It was back in September 2020 when news broke about the partnership formed between the Chicago Cubs MLB baseball team and the fantasy sports giant DraftKings. The deal was said to be worth $100-million and included several concessions including the establishment of a DraftKings branded retail sportsbook location at the famed Wrigley Field in Chicago. Since that time, not a lot has transpired. Sure, artistic renderings of what the sportsbook location could look like did hit the internet and that’s about it. So where in the process are we? That’s a pretty good question when you consider how um, anxious DraftKings was to get their foot in the door of the online sports betting industry in Illinois. What we are left with at this point is a lot of questions, some guesses, and a whole lot of nothing else. So, let’s try to sort that out, shall we?
COVID-19 Is Partly To Blame
Sure, there has to be a scapegoat and so far in the past year, the pandemic has had to shoulder the blame for bringing a lot of things to a screeching halt. We’re not just talking about travel restrictions, changes to schooling, work environments, and your average dining experience. Sports and entertainment took a big hit with COVID-19 restrictions ranging from complete shutdowns to reduced capacity guidelines on top of all the other protocols that we are getting used to. You know, hand sanitizing, mask-wearing, and social distancing. COVID-19 essentially put the brakes on anything fun and that would have included the construction of a retail sportsbook at Wrigley Field. When you consider that the original timeline for completion was the end of 2022, there wouldn’t be much to see there today if work had continued as planned and the ‘rona didn’t surface.
The Ricketts Family Have Poured A Lot Into The Facility Already
You have to give credit where credit is due and so far, in the past few years, the Ricketts family has been enhancing the fan experience at Wrigley Field to the tune of a few hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s a lot of zeroes but if you have been a regular to the iconic venue, you know that a lot of the newer bells and whistles didn’t just happen and would have had a hefty price tag. You could say that the Ricketts invested into their investment by dragging it into the 21st century with several overhauls. And with no clear indication in sight as to when we will be able to once again sit in the stands and smell popcorn, roasted peanuts and pass hot dogs down to the middle of the row, it makes sense to stop any further construction projects. DraftKings’ sportsbook project will likely be still sitting on the drawing-room table waiting for its turn.
DraftKings Is Much Bigger Than Baseball
This is an important thing to note. Just because the DraftKings sportsbook is going to be established somewhere inside Wrigley Field, it won’t be there for just game day baseball bets. One of the “artistic renderings” that was released online a month or so ago showed a wall of big-screen televisions. A wall of them. You can bet (pun intended) that they all won’t be showing the Chicago Cubs home game nor will they be fixated on just baseball. DraftKings has a huge menu of sporting events they provide wagering opportunities on. Plus, the interactive game-day offerings proposed by DraftKings and the Cubs will make waves in the online and retail sports wagering industry. It’s these sorts of features that make the DraftKings sportsbook at Wrigley Field such an anticipated addition to the gambling landscape in the state.
It Should Be A Huge Draw
Judging from the images that were shared online, the retail sportsbook at Wrigley Field appears to be – in a word – huge. This sort of makes sense with the DraftKings “go big or go home” mentality and that makes for a good addition to the fan experience upgrades that have taken place at the historic ball field. With walls of televisions showing everything from football to baseball and soccer to motorsports, the layout appears to be user friendly to where you may want to spend part of your day on-site. Even if you didn’t go to see the Cubs game, you’ll be able to get more than your fill of sports just by wandering into the DraftKings sportsbook. With plenty of betting kiosks, you’ll be able to place a wager and enjoy watching several sporting events in comfort surrounded by a lot of other crazy sports fans in there doing the same thing.
A Funny Little Piece Of Trivia
While work on the DraftKings sportsbook at Wrigley field appears to be in an off-season hiatus, the fact that baseball and gambling have joined hands is a bit on the funny side. Consider the infamous “Black Sox” scandal on the other side of the city where the White Sox were blamed for “throwing” the 1919 World Series and the anti-gambling stance held by former MLB commissioner Bud Selig and you see a bit of irony. Selig went as far as to state that gambling on baseball was “evil” and that it presented a serious “danger to the game.” But those days are gone. Baseball has since found a happy medium in being a legal partner to the world of sports betting. So, in a way, you can say that not only has Wrigley Field come into the future, but MLB has also moved forward to meet the challenges of today’s world of technology and online betting.
Summary
Illinois gamblers have been waiting with anticipation for the proposed DraftKings sportsbook to open at Wrigley Field. But with COVID-19 stopping progress on many fronts, baseball is one that will have to wait a little while longer. But in the meantime, online sports wagering continues to set a record pace in Illinois. Eventually, the Chicago Cubs and DraftKings will be able to enjoy some of that betting action rather than sitting at the bottom of the ninth with no one on base.
