In 100 years, JumboTrons™ will be so large, expensive, only five richest teams will own them

Philip Bess, architect of Armour Field, is against a proposed Wrigley Field “Jumbotron,” and for good reasons:

Wrigley is unique in how the immediate cityscape is part of the ballpark experience. The Cubs will be making a mistake if, from their desire for increased revenues, and their squabbles with the [rooftop owners], they sacrifice the pleasures of fans on the inside looking out.

When a stadium has a Jumbotron, the game becomes secondary and fans in the park start watching the screen rather than the game—which is why large video boards are a dependable source of advertising revenue.

Normally I would never tell you to listen to what an architect has to say (because this, this, and this), but if the White Sox had paid attention to Bess when they built “The Cell,” they might have saved tens of millions of dollars. And perhaps the enormous, multi-year renovation undertaken just ten years after its original construction wouldn’t have been necessary.

Anyway, Jumbotrons are great because they distract us from the boring baseball game happening on the field. Baseball is so boring!