Wrigley Field renovations continue as opening night looms

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Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Wrigley Field renovations continue as opening night looms
The clock is ticking for the Chicago Cubs, as crews are rushing to finish renovations with opening night less than two weeks away.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The clock is ticking for the Chicago Cubs, as crews are rushing to finish renovations with opening night less than two weeks away.

Owner Tom Ricketts says crews are racing to complete as much of the renovation work as possible and that it will be ready for the sold-out crowd.

"Ready in time is a subjective kind of thing, the fact is that everything is going pretty nicely around the grandstand, it's a lot of iron work, it's a lot of infrastructure, so people that come on opening day won't see a big change in the grandstands," Ricketts said.

There is clearly still a lot of work to be done, with scaffolding and fences still present around Wrigley Field.

Ricketts told an audience at the City Club Wednesday afternoon he believes the team is ready to compete on the field this season, but their ballpark will be in the early stages of renovation; a renovation plan that will take several more years.

Ricketts says fans will ultimately be happy with the result in the long run.

"If you go into the grandstand you're not going to see a lot of big changes, there's going to be a little bit of construction going on in there," Ricketts said. "What you don't is we went through and replaced all the steel, but you won't see that."

Ricketts could not comment on ongoing litigation with rooftop owners, however, said construction on the large video boards in left field is on schedule.