I’ll preface this by saying I was not at this year’s Cubs Convention. BCB’s Sara Sanchez was, though, and wrote up this informative article earlier this week about how overcrowded the event was, and it
seems clear to me that this event is far too large for a venue like the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk, where it has been held since 2013.
I have a suggestion for where this annual gathering could be moved, but first I wanted to add some further remarks on this year’s event, directly from event attendees.
This comment was found on Facebook — Sara posted it in the comments to her article, but I think it needs more prominence:
I’ve only gone twice, this year and last year. The APP prior to updating to 2026 showed roughly 3,500 signed in from last year, and the APP at times showed 8,000+ this year and it felt massively crowded. This also impacted staff and process and Cubs staff (terrific people through and through) just couldn’t consistently manage anything from crowds to autograph line steps, to really anything. We made the best of it, but we’re also going to think long and hard about making this an annual event unfortunately. I felt bad for people with high expectations that traveled across state lines for this.
Eight thousand-plus people. This page from the Sheraton’s website says that the maximum capacity of their “largest space” is 4,600. So that means this year’s event had nearly twice that many crowding hallways, elevators, escalators and smaller spaces.
Here are some other comments I received, all from people who attended this convention. Warning! This is gonna be long.
Here’s one from someone who’s been at nearly every one of the Cubs Conventions:
Except for the opening ceremony, I avoid the really massive events, have no interest in the Bingo, Carayoke etc. Also, having attended 38 of the 39 Conventions, I know what I have to do to get into the venues. Yes, the opening ceremony was very badly crowded, had to stand at the back two and a quarter hours, no seats, and I did what I usually do to try to find a seat in back.
I can readily understand that a lot of people must have been badly disappointed, having paid that much and actually seen that little. For years now, Convention attendees have needed to plan and attack the venues like a military campaign. Even the STH exclusive venues were wall-to-wall people. I long ago gave up on the autograph lines. There were long lines Thursday afternoon for the player meet-and-greet signups (those open at 1 p.m. Friday), but that has been the case for many years. The Saturday main ballroom events mean getting there ungodly early and staying several hours straight to the end. Don’t drink anything before you go.
I always thought it was a mistake to abandon the Hilton, but even that larger venue might not have helped much. All the same, I’d hate to have the Convention turned into an Auto Show or commercial show of the sort you have at McCormick Place. I am familiar with the Rosemont convention center, that would be a much better choice.
Of course, all this means that they deliberately oversold, have been doing so for years, and did so to a bigger degree this year than ever. It has always been in the back of my mind that it’s becoming dangerous, it would not have taken much, at certain times, to ignite a real disaster.
I’ll continue to come, it’s still fun, and I know the lay of the land.
You will pardon the profanity from this person, who has also been to dozens of Cubs Conventions:
It was an absolute shitshow. We were told by staff that they sold an additional 3,000 tickets. It was ridiculous trying to go anywhere or get in anywhere. I never was able to get into the STH lounge because of the line and just trying to get around.
I always try and have a good time but this year really pushed me to my limit. Somebody in our group got seats at 9:30 a.m. and we had to have someone stay and hold them until we were done for the day. None of our group got into the Opening Ceremony. We had to run for a seat to Off the Mound with Ryan Dempster. Nobody should have to spend half the day sitting on the floor in the crowded, hot hallway to get a bingo table. By 3:30 p.m. the floor was nearly full.
This is from someone going to their first Convention — and who says they are likely not going again:
First, Cubs employees working the convention did their best dealing with unhappy fans. They were polite and empathetic to very disappointed convention ticket holders.
There was a fabulous set up of events to be seen. Unfortunately, everything had long lines! I was very disappointed that the Cubs kept hyping the convention about seeing the 2016 Championship Team, 150 year anniversary, etc., and few could see those.
They know damn well how many seats plus standing room only… and yet they oversold Convention tickets knowing damn well half of the attendees would not be allowed upstairs because the room was at capacity. They stopped the escalators going up to the Grand Ballroom floor somewhere around 3:30-4 p.m. A huge line formed on the main floor waiting for opportunities to be permitted upstairs. There were TVs in the center bar area, but all were muted. All seats in the bar were taken that had a view of the TVs. From where I found a chair to sit, I couldn’t see or hear the TVs since they were muted. Why not feed the sound thru the hotel speaker system and bring in large screen projectors?
I heard there were 8,000+ convention goers, crammed into the Sheraton which has been undersized for quite some time. Knowing that, why would they oversell the convention to 8,000+ ? Many people felt it was a MONEY GRAB: Cram us all in there, force us to stand in line three hours for the big events such as Opening Ceremony & Bingo to ensure getting in.
Lining up early caused me to miss out on many great sessions I would have loved to attend. I was very disappointed that I spent $150 to miss out on so many great events, due to needing to line up early. Once people get in to the grand ballroom on Saturday and get the good seats up front, they don’t leave after each session. They literally camp out and keep the same seats for every event that day in the grand ballroom until they’re forced out for Bingo set up.
I’m so turned off by all the long lines and expense to go. I doubt I’ll go next year. It sucks that you have to go outside to get to Loew’s for special events. Get a bigger venue… but DON’T OVERSELL IT!
Lastly, here’s one from another long-time Convention goer who is fed up with the overcrowding:
Thank you so much for putting this out there. I know I’m old and should turn it over to the kids, but this year turned into something dangerous, IMO. I’ve been trying to contact the person in charge for several years.
I keep asking if Chicago has a fire marshal?
They took away (almost) all the vendors, reduced the amount of ‘swag’ we get signing in, and haven’t really addressed the need for more options for food. And, yes, I’ve only missed two conventions. I was at the first one. I think it’s been too crowded since moving to the Sheraton. Because of lines, navigation from one point to another is almost impossible, every year.
Some attendees received a survey about the convention that contained questions about, among other things, pre-registration for various events. That, in my view, misses the point. If you get shut out of pre-registration, you’ve got the same issue the overcrowding creates — you won’t be able to get into events that you have presumably paid for. The Cubs Convention is essentially a huge pep rally — why would you hold such an event and basically shut out half the attendees from going to that pep rally?
The Cubs signed a long-term deal to hold the convention at the Sheraton in 2013. I have heard that 2027 is the final year of that contract. The Cubs should pay whatever it takes to buy that deal out and move the event to another venue.
Let me suggest this venue: The convention center in Rosemont, officially named the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, after a former mayor of Rosemont.
Per this page on the Convention Center’s website, it has “840,000 square feet of flexible exhibition space.” That’s nearly seven times the space that the Sheraton has for events. The website says this space is configurable in many different ways for the company or organization hosting the event. It seems clear to me that if the Cubs want to sell 8,000 tickets at $150 each for the Convention, they need to hold it at a venue where everyone has a chance to go to all the important sessions (particularly the Opening Ceremony), have more space for vendors, and more food options. It would avoid the issue of overselling and pre-registration. Everyone who pays to go to such an event should be able to see any and all the sessions. Period.
The venue in Rosemont is directly south of a large Hyatt Regency hotel — maybe the Cubs could make a deal with them so out-of-town fans could stay there. There are many other hotels nearby. It’s right off the Kennedy Expressway (after the I-90/I-190 split, on the way to O’Hare) at River Road, there’s plenty of parking, and the Rosemont stop on the CTA’s Blue Line is also close by, so public transit would be an easy option.
There is one other thing I should note here, specifically about next year’s Cubs Convention. If there is a lockout, the team would not be able to invite any players on the 40-man roster. That would leave them with a Convention featuring alumni, broadcasters and minor leaguers. Would fans still go to such a Cubs Convention?
One thing is certain. The Cubs are lucky that no one was seriously injured in the crowds they had at the Sheraton last weekend. And the team now has a lot of fans who paid a lot of money for this event and are pretty angry at how things were handled (despite Cubs employees’ best efforts, and everyone I spoke to complimented those efforts). Next year will be the 40th Cubs Convention. Hopefully, it will be the first at a new space that can accommodate comfortably everyone who wants to attend.
