Fansided

Wrigley Field bathroom situation remains murky

By Will Osgood

Apr 5, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; A general shot of the marquee prior to a game between the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 5, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; A general shot of the marquee prior to a game between the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Wrigley Field bathroom situation, which made headlines on Opening Night Sunday, remains an unanswered situation. 

The Chicago Cubs have been working profusely to get phase 1 of their four-phase Wrigley Field renovation project completed, in order to simply be able to play regular season baseball games at the most charming baseball facility in baseball.

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That charm turned into bitterness on Sunday night, however, when there were almost literally no bathrooms which could be accessed by paying ticketholders. Two bathrooms on the upper concourse of the stadium went down during the game, for reasons apparently unrelated to the ongoing construction in the stadium.

The Cubs’ solution to the problem thus far was shuttling in 72 working portable toilets on Tuesday morning, in anticipation of Tuesday night’s scheduled contest. That game was, luckily for the Cubs, postponed to Wednesday afternoon due to weather concerns and no makeup date has been announced as of yet, meaning there will likely be one fewer game in which paying fans have to endure a trashy bathroom situation.

Cubs fans were literally forced to either leave the stadium on Sunday night, or stay in their seats and pee in cups if they wanted (needed) to relieve themselves in that manner.


Cubs vice president of ballpark operations, Carl Rice, admitted it was the City of Chicago who first recommended the portable toilets.

Rice said the Cubs, as of yet, have been unable to figure out why the few open bathrooms stopped working. “Whether it was the renovation and anything that happened during the off-season, we really haven’t been able to figure that out.”

The renovated restrooms are expected to be completed May 11 — at least a couple of them. Rice told the Chicago Tribune, “One men’s and one women’s restroom are expected to be ready by May 11.”

Just one each. Apparently two or more is too much to ask.

It was a seemingly impossible task to do as much renovation work as the Cubs were endeavoring to do this past offseason, especially given the cold, wind and snow that annually hits Chicago in the wintertime.

That Wrigley looked as good as it did on Sunday night is rather amazing. Hopefully those bathrooms also look and smell amazing, at least initially. By the time they’re functional, it will have a long enough wait.

FanSided’s Mark Carman breaks down the MLB’s Opening Day, including the Cubs’ bathroom situation. Check it out below.

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