Inside the Iowa Cubs' $65M "Cubbie Village" vision

The Iowa Cubs have a loose vision to transform Principal Park and its surrounding areas into something likeWrigley Field in Chicago, GM Sam Bernabe told The Iowa Podcast last week.

Why it matters: The plan would expand the area's use into a year-round entertainment district in what podcast producers dubbed "Cubbie Village."

• The larger plan could cost about $65 million, Bernabe said on the podcast, but the money hasn't been budgeted or raised and the work is years off.

Catch up fast: The city of Des Moines owns the stadium, which was constructed in 1992 and is leased to Iowa Cubs owner Diamond Baseball Holdings (DBH), a company started in 2021 that owns more than a dozen minor league teams.

What's happening: New Minor League Baseball (MiLB) facility standards require stadiums meet upgrade and improvement benchmarks in order to keep the city's team

• An ongoing $10 million project to improve the park's locker and training facilities will be completed by next spring.

State of play: The city hired DLR Group in 2021 to help develop a master plan for park improvements.

• The resulting five-phase plan calls for a new main entry, parking garage, mezzanine suites, play area with water features and public art.

⚾️ The bottom line: The Cubs could be working toward its own field of dreams.