2016 is the 25th anniversary of "New Comiskey Park" or USCF

[Thad Bosley]

How many people sit in the upper deck? You aren't saying there would be thousands upon thousands more up there so they could look at the buildings are you?

 

And it would be a spectacular cost to move the openings of the upper deck higher about 20 feet. To make it make any sense, you would also have to move the entire concourse.

 

White Sox baseball would be so much more enjoyable if you owned the team. Please do us all a favor and buy them and show everyone how a real team is run.

You are just flat out insulting and rude. I simply shared an experience I had listening to Jerry Reinsdorf talk about the construction of the ballpark and then a couple of follow-up questions I had with him, and then you come along and troll with this typical blithering nonsense of yours. If your intention is to add ZERO to the quality of the discourse around here, you are routinely quite successful in the endeavor.

[Dick Allen]

You are just flat out insulting and rude. I simply shared an experience I had listening to Jerry Reinsdorf talk about the construction of the ballpark and then a couple of follow-up questions I had with him, and then you come along and troll with this typical blithering nonsense of yours. If your intention is to add ZERO to the quality of the discourse around here, you are routinely quite successful in the endeavor.

LMAO.

[Thad Bosley]

LMAO.

More quality.

[he gone.]

If we had to take a guess, how many years do you think we'll be at this site/stadium. I'm putting a guess in of 40. So another 15 years. I think the park will still be very, very functional at that time, just that there will be enough complaining where they redo it.

 

[southsider2k5]

If we had to take a guess, how many years do you think we'll be at this site/stadium. I'm putting a guess in of 40. So another 15 years. I think the park will still be very, very functional at that time, just that there will be enough complaining where they redo it.

 

I believe the current lease runs through 2033, right?

[sammy esposito]

I believe the current lease runs through 2033, right?

My Jersey is from 91 it is 25 years old has a stadium patch. Maybe its time to buy a new jersey. #31 Todd Frazier.

 

[Jose Abreu]

My Jersey is from 91 it is 25 years old has a stadium patch. Maybe its time to buy a new jersey. #31 Todd Frazier.

21

[iamshack]

How many people sit in the upper deck? You aren't saying there would be thousands upon thousands more up there so they could look at the buildings are you?

 

And it would be a spectacular cost to move the openings of the upper deck higher about 20 feet. To make it make any sense, you would also have to move the entire concourse.

 

White Sox baseball would be so much more enjoyable if you owned the team. Please do us all a favor and buy them and show everyone how a real team is run.

Wow. What is with the vitriol lately?

Edited February 5, 2016 by iamshack

[caulfield12]

I thought it was 2029.

 

At least 90% sure on that.

 

 

All they did was changed the "sunfield" from right in the old park to left in the new one, essentially.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2016 by caulfield12

[Leonard Zelig]

Supposedly to keep the address at 35th and Shields.

 

 

I had heard that there was a stipulation in the funding that they had to keep the address 35th and Shields.

 

What does the orientation of the park have to do with the address?

[southsider2k5]

What does the orientation of the park have to do with the address?

 

The main entrance and team offices are at 35th and Shields.

[knightni]

The building also faces in a direction where the sunset isn't in the players' faces.

[Dick Allen]

You also have the building blocking north winds, which is nice. I've been to Wrigley which faces the same way Comiskey Park faced at the end of May with a wind off the lake, and froze. I think it actually used to be in the rule book the field must face northeast. I wonder with the design of the stadium, how the shadows would have worked. That is probably a bigger issue than the sunset. If it gets shadowy at home plate in the 5th or 6th inning, you have a problem.

[Iwritecode]

It makes me feel old to think an entire generation of Sox fans is growing up not having been to a game there.

 

IIRC, I'm not that much younger than you and I never made it to the old ballpark.

[knightni]

It makes me feel old to think an entire generation of Sox fans is growing up not having been to a game there.

I went when I was about 10, but the last 7 years afterwards, it was getting downright gross and dangerous-appearing to many people.

[Dick Allen]

I went when I was about 10, but the last 7 years afterwards, it was getting downright gross and dangerous-appearing to many people.

I was given a coffee table book that was about Comiskey Park in 1977. The park looked a lot nicer in 1990 than in 1977. It was unreal how rundown it was back then.

[chitownsportsfan]

I usually defend the Cell but the only park built around the same time that it can beat is Comerica. I cannot stand Comerica's sight lines. The Cell is just about as "cookie cutter" of a design as you can use for a ballpark.

 

It reminds me some of Safeco except that Safeco pretty much did everything better including a removable roof, less steep upper deck, and city views from the upper concourses. If you're gonna do "cookie cutter" design, Safeco is how you do it.

[southsider2k5]

I usually defend the Cell but the only park built around the same time that it can beat is Comerica. I cannot stand Comerica's sight lines. The Cell is just about as "cookie cutter" of a design as you can use for a ballpark.

 

It reminds me some of Safeco except that Safeco pretty much did everything better including a removable roof, less steep upper deck, and city views from the upper concourses. If you're gonna do "cookie cutter" design, Safeco is how you do it.

 

Only two parks were built between 1974 and 1991, which were the SkyDome and Tropicana in Tampa. New Comiskey was literally the first open air ballpark built in the US since Kaufman Stadium in 1973. While they could have done more, literally every ballpark that came after that, which is over 20, took from their mistakes and learned from them. The Sox didn't have that luxury.

[chitownsportsfan]

Only two parks were built between 1974 and 1991, which were the SkyDome and Tropicana in Tampa. New Comiskey was literally the first open air ballpark built in the US since Kaufman Stadium in 1973. While they could have done more, literally every ballpark that came after that, which is over 20, took from their mistakes and learned from them. The Sox didn't have that luxury.

 

For sure, the timing was poor and it's hard to knock Chicago for going with a rather bland design when at that point it's just what you did. At least they kept the park in the City and didn't move it to the burbs. I don't know much about the history of it, was only a young kid when the Cell opened, was there talk of moving out of the south side?

[southsider2k5]

For sure, the timing was poor and it's hard to knock Chicago for going with a rather bland design when at that point it's just what you did. At least they kept the park in the City and didn't move it to the burbs. I don't know much about the history of it, was only a young kid when the Cell opened, was there talk of moving out of the south side?

 

There were a few different things talked about at times. The dome in Tampa was built with the hope of luring the White Sox. The team bought land in Addison and thought about that for a while. Those were the two real things I remember being talked about during that stretch. Further back in history there were times where they almost moved to Milwaukee and Seattle IIRC.

[chitownsportsfan]

There were a few different things talked about at times. The dome in Tampa was built with the hope of luring the White Sox. The team bought land in Addison and thought about that for a while. Those were the two real things I remember being talked about during that stretch. Further back in history there were times where they almost moved to Milwaukee and Seattle IIRC.

 

Thanks for the info I'm glad they stayed in the city. Some very fond memories of road trips down from N. MI with my dad "we're doing it without stopping to piss son" to New Comiskey. As a kid, having the stadium right in the middle of what felt like the busiest, coolest place in the world was neat.

[kevo880]

I usually defend the Cell but the only park built around the same time that it can beat is Comerica. I cannot stand Comerica's sight lines. The Cell is just about as "cookie cutter" of a design as you can use for a ballpark.

 

It reminds me some of Safeco except that Safeco pretty much did everything better including a removable roof, less steep upper deck, and city views from the upper concourses. If you're gonna do "cookie cutter" design, Safeco is how you do it.

 

I woudn't say new Comiskey and Comerica were built around the same time. New Comiskey was '91 and Comerica was 2000. Safeco was built in '99. There were 6 stadiums built between new Comiskey and Safeco, and 8 built between new Comiskey and Comerica.

 

Like others have noted, improvements were made for stadiums built after new Comiskey based on the mistakes that were made.

[southsider2k5]

Thanks for the info I'm glad they stayed in the city. Some very fond memories of road trips down from N. MI with my dad "we're doing it without stopping to piss son" to New Comiskey. As a kid, having the stadium right in the middle of what felt like the busiest, coolest place in the world was neat.

 

Looking back in retrospect, the cool thing would have been to put a stadium in the south loop with the open air outfield and a skyline view. Maybe next time with retrospect in mind it will happen. I always had the impression that part of the sweetheart deal they got (which paid for the stadium) was a big part of the reason they stayed at 35th and Shields.

[Bananarchy]

Wait- US Cellular doesn't even serve Chicago? What the?

 

But anyway, those mid 2000s renovations saved the place. It feels like home to me when I get the fortune of going there.

 

Looking back in retrospect, the cool thing would have been to put a stadium in the south loop with the open air outfield and a skyline view. Maybe next time with retrospect in mind it will happen. I always had the impression that part of the sweetheart deal they got (which paid for the stadium) was a big part of the reason they stayed at 35th and Shields.

 

I think it's just expensive as heck to build a stadium that close to downtown where space is at a premium. That is the dream, though. That, and make "new sox park" closer to PNC in terms of size and feel.

Edited February 6, 2016 by AustinIllini

[southsider2k5]

Wait- US Cellular doesn't even serve Chicago? What the?

 

But anyway, those mid 2000s renovations saved the place. It feels like home to me when I get the fortune of going there.

 

They dropped off of the market a few years back.