November 30, 2003
White Sox adding columns to upper deck
More news on the $41 million renovation the Chicago White Sox are undertaking at U.S. Cellular Field (aka New Comiskey Park), and it's a doozy: In addition to stripping off the top eight rows of the much-derided upper deck (losing 6,600 seats in the process), the Sox are adding a roof supported by steel columns - which will give about 300 of the remaining upper-deck seats obstructed views of the field.
Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin, in an excellent analysis of the changes, notes that while the reduced upper deck and enclosing roof should give the stadium a more intimate feel, "None of this will change the fundamental shape (and thus, the fundamental problem) of U.S. Cellular - a seating bowl that steps outward as it rises, placing upper-deck fans far from the action." A stepped seating bowl that was made necessary, ironically enough, by the Sox' owners original insistence that the stadium be free of view-obstructing columns.
