Jan. 16--In an effort to ensure fan safety, the Chicago Cubs are installing metal detectors at Wrigley Field in time for the 2016 season.
Crane Kenney, President of Business Operations, encouraged fans to arrive at home games earlier than normal. The Cubs also are seeking help from the City of Chicago to close Clark and Addison streets on game days to improve pedestrian traffic and secure better control of the area.
"What used to keep me awake all night was the concrete and steel in our ballpark, which we are fixing," said Kenney, adding that a high-level official from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will speak at an MLB meeting this month. "What keeps me awake now is the crazy times we live in."
Kenney elected to tell fans of the new security measures Saturday at Cubs Convention so they could prepare with slightly less than three months before the April 11 home opener against the Cincinnati Reds.
Kenney said that after the bombings in Paris in November, he met with his executives to see what they could do about improving fan safety at Wrigley, which "is not surrounded by a sea of parking lots."
Kenney said the team is looking for a 100-foot perimeter of control in each direction of the ballpark. On game days, the Cubs would prefer that Clark and Addison would be open only to city traffic -- emergency and police vehicles and buses."
Under the new measures, fans would enter in single file lines and have their bags checked. There have been no discussions of opening the gates earlier than two hours before games.
In addition, protective netting at Wrigley will be extended to the home and visiting dugouts, with the protection level at least 70 feet, Kenney said.
"Wrigley been here 100 years with limited netting," Kenney said. "In the old days, all you did was keep score and focused on game."
With fans now looking at their phones, "it's time we really studied this one," Kenney said. 'It was hard for us to do, but with the safety factor we move forward."
