The Chicago Cubs organization has officially announced that beginning with tonight’s game against the Rangers, fans will have to pay a dollar per trip to the Wrigley Field bathrooms. According to Chairman Tom Ricketts, the money from the new revenue stream will go back into the ball club and ballpark renovations.
“Limited on what we can do to generate income, charging to use the troughs and the toilet only made sense. This is in the best interests of the fans,” Ricketts explained. “Like everyone else at Wrigley, I will be paying to use the facilities.”
While standing in front of one of the new bathroom doors that only open after a credit card, a dollar, or exact change is inserted into the appropriate slot, Cubs President Theo Epstein described the benefit to the fans.
“Think about it. If the park is filled with forty thousand people and each one only goes to the bathroom once a game, multiply that by eight-one home games, and all of a sudden we’re talking about a significant amount of money coming in to help the franchise,” said Epstein. “And I’m not even counting the five-dollar charge in the Cubs clubhouse or the ten-dollar charge in the visitor’s clubhouse. All this money we’ve been missing out on for years will definitely improve the fan experience by putting a better product on the field.”
Epstein then went on to detail how the organization is currently thinking of offsetting the dollar charge by lowering the price of beer by a quarter and removing the extra ingredient in the hot dogs that transforms them into laxatives. Epstein made sure to remark, “These deals aren’t done yet, so don’t act like a Cubs fan and get your hopes up for no reason.”
When asked their opinion about the pay as you go bathroom policy, a majority of fans either supported the idea, citing they had faith that the new regime knew what they were doing to build a contending team, or said the new policy didn’t affect them since they urinated in empty beer cups.
