of the renovation project.
Cubs spokesman Julian Green said the Cubs owed it to their players to make sure a glitzy, new home clubhouse was a priority but had no such obligation to visiting teams.
“Certainly in no way are we trying to be malicious to the visiting team,” Green said. “But I don’t think anyone would say the current visiting-clubhouse framework is leading to a competitive disadvantage.”
Wrigley Field’s run in the postseason, which ended with game five of the World Series on Sunday, has given the baseball world an extended look at the results of the ongoing renovations to the ballpark. It has also provided a glimpse into some of the work that remains. Perhaps the biggest departure between the World Series and the beginning of the 2017 regular season is the placement of the bullpens, which will move from their locations in foul territory to under Wrigley Field’s bleachers.