Upper deck fix. removing one of the club levels

[zisk]

The title says it all. How much would it cost, and is it even feasible. Sox park is actually pretty damn nice downstairs and the concourse is great

for when we're being blown out. The outside appearance is already cool. Another thing is the area around the park is even better than it was 

40 years ago. good parking is available. If it was up to me I'd make the upstairs smaller and reduce capacity to 36-37000. I might leave the club

level outside seats in place but separate them as stand alone premium seats. Those views are great. 

Edited June 30, 2023 by zisk
delete

[WBWSF]

I've met  fans who think  the team is going to renew the lease after it expires  in 2030. I would hope they do something about the upper deck.

[Lip Man 1]

1 hour ago, WBWSF said:

I've met  fans who think  the team is going to renew the lease after it expires  in 2030. I would hope they do something about the upper deck.

Sox would argue they already did by chopping off the top seven or eight rows. 

[WBWSF]

30 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Sox would argue they already did by chopping off the top seven or eight rows. 

The problem still remains. The upper deck is too high. I read a few weeks ago that some woman took her younger brother to a White Sox game and they sat in the upper deck. The boy  was a special needs person. He told his sister he was scared sitting  in the upper deck.  She mentioned it to  a couple of the White Sox workers and they were nice enough to move them in the lower level. The upper level has ruined the park. They're giving those tickets  away and still  not many fans want to sit up there. 

[MiddleCoastBias]

Just tear it all down and start over.

 

Wait, thought we were talking about the team and front office.

[Leonard Washington]

My dream, that will never happen, is they level the current ballpark into a parking lot and rebuild original comiskey in its original spot. Make it a modern replica, similar to what the Yankees did with new yankee stadium, but without the pretentiousness. 

[ThirdGen]

2 hours ago, WBWSF said:

The problem still remains. The upper deck is too high. I read a few weeks ago that some woman took her younger brother to a White Sox game and they sat in the upper deck. The boy  was a special needs person. He told his sister he was scared sitting  in the upper deck.  She mentioned it to  a couple of the White Sox workers and they were nice enough to move them in the lower level. The upper level has ruined the park. They're giving those tickets  away and still  not many fans want to sit up there. 

He would have had the same reaction in almost any park built after 1990.  The upper deck at GRF is within 10 or 15 feet of every other UD, after the renovation.

They should have had the entrance at the top or middle instead of the bottom as many do.  At this point it's more perception than reality.

[WBWSF]

10 hours ago, ThirdGen said:

He would have had the same reaction in almost any park built after 1990.  The upper deck at GRF is within 10 or 15 feet of every other UD, after the renovation.

They should have had the entrance at the top or middle instead of the bottom as many do.  At this point it's more perception than reality.

A few years ago I went into the upper deck. I hadn't been up there in years. I simply don't like it up there. My season tickets have always been on the lower level. I was just curious to see how it was up there after they took out 7 rows of seats.I went to the highest part of the upper deck, Section 558, Row 21, Seat 12. I was actually scared being up there. I can't believe that anybody would like being up there. And most people don't like it up there.

[The Mighty Mite]

31 minutes ago, WBWSF said:

A few years ago I went into the upper deck. I hadn't been up there in years. I simply don't like it up there. My season tickets have always been on the lower level. I was just curious to see how it was up there after they took out 7 rows of seats.I went to the highest part of the upper deck, Section 558, Row 21, Seat 12. I was actually scared being up there. I can't believe that anybody would like being up there. And most people don't like it up there.

Imagine what it was like before the lop off of 8 rows, just read my earlier post when we sat in row 29 back in 1993. 

[Thad Bosley]

17 hours ago, Pale Sox said:

My dream, that will never happen, is they level the current ballpark into a parking lot and rebuild original comiskey in its original spot. Make it a modern replica, similar to what the Yankees did with new yankee stadium, but without the pretentiousness. 

I love most of this idea, but I wouldn’t want an upper deck in the outfield to block the view of the skyline.  

[The Mighty Mite]

2 hours ago, Thad Bosley said:

I love most of this idea, but I wouldn’t want an upper deck in the outfield to block the view of the skyline.  

That would work, they could do the opposite of Oriole park with just the UD in right field and single deck in left field. Progressive Field is triple decked in right field and bleachers in left field but they have that huge scoreboard that blocks the view, the Sox would need to keep the scoreboard in centerfield. 

[pcullotta]

My dream has always been the area know as "the 78." 
 

Huge open space, 62 acres.  One end is at Roosevelt so could still say "south" as in south loop.  West side backs up to the river, East side to the rock island train tracks.  Close to the Els, very close to Lasalle St station.   Walkable to Union Station.  Background would be the skyline only a few blocks away.  Hell, if I was the mayor, I be mentioning that spot to the Bears, Soldier Field is currently using 7 acres I believe.  

[WBWSF]

2 minutes ago, pcullotta said:

My dream has always been the area know as "the 78." 
 

Huge open space, 62 acres.  One end is at Roosevelt so could still say "south" as in south loop.  West side backs up to the river, East side to the rock island train tracks.  Close to the Els, very close to Lasalle St station.   Walkable to Union Station.  Background would be the skyline only a few blocks away.  Hell, if I was the mayor, I be mentioning that spot to the Bears, Soldier Field is currently using 7 acres I believe.  

In the mid 1980s the City of Chicago offered to build a baseball stadium on this site of Block 78. JR turned down the offer. He wanted to build a stadium in Dupage County in Addison. JR just happened to own the land in Addison. When that didn't workout in Addison  the Cities offer of the South Loop was off the table. They wound up back in Bridgeport. I've never met anybody  who thinks they're better off  in Bridgeport as opposed to the South loop. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise, no matter what the City offered JR in the South Loop he wasn't going to go there. He didn't own the land like he did in Addison. Its like a few years ago JR announced they were moving the White Sox out of Sarasota Florida and moving their spring training facilities to Tuscon Arizona.  It just so happened that JR owned the land in Arizona where the stadium was being built. Anyways, I hope there next stadium is in the South Loop. It would be a tremendous site. I wouldn't be surprised if  the stadium was built near the United Center.

[The Grinder]

1 hour ago, WBWSF said:

In the mid 1980s the City of Chicago offered to build a baseball stadium on this site of Block 78. JR turned down the offer. He wanted to build a stadium in Dupage County in Addison. JR just happened to own the land in Addison. When that didn't workout in Addison  the Cities offer of the South Loop was off the table. They wound up back in Bridgeport. I've never met anybody  who thinks they're better off  in Bridgeport as opposed to the South loop. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise, no matter what the City offered JR in the South Loop he wasn't going to go there. He didn't own the land like he did in Addison. Its like a few years ago JR announced they were moving the White Sox out of Sarasota Florida and moving their spring training facilities to Tuscon Arizona.  It just so happened that JR owned the land in Arizona where the stadium was being built. Anyways, I hope there next stadium is in the South Loop. It would be a tremendous site. I wouldn't be surprised if  the stadium was built near the United Center.

Wasn't the issue in Addison an environmental problem ? Like wetlands or something?

[The Mighty Mite]

7 minutes ago, The Grinder said:

Wasn't the issue in Addison an environmental problem ? Like wetlands or something?

No, Pate Phillip didn't want the White Sox in Addison.

[Soxfest]

JR was told by engineers not to build park with 2 club levels. Of course he was wrong what’s new. Upper deck is a terrible place to watch a game.

[ChiSoxFanMike]

1 hour ago, Soxfest said:

JR was told by engineers not to build park with 2 club levels. Of course he was wrong what’s new. Upper deck is a terrible place to watch a game.

No it really isn’t. 

[The Beast]

1 hour ago, Soxfest said:

JR was told by engineers not to build park with 2 club levels. Of course he was wrong what’s new. Upper deck is a terrible place to watch a game.

Are we saying they should remove the 300 level section in the current stadium and do something more with the upper deck? I don’t think they can do that and how much of a difference it would actually make. Those 300 level seats are sweet and if you are sitting at the lower part of the upper deck near home plate or within first to third, it isn’t that bad of a view.

[tray]

Try to do something with the Bears.

 

[greg775]

17 hours ago, WBWSF said:

A few years ago I went into the upper deck. I hadn't been up there in years. I simply don't like it up there. My season tickets have always been on the lower level. I was just curious to see how it was up there after they took out 7 rows of seats.I went to the highest part of the upper deck, Section 558, Row 21, Seat 12. I was actually scared being up there. I can't believe that anybody would like being up there. And most people don't like it up there.

Jerry and the investors were in love with then Royals Stadium, Kauffman Stadium. The top deck in KC is too steep. Sox wanted a simple park like Royals Stadium and built one. It was an atrocity with wrong colored seats, blue, my gawd and that horrendous top deck like Kauffman. If the Sox actually had a good organization and a bright future (looks like it'll be 10 years before team hits .500 if they ever figure out modern baseball; not sure they ever will) they would build a palace in suburbia. Chicago is dead. Get it out by Arlington, go in with the Bears, get it done. Only hope for a new Sox Park would be if the Bears combine forces.

[WBWSF]

5 hours ago, greg775 said:

Jerry and the investors were in love with then Royals Stadium, Kauffman Stadium. The top deck in KC is too steep. Sox wanted a simple park like Royals Stadium and built one. It was an atrocity with wrong colored seats, blue, my gawd and that horrendous top deck like Kauffman. If the Sox actually had a good organization and a bright future (looks like it'll be 10 years before team hits .500 if they ever figure out modern baseball; not sure they ever will) they would build a palace in suburbia. Chicago is dead. Get it out by Arlington, go in with the Bears, get it done. Only hope for a new Sox Park would be if the Bears combine forces.

The problem about moving to the suburbs is the lack of public transportation. 20% of White Sox attendance comes from public transportation. Last year  the team drew over 2 million fans. 400,000 came  by public transportation. I don't see how those people using public transportation would get to the park if it was in the suburbs. When JR wanted the stadium built in Addison I always thought he would have lost alot of paying fans. There's no public transportation there.

[Kyyle23]

5 hours ago, greg775 said:

Jerry and the investors were in love with then Royals Stadium, Kauffman Stadium. The top deck in KC is too steep. Sox wanted a simple park like Royals Stadium and built one. It was an atrocity with wrong colored seats, blue, my gawd and that horrendous top deck like Kauffman. If the Sox actually had a good organization and a bright future (looks like it'll be 10 years before team hits .500 if they ever figure out modern baseball; not sure they ever will) they would build a palace in suburbia. Chicago is dead. Get it out by Arlington, go in with the Bears, get it done. Only hope for a new Sox Park would be if the Bears combine forces.

Would you stop this already.  Nonsense.  

[pcq]

15 hours ago, The Grinder said:

Wasn't the issue in Addison an environmental problem ? Like wetlands or something?

It was designated Federal wetlands to keep the Sox out. Local effort. 

[The Mighty Mite]

Here’s a story about the Sox and the move to Addison that never happened.
 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2005-10-13-0510130082-story.html

 

[The Mighty Mite]

Another story of what could have been.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/the-white-sox-ballpark-in-chicago-that-never-was-and-could-have-changed-history/