Aluminum bleachers at Wrigley Field (now gone). Photo by Kthypryn (Flickr
What do you do when your aluminum bleachers won't be ready on opening day? Hide under home plate? Get lost in the locker room? Run away?
This is certainly not a position any athletic director or site manager wants to be in. But that's what's happening to the Chicago Cubs as they officially announced they won't have 5,500 outfield bleacher seats ready for the coveted opening day game against the St. Louis Cardinals on April 5.
Ouch. Not a good way to start the year telling fans there won't be a place for them to sit. Opening day no less. The Chicago Cubs no less - those die-hard fans who truly believe at the start of every season that this could be THE YEAR.
Okay, hold on sports fans. You have to give the Cubs organization some credit. After all, they are spending $575 million dollars in private funding to renovate that relic of a stadium. That's nearly half a billion dollars.
And they are doing it with every effort to preserve the historical integrity of the 100-year-old facility. From what we've seen, when all is said and done and all the improvements are made, fans are going to love the revamped stadium.
There will be more of everything. More seats - about 300 more. A huge 3,990 square-foot video screen in left field. A huge 2,400 square-foot video screen in right field. A 30,000 square-foot area for concession preparation. You want a brat, you're going to be able to get a brat (bratwurst). More restaurants, more retail sports and more restrooms.
Even more standing room areas for those tight contests when they are close to making the playoffs (gotta have faith).
To help the Cubs make the playoffs, the players will be getting a new incredible 30,000 square-foot clubhouse, three times the size of the current clubhouse. All this and more.
Aluminum bleachers can be shipped in just three days
But not many athletic directors have a half-billion dollars to play with. Not on the university level. Not on the high school or middle school level.
But what they do have is die-hard fans. So, if their facility does not have aluminum bleachers ready for opening day, it's not going to be a pleasant experience.
The Park Catalog can help with this. If you want to make sure you have 4-row bleachers ready for opening day two months away we have a Quick Ship program that can get them there in three days. Three days. Wouldn't the Chicago Cubs love to be able to say they will have their thousands of bleachers up in the next three days?
4-row aluminum bleacher
Need smaller 3-row aluminum bleachers right away? Again, we can ship them in three days. Say you have a situation where all of a sudden your team is in first place and you need portable bleachers, the tip and roll bleachers that can be wheeled around to accommodate crowds. The tip and roll aluminum bleachers that can be rolled in and then rolled out and stowed away. We can have them to you in just three days.
Need aluminum benches for the coaches and players? We have several - either different lengths, portable, with in-ground mounts, with backs, without backs. A large variety of aluminum benches. All available in just three days.
What about an aluminum scorer's table? We can get that to you in three days.
Now for larger crowds, of the major league baseball magnitude, the Park Catalog does offer 10-row and 15-row aluminum bleachers. Those larger structures obviously can't be delivered in the days. But, give us a call. We can get them to you as fast as humanly possible. Need transportable bleachers? We got them too. How about elevated aluminum bleachers? Ditto. Call and we can deliver them quickly.
It's too bad the initial phase of the four-phase massive renovation of Wrigley Field won't be totally ready by opening day. We get it. Things happen. Construction crews reportedly had problems with old city pipes and in the Windy City, there are always delays with the weather. Even still, everybody is working hard to get the stadium ready - long hours, seven days a week. Come May, when the seats are added, this will all be forgotten.
The Park Catalog doesn't like to see their customers stressed out about construction deadlines. That's why we created our QuickShip program for aluminum bleachers and dozens of other site furnishings. If you need a place right away for your fans to sit and cheer, we'll get it to you. Fast.
Update: The aluminum bleachers were eventually installed and yes, the Chicago Cubs went on to win the World Series.
To read about the Wrigley Field renovation and bleacher delay click here.