Wrigley Field considered as vaccination site.
Another Chicago sports mecca could soon join the United Center as a site for coronavirus vaccinations.
The Cubs are “in discussions with the city” about opening a mass-vaccination site “somewhere on the Wrigley Field campus,” team spokesman Julian Green said Tuesday.
Those shots won’t be administered on the field itself, Green said, but vaccinations could take place along the stadium’s inside concourses, in the outdoor plaza along the third-base line, in a players’ parking lot or in the Wrigley conference center.
“We want to be helpful,” Green said. “If we can assist by allowing the assets we have to be used as a site for a life-saving vaccine, we’d be honored to serve.”
Advocate Aurora Health is in line to operate the site, providing “clinical staffing and technical infrastructure,” if the city authorizes it and there are adequate vaccine supplies.
The health care provider would be “proud to partner on a possible Wrigley Field mass vaccination site,” said Advocate spokeswoman Brigid Sweeney.
Sweeney said Wrigley is being considered because its easy CTA access makes it “a convenient option for people who do not own cars.”
Meanwhile, in other news involving Wrigley — and Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the White Sox — Lightfoot said fans of both teams will be able to attend games this season. She just didn’t say how many, or when.
“There will be a point some time this season where you’ll see fans in the stands” at both ballparks, said the mayor, a Sox seasonticket holder.
And while Lightfoot didn’t reveal details, she did say the Sox and Cubs have “come up with very good plans” to make that possible. The Cubs presented a plan to the city and Major League Baseball to bring fans back in July, midway through the shortened season, but it never panned out, the Sun-Times reported.
Crane Kenney, president of business operations for the Cubs, had hoped to allow 6,000 to 7,000 fans in the field at a time, spaced out in groups of two, four and six.
Despite Lightfoot’s comment on fans in the stands, the White Sox and Cubs will still have to make sure their plans are in accordance with city and MLB safety protocols.
Opening Day is scheduled for April 1, with the White Sox playing the Angels at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., and the Pirates playing the Cubs at Wrigley Field.