Tag / ISFA

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They’re Calling It What?

guaranteed_rateAfter being known as US Cellular Field for the past 13 years, the White Sox announced earlier today that, beginning on November 1, their home stadium will now be known as Guaranteed Rate Field.  The team and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority signed a 13 year agreement with the national mortgage broker based in Chicago.  A name change had been thought to be in the works for the past 4 years, since US Cellular exited the Chicago market.

The new name will take some getting used to, as it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.  That said, the name of the stadium isn’t as important as the action taking place inside it, and a winning team, should one ever deem to locate itself on the south side again, will wipe away any concerns over the name.

Going into tonight’s action, the White Sox were 220-186 in games I’ve attended at US Cellular Field.  There will be a few more opportunities to add to that record over the final month of the 2016 season, before we turn the page and start anew at Guaranteed Rate Field.

by admin

South Side Gentrification

new-video-boards-us-cellular-fieldNot to be outdone by their neighbors to the north, the White Sox will have 3 new video boards in place at US Cellular Field for Opening Day 2016.  The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority approved the $7.3 million renovation, including a roughly 7000-8000 square foot video board in center field that should leave the White Sox with one of the largest boards in the league.

The current board, installed in 2003, measures only 1484 square feet and is the smallest board in all of baseball.  The boards in left field and right field will be the same size as the current boards, but with much higher resolution.

Hopefully, along with the new boards, they are reconfigured a little bit.  The bottom of the scoreboard in center field is blocked in its current configuration by the Fan Deck, added in 2003.  The board in left field is blocked from most of the third base side by the Fundamentals Deck added in 2005.  Installation of the new board in center field should be able to be raised a few feet to place it above the Fan Deck.  Switching the location of the other two boards with the ads next to them would, along with fixing the Fundamentals problem, provide the opportunity to use all three boards with each other.

The ISFA will also be allowed to keep any revenue generated by the boards at non-White Sox events held at US Cellular Field, including concerts.  The last concert was held in the park in 2003, but the agency is negotiating with promoters to bring big shows back to the south side.

According to Brooks Boyer, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, there will be a number of other renovations at the ballpark over the winter, but he was unwilling to go in to details.  “Come Opening Day next year,” Boyer said, “it’s going to look a lot different.”