Cubs to add more premium seats
Club also hopeful for expansion of bleacher seats

01/24/2005 4:00 PM ET

By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs will add 80 premium seats between the visitor's dugout and the bullpen in 2005, and are still hopeful for approval from the city to expand the bleachers at Wrigley Field by nearly 1,800 seats.

The new seating, called "Bullpen Seats," and the proposed bleacher expansion plan were among the topics discussed Sunday on the closing day of the 20th Cubs Convention at the Chicago Hilton.

There will be two rows of the new seats, which will replace the folding chairs that had been in the area along the right-field line. The area will be defined similarly to what the Cubs did with the additional seats behind home plate in that the brick wall will be extended.

The "Bullpen Seats" will be sold on a game-by-game basis in March and at the same time as the premium "Dugout Seats," which were added last season behind home plate. Prices for the Bullpen and the Dugout seats have not been released but they will be significantly higher than regular box seats. The team will release details at a later date.

Other individual game tickets will go on sale Feb. 25.

The bleacher expansion project is pending approval by the city of Chicago. The 1,790 additional seats will extend up from the existing bleachers and not block the view from the surrounding rooftops. The project will include improved restrooms, concession areas and wheelchair access, said Mark McGuire, executive vice president of business operations.

The new bleacher seats will extend about eight feet over the sidewalks on Waveland and Sheffield avenues. The team is working with a landscape architect, who hopes to have ivy growing on the outside of the walls. But maintaining tradition is important.

"We're hoping that when people come into the ballpark, they'll say it looks like it did before," McGuire said.

The Cubs also still hope to add a multi-purpose building on Clark Street between Addison and Waveland avenues in what is now a parking lot and was a car wash. That building would house players parking, batting cages connected by a tunnel to the clubhouse as well as concessions and restrooms. Asked when that project would happen, McGuire said, "We're working with the city trying to get approval."

The bleachers project could be finished in one offseason, McGuire said. The building may require an entire season to complete.

Also new in 2005 will be a rotating advertising board behind home plate. The sign will be visible on television but not to many fans in Wrigley Field.

One problem that could not be resolved during Sunday's session was the problem some fans have experienced trying to watch Cubs games from home. Fans complained about being in blackout areas on MLB.TV despite living outside of Chicago. McGuire said the reason for that is because Major League Baseball teams are protecting their TV rights holders. A fan in Denver can watch the Cubs games on the internet but someone in Danville, Ill., for example, might be out of luck.

The Cubs' games will be broadcast on WGN-TV, Comcast Sports Net, WCIU and CLTV. John McDonough, vice president of marketing and broadcasting, said Comcast expects to have an agreement in place by April 1 with the Dish Network.

As for Wrigley Field, four sets of structural engineers have examined the ballpark this offseason. Last year, there were three instances of falling concrete and netting was installed under the upper deck. McGuire said Wrigley has passed its tests but the team will likely still have netting -- and hopefully more attractive than the nautical look of 2004 -- in some areas as a precautionary measure.

"With tender loving care and offseason investment, we can prolong the life of the ballpark forever," McGuire said.

Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.