On Friday morning, the Cubs and DraftKings held a beam signing ceremony at the corner of Addison St. and Sheffield Ave.

Construction is still ongoing for the Wrigley Field DraftKings Sportsbook. Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney was joined by DraftKings co-founder/CEO Jason Robins, Pepper Construction president Scott Pepper, Gensler principal Aleksandar Sasha Zeljic and Levy president/CEO Andy Lansing for the event.

When completed, the sportsbook will be 22,350 square feet and host up to 1,000 people. The sportsbook is set to open in 2023.

It will also include a 2,000 square foot television.

“A little bigger than my first apartment,” Kenney quipped.

The sportsbook will have three levels, with food and beverage from Levy on every level.

“An experience that we think will be really dynamic for our fans and friends who want to come in and not wager and just have a great meal and enjoy sporting events,” Kenney said.

As the Cubs envisioned what this project would look like, they had three goals.

“First, we were looking to add another entertainment option to the Wrigley campus that will engage our fans and friends and neighbors on game days and as importantly, on non-game days,” Kenney said. “This corner of our beloved ballpark has been going through a constant state of change. The Friendly Confines cafe opened in 1983 right where the Sportsbook stands. In 2009, we opened the Captain Morgan Club here. And then in 2015, it became the DraftKings Fantasy Sports Zone.

“So for the past 40 years, we’ve had a food and beverage operation at this corner and as we began the process of envisioning the future of Wrigley Field and doing something more permanent, the idea of creating a sportsbook with our friends at DraftKings made the most sense. We’re very excited to convert what was a tent into a permanent structure here on the corner.

“The second important goal of this project was to engage with a younger, more diverse fanbase than we typically reach,” Kenney continued. “The baseball dynamic skews pretty old. The average age for a baseball fan is 57 and for the past decade, we’ve been trying to reach that younger demographic with things like our creator series, ticketing targeted offers and social media influencer nights. What we know about sports betting is that it’s embraced by younger fans. More than 80% of sports bettors are under 55 and we also know that sports bettors tend to be more diverse.

“Finally, we know that sports bettors tend to engage more and for longer periods of time with the games that they placed a wager on. For all these reasons, we’re excited to open the DraftKings sportsbook at the beginning of next year.”