Scoreboard watching at Wrigley Field in late May is not at all practical with two-thirds of the season remaining, despite growing optimism in the Chicago Cubs.
But now more than ever, Cubs fans seem to be video board watching, giving their undivided attention to the left field video board erected 10 years ago during the Project 1060 renovation.
The video-free era ended at a perfect time for the Cubs’ rebuild, which began to turn the corner in May 2015 thanks to the arrivals of free agent starter Jon Lester, the promotion of rookie Kris Bryant, the emergence of Jake Arrieta and the “Try Not to Suck” mantra of new manager Joe Maddon.
Now the video board has become an integral part of Wrigley, like the bleachers, the ivy and its older, technologically averse relative, the 88-year-old center field scoreboard built by Bill Veeck.
It’s hard for some to remember what Wrigley Field was like before the major cultural change of 10 years ago.
Looking up between innings is now a force of habit. The Wendella boat race ad, a virtual copy of the Donut Race at the United Center, drew a huge roar from the crowd of 40,171 on hand for the Memorial Day game against the Colorado Rockies. Many fans stopped and watched Pete Crow-Armstrong’s “diamond moment” ad in which the Cubs center fielder reminisced about his first game at Wrigley as a 13-year-old, when he looked in admiration at the old scoreboard.
A sighting of actor Jason Bateman in the stands drew applause, and even the hokey Cubs’ cap dance, where fans guess which rotating cap the ball is under, got a nice response.
Has the video board enhanced the Wrigley Field experience? Were the traditionalists wrong all along?
Remember, the Cubs rejected the idea of adding a video board for decades as a nod to the ballpark’s storied history. As every season went by and new stadiums emerged, Wrigley’s aura became more pronounced, even as the occupants never won.
The first serious conversations about change came in 2008 after real estate mogul Sam Zell took over the team, which was part of Tribune Co., and looked into the possibility of adding video.
“We are not going to touch the existing scoreboard,” Cubs business operations president Crane Kenney declared at the time. “Somewhere else in the ballpark? That’s an idea people talk about, but it would have to fit … People are jumping off bridges over worries about Wrigley Field. I’d like to think we’d get a little bit of credit, and I know Sam is a new owner, but give him a little bit of credit. We haven’t done anything not in keeping with the character of the park.”
But Zell was a short-timer who didn’t even like baseball. The Ricketts family agreed to buy the Cubs in 2009, and the idea resurfaced at the 2010 Cubs Convention, where fans were asked at a seminar if they wanted a video board. About half raised their hands.
It was still controversial at the time, but an informal Tribune poll of Cubs players that spring in Mesa, Ariz., found that the vast majority were in favor of a video board. The most passionate objector was infielder Ryan Theriot, who feared it would ruin the ambience of the ballpark.
“If you’re going to do that, you might as well change the whole park and modernize everything,” Theriot said. “The way it is now is the way it’s been for years, and the way it’s meant to be, so you might as well leave it the way it is. I know things change and times change, but from a historical standpoint, that Wrigley vibe, that feel … a Jumbotron would change everything.”
The Cubs would eventually do just that and modernize Wrigley, including adding the video board. They’ve had many critical successes like Gallagher Way, and added patio sections for mingling, bigger bathrooms and improved lighting. The many exclusive clubs built at Wrigley have been a financial success, though most casual fans can’t get into one. The neighborhood has also changed immensely, with expensive dining options and dive bars co-existing within walking distance.
But the video board is the one renovation everyone in the ballpark experiences. Whether it has “changed everything,” as Theriot feared, is in the eyes and ears of the beholder.
In essence, it’s not all that different from other video boards around the sports world with its interactive ads and infomercials touting the team and its history, along with the replays, highlights and stats. Fans can now see the replays of video challenges instead of looking at their phones, as they did in the early 2010s.
One of the more popular staples has been the “Legends of the Game” video, with the orchestra music swelling over highlights of a former Cubs star, who sometimes is at the game and receives a standing ovation afterward. It’d be nice to see a few different legends other than the ones in the current rotation, but that’s a minor quibble.
The main reason the Cubs wanted a video board, of course, was to make money. They promised it would be tasteful with no airing of TV commercials. Former senior marketing director Alison Miller said in 2015: “You’re never going to see a 30-second auto commercial. That’s us not doing our job if we just resort to showing commercials.”
Instead, the video board features advertising vignettes between innings with players like Crow-Armstrong trying to locate Cincinnati on a map for an airline sponsor, or “Guess which pitch Colin Rea is throwing?” for a paint manufacturer, or “Pick the Song of the Game” for a Japanese candy company.
The Cubs, fortunately, have not resorted to using emcees or DJs on the video boards and have not featured an animal like the Los Angeles Angels’ “Rally Monkey” screaming at fans. More importantly, they have eschewed two particularly annoying video board tropes aimed at getting fans’ attention — kissing fans and “make some noise” graphics.
“We believe there is a way to entertain fans and keep them engaged without going the way of Kiss Cam or noise meter,” a spokesperson said in 2014. The spokesperson said Chairman Tom Ricketts personally banned the so-called “Kiss Cam” and graphics exhorting fans when to cheer or get louder. Ricketts has kept that vow.
It’s a little more high-brow video board presentation than what you might experience in some ballparks, much like the Fenway Park video board in Boston. Red Sox fans consider themselves above such diversions, and ditto Cubs fans.
Fears that the Wrigley video board would overwhelm the senses and make the center field scoreboard seem obsolete have mostly been allayed over the last decade. It’s not perfect, but it does its job without stealing attention from the game.
The Cubs even repainted the old scoreboard over the winter and it looks as good as new. And many fans still pose with the old scoreboard in the background of their Instagram photos because it represents old Wrigley, even as they prefer having a real video board to watch.
There’s room for both the old and the new at Wrigley, as long as it’s done right.
