The Cubs jumbotron is a blight on the neighborhood and a total money grab. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Buuuuuuuuuuut, if they can do it, why can't we!?! And get the taxpayers to pay for it!

The White Sox plan to unveil an array of new digital boards this spring -- including a massive primary board in center field complete with digital pinwheels. The new video board vaults the Sox from second to last in terms of size (the old boad was 1,484 square feet and was installed in 2003), to No. 7, with a size of around 8,000 square feet. For comparison the left field board installed by the Cubs last year is nearly 4,000 square feet.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ba ... story.html

“When I showed a video to one of our players it was, ‘Hey, look, a big-league ballpark,’” White Sox senior vice president of sales and marketing Brooks Boyer said. “We’re going from one of the smallest boards in baseball to one of the best.”

One of the five biggest in baseball, in Boyer’s estimation.

According to Lou Bertuca, CEO and executive director of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the project cost around $7.3 million and includes a pair of 2,400-square foot boards flanking the main attraction. ISFA a government entity and is the owner and developer of U.S. Cellular Field and funded the recent renovations to Soldier Field.

Bertuca said the U.S. Cellular Field project, which originally was budgeted for $11.4 million, was paid for through a capital construction fund, which is funded in part by the rent the White Sox pay and a 2 percent levy on city hotels.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ba ... story.html

I'm sure you understand the aesthetic differences of Wrigley Field and U.S. Cellular. You can sell "old time baseball at the friendly confines" or a "modern ballpark experience". I have my doubts you can do both. Eventually Wrigley will be ruined and the Cubs will suck and there will be a half empty mish mash of a ballpark.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

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Dumb thread.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Nobody, not even the most ardent Sox fans in the world (something I fancy myself as), gives a shit what they do to the ballpark.

If they wanted to paint the exterior of the thing bright pink and replace the pinwheels with monstrous 140 foot dildos that would wobble and flutter with the wind I would not care. US Cellular is not some cathedral to me, it is merely the building where the Sox happen to play half of their games every year. I have maybe a little sentimentality for the land US Cellular sits on at 35th and Shields, and if they tore down that ugly shithole I could maybe fall in love with a new place, but the current stadium is trash to me.

Meanwhile I spent the better part of my life hearing from Cubs fans that Wrigley was a national treasure that had to be preserved at all costs. Then some billionaire mongol from the West stormed in with his dad's money and that sentiment vanished. Not much consistency (except in the NO BLACKS ALLOWED policy that Wrigely has boasted for its entire existence).

Yeah. I mean, if we are to say that Wrigley is also just your standard ballpark and isn't really any different than most of the others then go nuts and build your large flat screens all over the place and cover it with advertising. This (former) White Sox fan thought more of Wrigley than that but if Cubs fans don't then it's cool.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Shame on me for just realizing Big's avatar wasn't a goofy kid's toy or something. I never really looked that closely and glad I did now.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

They are just spending money for the sake of spending money.
None of this matters...none.

We saw it in 2005....raise a championship banner and people will come. All of this other crap is stupid.

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I am a Sox fan and I just never get it. We must be the most fickle fans in the world. You say win a WS and they will come. Yeah right. They will come the year you win it but not until July and the next year you will spike attendance and nearly immediately drops back to shit. I am done trying to figure out reasons why Sox fans do not go. If you are that pissed or bothered by something pick another team.

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Elections have consequences.

Agreed, Sox fans are the reason they dont win more

Agreed, Sox fans are the reason they dont win more

its for selling ads. nobody's going to pay to put up their ads on a 19" Sony Trinitron. except maybe Village of Bedford Park.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

If you look at the attendance rankings across MLB, it's pretty consistent that winning teams draw the most fans. The White Sox surged in 2006 following the WS championship the drop was steady in 2007 and has continued. The Cubs are the exception based on their ballpark, neighborhood, and national following. I get why their attendance is strong last season and this season. There's optimism, but prior to 2014, their attendance is the exception. NYY, LAD, STL, SF, BOS (last year was a fluke)...they are consistent winners and they are the teams that top attendance year after year.

The Sox have not put much consistency together in terms of being contenders. Hang multiple banners, make the playoffs year in year out and the attendance will climb. Period.

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2005

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They have an annual "CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT FUND" which gives the ISFA (Jerry) close to $5 mill a year to make "Capital Improvements"

Once again, if any political figure had any stones, they would say that none of the Bullshit the Sox have done is considered capital improvements in the spirit of what it was meant to be such as a new roof, new elevator, new concrete. The Sox have used the money for the chiSox bar and grill, social lounge, The sports Depot. The ISFA board is made up of Northwestern Law School buddies and bankers.

FACT: The only person to ever push back against the Sox was fired Perri Imer. She actually tried to run the ISFA the correct way,

"Under former Gov. Thompson's leadership, the ISFA Board had become ineffective to protect taxpayer interests, and was acting as nothing more than a cash cow puppet for Jerry Reinsdorf," the complaint states.

As almost everything in the state of Illinois comes to a stop due to funding issues, including me ordering License plates!!!! I would think there should be a slight outrage that the Sox can still find $10 mill of our money to make a new jumbotron.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

That was a test.

Don't worry, not judging.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.