Working Bathrooms, Porta Potties At Wrigley A Relief For Cubs Fans
CHICAGO (CBS) -- There were shorter lines at the bathrooms and a lot less anxiety for Cubs fans at Wrigley Field for Wednesday's 2-0 victory over the Cardinals, reports WBBM's Terry Keshner.
The Cubs have installed 72 porta potties and two of the bathrooms that weren't working are now up to speed.
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On Opening Night on Sunday, fans were frustrated by excessive wait times after two bathrooms in the upper deck malfunctioned.
"On Sunday night, we just didn't do the proper preparation, planning and execution and we just failed," Cubs spokesman Julian Green said. "I want to apologize to all of our fans who experienced any huge inconvenience. It's not the standard that we like to deliver here to our guests and so we will not have this issue moving forward. The new restrooms should be ready about May 11."
Wrigley bathrooms still aren't 100 percent.
"We have about three restrooms that are down right now because we are building them into better, bigger and improved restrooms," Green said. "We are also adding a new women's restroom so the ladies should be very happy about that as well."
As for Cubs fans attending Wednesday's game against the Cardinals, they seemed to have a sense of humor about the bathrooms, and many of them told WBBM they were planning on drinking less and making sure they knew where the closest bathroom was just in case.
And Green advises fans to learn the layout of Wrigley Field before a game so they always knew where to go find a hot dog, a beer, a beef ... and a bathroom.
In other Wrigley Field news, CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports the Cubs are still working to adjust the volume on their new video board after noise complaints from residents blocks away.
"We found that one of the speakers needed to get re-oriented a little bit, that it was maybe bouncing off over the stadium and we're working on it and it's going to take a little time to get it right," said Carl Rice, the Cubs VP for stadium operations.
Outside sound levels seemed moderate Wednesday, and someone who's seen plenty of changes at Wrigley chalked it all up to growing pains.
"To have something good, you gonna sacrifice a little bit, but when it's all over with, I think you'll appreciate it," Cubs Hall of Famer Billy Williams said.
CBS 2's Mike Parker caught up with Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts on Wednesday night at the Bricks and Ivy Ball, a big Cubs fundraiser at Union Station.
Parker asked Ricketts about the move to postpone Tuesday's game, ostensibly due to weather. Some conspiracy theorists believe it was because Sunday proved the stadium wasn't ready.
"No, that absolutely couldn't be further from the truth," Ricketts said. "It was predicted early on in the day that it was going to be really unfavorable weather just to play for everybody."
There were also rumblings that the game was postponed Tuesday so it could be played later in the summer when the finished bleachers would be in place. That would mean more ticket sales for the team owners.
Laura Ricketts' answer? "Absolutely not."
