I’ll start by saying I’m a Sox fan. But I have friends who are Cubs fans. When old Comiskey Park needed major work, there was really no place for the White Sox to go. Night-game restrictions at Wrigley made it basically unavailable as a substitute home for the Sox. So we wound up with the Cell, which, while it has been made more comfortable than when it opened in 1991, remains ugly and unpopular.
The Cubs and Cubs fans should regard U.S. Cellular Field as an opportunity, not a deeply emotional problem. It’s an opportunity the White Sox did not have, so Sox fans still miss our beloved old Comiskey Park. The Yankees played at Shea Stadium for a while, and were able to return to a structurally sound “House That Ruth Built.”
There are no restrictions to prevent the Cubs from using the Cell as an alternate home while historic Wrigley Field is closed for long enough to replace whatever is at the end of its useful life. The CTA will need to run additional Red Line trains. That’s really all it will take to fit the Cubs into the Cell while Wrigley is renewed.
Cubs fans should face the reality that playing in the Cell for a year is how they can avoid playing in something like it forever. It’s a lesson some Sox fans think about every time we walk past old Comiskey’s home plate to attend a game.
