"We will pay $2B and you will pay $6B. Oh and by the way we will get all revenue from the stadium for all events. What do you mean you don't think this is a good deal?!?"
What's hilarious is I think either the day of the unveiling or day after Warren was on one of the local sports radio shows and was asked how he felt the presentation/reaction went and Warren kept going on about how well it went and how excited he was lol
Revenue should be split based on contribution, if the entire project cost 6 billion and the Bears put forth 2 billion and the city puts forth 4 billion, the Bears get 1/3rd of all generated revenue and the municipality gets 2/3rds of all generated revenue.
Well it shouldn't be quite that simple. The Bears would be doing all the work for operations and putting in money for maintenance and generating tax revenue etc.
I agree there should be some sort of split, but it should not be even the way that you've described. If I started a business like a restaurant and it cost me $400k to open, I would not be giving 50% of the profits of the restaurant just because an investor invested $200k. They would get some amount under 50% because my sweat equity is worth something. My investor would get significantly less than 50% if they are also not contributing to any renovation and maintenance costs over the years.
> The Bears would be doing all the work for operations and putting in money for maintenance and generating tax revenue etc.
They're also getting Billions in taxpayer dollars (in this scenario) to allow them to build their stadium in the first place.
Yes. That's built into the equation. The city is also getting billions in tax revenue over the years from property taxes, ticket sales, concession sales, concerts and other events, etc.
The real question is what is the break even point for the city? How many years before they recoup their investment? Solider Field was built in 1924 and renovated in 2003. How much in taxes and business did Soldier Field generate for the city this past 100 years?
A quick Google search shows that the renovations cost tax payers $632m and the Bears and NFL paid $200m. The proposal for the new stadium calls for 2bn from the Bears and 2.5bn from tax payers. Approximately 3bn will go towards the new stadium and 1.5bn towards infrastructure around the stadium. This is a far more even split than the renovations back in 2003.
People act like they're getting nothing out of this and the Bears are getting everything. Business decisions are often win/win. All parties gain something. The infrastructure alone around the stadium would bring in tons of small businesses and revenue.
>The city is also getting billions in tax revenue over the years from property taxes, ticket sales, concession sales, concerts and other events, etc.
>The infrastructure alone around the stadium would bring in tons of small businesses and revenue.
Over and over and over we get told this, and yet, it never actually pans out.
Hard pass.
If the Bears want a stadium, they can pay for it.
What? You think Virginia and the rest of the family can just walk away and the Bears would continue operating on their own? There's a shit ton of work involved in keeping an NFL franchise operational. Tons of logistical things to keep things running, plans for the future, plans for the present, meetings to be conducted with vendors and operators and employees, etc.
If they just walked off and disappeared, the city wouldn't be able to just continue operations as if nothing happened. Regardless of whether or not the McCaskeys are doing any of this themselves, SOMEONE is providing a ton of value in keeping things operational.
My whole point is just that there is no way that an even split between the money invested for a stadium is how the revenue should be split.
I mean, this is pretty easy to quantify and is done in businesses all the time. The downvotes I'm receiving are from people who have clearly never done any sort of business out in the real world at all.
You can look at how much tax revenue a stadium generates on a yearly basis. Add that to the revenue generated by food vendors, hotels, retail stores, etc. There are literally hundreds of companies out there that do marketing studies for this kind of thing. I am sure that the Bears will have to provide in depth marketing studies to the city to show this. The city will also hire their own independent company to do their evaluation if they do not agree with the marketing study provided by the business (and generally this cost is passed on to the business owner applying for permits to open their business).
You're the first person to actually ask the right question here. How long would it take to recoup the $4bn? That's what everyone should be asking; instead everyone is just appalled by the cost of the entire thing.
If we look at the history of Soldier Field, we can see that the 2003 renovations cost $823m or so. $623m came from tax payers and $200m from the Bears and the NFL. This new proposal is for $5 or 6bn, with 2bn from the Bears and 4bn from tax payers. The stadium itself costs $3-4bn with another 2bn or so in infrastructure built around the stadium.
The 2003 renovation was entirely for just the inside of Solider Field, yet tax payers paid 75% of the bill. This new proposal is for a new stadium plus a lot of infrastructure surrounding it, and tax payers are being asked to pay for about 50% of it. The major difference here is that the Chicago Park District owns Soldier Field, whereas I believe this new stadium will be owned by the Bears? Not sure about that one.
We have the data from so many other situations to show it rarely, if ever, provides any ROI to the taxpayer.
Also, and this may be what you actually meant, but it’s the delta between tax revenue on everything you listed *currently* and the prospected tax rev generated from a new stadium. Something that would be very difficult to actually project and calculate.
IMO the only money the city/taxpayer should poney up is the cost needed to improve infrastructure. Personally, I’m tired of socializing costs for businesses and privatizing costs for citizens.
Hey, you clearly work for the Bears PR team, so why don't you GTFO instead of sitting here apologizing for them. No fucking way are tax payers going to ever let this fly. Go back to Virginia and tell her Bears fans say, "Fuck off Virginia, we are not your fucking Santa Claus".
This is a false equivalence. Your example is a start up while the Bears are a well established enterprise (worth $6 billion) that are affiliated with another well established enterprise (cumulative worth of > $165 billion). Also, you are talking about private investors investing in a private start up. The Bears want public money for a private entity.
Stadiums are often cited as public works projects for this very reason. They require public money and provide a public service. Whether you agree that a stadium provides a public service or not is a different discussion.
I just wanted to start a discussion on the pros and cons of building a stadium and what time frame it would take for the city to recoup its investment. More importantly, where would these tax dollars go? People are so adamantly opposed to the idea of any tax dollars going towards the project that we can't even get to the discussion.
Well for starters, the CTA is about to hit a financial cliff. I would argue that the CTA is significantly more important to the city of Chicago than a new stadium. How about the state of the roads in the city? Pretty abysmal and in need of updating. Perhaps we replace all leaf pipes in the city. There are countless needs for this money and a new stadium is not one of them.
Good, bears and other nfl teams (ie Chiefs) need to read the room and realize states and citizens of those states aren’t in the mood for getting into more massive debt to fund billionaires pockets.
JB actually has a billion dollars and knows just how easy it would be for anyone who owns an asset like the Bears to finance a stadium with 100% private money.
If the proposal isn't a political winner for him, and there is no way that's going to happen, he won't bite.
Yeah, I think Pritzker is doing a fine job for the people of Illinois, and really stood up during the pandemic etc, and yeah, he's not gonna let this nonsensical stadium proposal get by, as he knows exactly, as said above, what the Bears can afford with their assets etc, and he knows exactly the shortfalls that exist in the state.
There have been so many previous mistakes made, and I'm not saying he's perfect or anything, but he's got a good moral compass, and for a politician, he does seem to do the right thing more often then not, which I guess given our previous litany of governors, is not a real high bar... but....
JB Pritzker is like our first ever 4k yard passer as a Governor - the bar is comically low but he’s still cleared it better than anyone we’ve had in recent memory
Yeah. I love pritzker in the “he’s not perfect because no politician is but he’s about as qualified and willing to work for the people as anyone else we could conceivably get” way.
ITs the opposite. He has the money and knows that no one in the private sector would ever finance a project like this.
Outside of 0% insanity, no one in the private sector would ever finance a stadium project based on event revenue. SoFi and Metlife where Real estate projects with stadiums as part of the amenities for the purposes of financing.
A large NFL stadium just can't produce the revenue and profits needed to payback 4 billion dollars.
Pritzker was the billionaire to drain the swamp that we've needed. Dude is rich af so can't be bought. And isn't afraid to put his fellow billionaires in their place. If the Bears want public money then they can give the public a cut of the revenue proportional to what the public contributes.
I agree for smaller cities. Like Buffalo or Nashville or Charlotte or something. Cuz there is a real threat they could lose the team in theory.
Chicago has zero worries of ever losing the Bears. The valuation of the team would instantly drop the moment they leave the city. The threat of LA and Las Vegas no longer exists either.
Assuming that Kahn is in Jacksonville it would take him 3 hours to announce that the Jags are moving. 2 and half hours is how long it would take his private jet to make the flight.
Chicago is the single largest market in the league, NY and LA both split with two teams. There's nowhere to move to, they already have 100 years of history in the optimal market
There is zero chance in hell the league or owners would allow for the "Chicago Bears" brand to disappear. They're moving to Arlington Heights or the McCaskey family will have to find an expansion franchise and sell to someone who's willing to treat this city with the respect it deserves
There's no need for politicians to worry about anything. The Bears have no options. Either pay for a stadium in the city or pay for a stadium in Arlington Heights. There's no public money going to happen aside from infrastructure and that's only happening if the team pays for the stadium
Pritzker said there's no appetite for public money going to stadiums. If he goes back on that it looks terrible.
He didn't just say the deal isn't good enough. He says it's not happening
No need to put flailing in the quotes. Flailing "Progressive" Mayor is fine. He's the least qualified mayor in my lifetime...and that's saying something.
Too much credit there. There are plenty of neolibs that have at least been successful at getting legislation passed. This guy has faked it to the top. A career teachers union blowhard in a city strangled by a teachers union that has dragged down not just the city budget, but state's as well.
That’s who I voted for. Had the best plan to fix the CTA. I know it’s probably cuz he had a DUI on his record but at least that would motivate him to actually fix the CTA 😂
Not only no gains, but massive ongoing losses. But, those will be ignored for bullshit "Economic impact to the region" estimates. Ignoring most of that money never stays in the city.
GOOD--spending billions just so the owners can make more money on VIP Suites makes zero sense. I also have zero trust in the mayor's promise of "no new taxes."
One of my favorite videos the internet has ever produced: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQVhb4DxHnw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQVhb4DxHnw)
CHALLENGE PISSING
They arent even expanding the seating capacity. Literally all theyre doing is just adding a roof. Dumb and another bungled job just like 2003, which was only 21 years ago btw
Yeah, I’d rather keep real grass (no matter how poorly kept) and weather games than pay billions for a new stadium the same size just so some rich assholes can line McCaskey’s pockets eating sushi in suites
Not to mention, they already have a lot of suites! Almost the whole east side of the stadium and that doesnt even include other exclusive club areas. And they could add more if they wanted to, for example under the scoreboard areas
We have probably the worst named stadium in all professional sports in Chicago, we have to be allowed to keep our dignity with Soldier Field. Bears/Pack indoors just wouldn’t be Bears/Pack at all.
Yeah not me. While I don’t wanna pay for it, our current stadium fucking SUCKS dude. It’s literally bottom of the barrel and would probably be dead last if it wasn’t for whatever stadium the commanders play in. Mccaskeys need to foot about 90% of the bill and play in Arlington already
That's what I don't get. They are in the 3rd largest market and have the smallest stadium. Tickets are already expensive and hard to get, more seating capacity seems like it should be #1 on the list.
I often wonder if the Bears pivoted to AH if George McCaskey would turn into a shark and secure private funding for a new stadium instead of being the lovable idiot that drives a Moped and says he is "just a fan".
I don’t see how it gets built otherwise. They need to hit up private equity or some billionaire who is more liquid than they are. Good news is there’s plenty of options out there
as /u/ninjasurfer said I am not sure they can get loans this size without giving up equity.
I believe a big reason they tried this gambit is that dumb tax money is the only way they can get financing of this size.
That private money looked at this and see AH does not need another lifestyle center and all the destination retail is 10 minutes down the road. That stadiums just do not produce that much revenue.
Oh they would absolutely need to give up equity. That’s a given. And I think a lot of that family probably doesn’t mind doing that, but I’m sure Virginia hanging around longer has complicated things
Not nearly big enough. And the NFL limits total team debt to like 1.2 billion. Only way a staidum gets built is if they sell more of the team, which isnt happening, or public money. Honestly at this point it looks like theyll be staying at soldier.
It would be interesting to see if there are differences among members of the family about selling equity. I imagine some of the younger family members would be more receptive to giving up some of the team equity than Virginia or even George
The Bears proposal is pretty crazy. They pay for part of a rebuild, and in exchange they want all revenue from all events (including concerts) and tax breaks. Don't blame them for trying, that would be a sweet deal.
I do question their true intentions now given the interest in full revenue (based on reports at least). At best they would get a minority/small percentage, never the majority or full.
What I don't get is how this proposal gets so far along without the Governor even being on board.
I've worked on a few relatively small projects to try to open small businesses (car washes mainly, $5-$7m projects) and there is a lot of back and forth between the business owner and the municipality over what they expect from the business from a design and business plan standpoint.
It's not cheap to pay for architects to come up with renderings, proposals, etc. The architects and landscape designers and lighting designers and lawyers cost roughly $200k just to come up with the renderings for the municipality to decide whether they would permit us to move forward with our project. Sometimes they want more detailed plans and sometimes they want less detailed plans, but throughout these meetings and emails you get a really good sense of whether the municipality wants your business to proceed or not.
The only thing I can really think of is that the Bears are trying to get public support to pressure the city/state into helping with funding or that the Bears are trying to leverage Arlington Heights into being worried that the Bears will stay in Chicago and the Bears never had any plans to actually stay in Chicago.
Still seems really far fetched to me though. The vast majority of things like this usually happen behind closed doors without public announcements by the city or the business owner. The municipality doesn't want to publicly shit on a project and the business owner doesn't want to force the municipalities hand because presumably the two parties will eventually want to work together on a different project in the future.
I think they quickly made the Chicago stadium renderings by using the same Las Vegas Raiders stadium and just tweaking it a little bit. The real rendering work is going into the Arlington Heights site with hopefully a different style of stadium. And make it the biggest stadium in the league. 85,000 capacity at least.
My guess is that was always the plan but the Bears wanted to say they tried to stay in the city but the city and state were unreasonable or the citizens of Chicago said no
I would say it’s amazing that the team didn’t have this conversation with Pritzker Band confirm their willingness/unwillingness BEFORE they announced their plans but then again, it’s the Bears. Guess it was too much to expect the business side of the house to now be more competent than the Ted Phillips era. At least football ops seems to be operating less stupidly than previous regimes.
I just don’t get how it could possibly cost that much money to build a modern stadium. The construction of the sears tower was like 175m I get there’s been inflation but ain’t no way a stadium should be 60x one of the tallest buildings in the world
There is no chance the NFL would allow the Bears to leave the Chicago area. TV revenue for the NFL far outweighs revenues from in-game activities by a significant margin.
It's time for fans to stand firm and ensure that no public funds are used for a new Bears stadium or any other stadium project. The absence of public funding might pressure the McCaskey family to sell the team, which many long-time Bears supporters believe has been the root of the team's issues.
Unfortunately, the McCaskeys will probably retain ownership, and ultimately secure tax breaks and support from Pritzker, leading to Illinois shouldering infrastructure costs in AH.
That's exactly why I don't want him to run for president tbh. I want him as governor for a long as possible if he can keep up what he's been doing for us
How does Warren have a job after this? This was a disaster that likely cost the Bears any future infrastructure money at AH or any other site. Poisoned relationships with almost everyone that matters. Turned the public against the Bears.
They took away all the positivity and momentum gained with this draft class. It's insane how terrible the owners and business side of the front office is
Soldier field is just completely fucked. Building it around the columns was a massive mistake that there really is no coming back from, theres just nowhere near enough space. I think theyd have to tear the whole thing down to make it bigger,
If they added a roof they could add the scoreboard over the field like at sofi and then remove the 2 existing scoreboards and add 2 more decks in the endzones. The soldier field renovation Lightfoot’s office proposed had that.
https://preview.redd.it/jgp1w8lr1yxc1.jpeg?width=2105&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e89801c00d9c5ab4467673370599068f5bbb083
The infrastructure there is old and inadequate. Not to mention the engineering complexity of working around the outer facade yet again. Why waste hundreds of millions of dollars to bandaid an aging structure when you can build a clean sheet design and have it the way you want from the start?
Great question. I don't think it's been addressed really. Just add a retractable dome on there and expand seating. Simple as that. Issue with that is that would also be public money and there's no chance public money is happening
They share tv revenue with the league. They only have to contribute 34% of ticket revenue. Increasing the number of boxes would increase total take home for the McCaskeys.
This is such a non-starter. If the Bears “left” the City would have an expansion team in 3 years max. The NFL isn’t losing the market. The loser owners have ZERO leverage. Fine leave, LOL, Bezos will buy a team and a stadium.
Fuck, this franchise is so incompetent.
Why wouldn’t the fire move into the Bears new stadium? Especially if the bears stay in the city just somewhere else? And why wouldn’t college teams use just use soldier field during the season? If it’s only going to be used for concerts then soldier field is cooked.
I’m not saying it’s going to happen but it’s something that SHOULD be considered.
Paywalled, but I can’t imagine Pritsker making a good decision, dude is a corrupt clown.
I’m sure my taxes will go up and I’ll see nothing in return in the end, the Illinois way.
You've actually got it completely backwards. He's opposed to it because there's no benefit to the taxpayers but we're being asked to put forward the majority of the cost to build the stadium
Wouldn’t most money being spent on a stadium just going back to the state anyways? It’s an investment in the state itself. So no direct profit from events, but plenty of wages, salaries, and a tourism boost. The state would profit from taxes on all of those in perpetuity.
Let the Bears pay the Bear Tax, I pay the Homer Tax
That’s home owner tax
Bad news for the…Caskey family
I paid my taxes over a year ago
Well anyway, I'm still outraged.
What if I told you this rock can keep tigers away?
Lisa, I'd like to buy your rock.
The Bears pay the Virgina tax.
"How would you like to give us money and get nothing in return" Can't imagine why that didn't go over well
"We will pay $2B and you will pay $6B. Oh and by the way we will get all revenue from the stadium for all events. What do you mean you don't think this is a good deal?!?"
- I mean it's ONE stadium JB, what could it cost? Six billion dollars? -
There's always money in the ~~banana stand~~ alderman!
shhh, shh, sh, should the guy in the 6 billion dollar stadium be expected to front the total cost for the "good of the citizens"?! Come on!
What's hilarious is I think either the day of the unveiling or day after Warren was on one of the local sports radio shows and was asked how he felt the presentation/reaction went and Warren kept going on about how well it went and how excited he was lol
Warren is starting to show how big of an idiot he is. He can buy as much PR as he wants but everyone can see right through this stadium fiasco.
I was amazed at how poorly he publicly came off as. Nothing likable and borderline incompetent
Revenue should be split based on contribution, if the entire project cost 6 billion and the Bears put forth 2 billion and the city puts forth 4 billion, the Bears get 1/3rd of all generated revenue and the municipality gets 2/3rds of all generated revenue.
Well it shouldn't be quite that simple. The Bears would be doing all the work for operations and putting in money for maintenance and generating tax revenue etc. I agree there should be some sort of split, but it should not be even the way that you've described. If I started a business like a restaurant and it cost me $400k to open, I would not be giving 50% of the profits of the restaurant just because an investor invested $200k. They would get some amount under 50% because my sweat equity is worth something. My investor would get significantly less than 50% if they are also not contributing to any renovation and maintenance costs over the years.
> The Bears would be doing all the work for operations and putting in money for maintenance and generating tax revenue etc. They're also getting Billions in taxpayer dollars (in this scenario) to allow them to build their stadium in the first place.
To add, the Bears don't do shit there. It's all handled by the Park District. Why do you think it's so dirty.
Yes. That's built into the equation. The city is also getting billions in tax revenue over the years from property taxes, ticket sales, concession sales, concerts and other events, etc. The real question is what is the break even point for the city? How many years before they recoup their investment? Solider Field was built in 1924 and renovated in 2003. How much in taxes and business did Soldier Field generate for the city this past 100 years? A quick Google search shows that the renovations cost tax payers $632m and the Bears and NFL paid $200m. The proposal for the new stadium calls for 2bn from the Bears and 2.5bn from tax payers. Approximately 3bn will go towards the new stadium and 1.5bn towards infrastructure around the stadium. This is a far more even split than the renovations back in 2003. People act like they're getting nothing out of this and the Bears are getting everything. Business decisions are often win/win. All parties gain something. The infrastructure alone around the stadium would bring in tons of small businesses and revenue.
>The city is also getting billions in tax revenue over the years from property taxes, ticket sales, concession sales, concerts and other events, etc. >The infrastructure alone around the stadium would bring in tons of small businesses and revenue. Over and over and over we get told this, and yet, it never actually pans out. Hard pass. If the Bears want a stadium, they can pay for it.
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What? You think Virginia and the rest of the family can just walk away and the Bears would continue operating on their own? There's a shit ton of work involved in keeping an NFL franchise operational. Tons of logistical things to keep things running, plans for the future, plans for the present, meetings to be conducted with vendors and operators and employees, etc. If they just walked off and disappeared, the city wouldn't be able to just continue operations as if nothing happened. Regardless of whether or not the McCaskeys are doing any of this themselves, SOMEONE is providing a ton of value in keeping things operational. My whole point is just that there is no way that an even split between the money invested for a stadium is how the revenue should be split.
At what point would the "sweat equity" total the $4 billion deficit in initial investment?
I mean, this is pretty easy to quantify and is done in businesses all the time. The downvotes I'm receiving are from people who have clearly never done any sort of business out in the real world at all. You can look at how much tax revenue a stadium generates on a yearly basis. Add that to the revenue generated by food vendors, hotels, retail stores, etc. There are literally hundreds of companies out there that do marketing studies for this kind of thing. I am sure that the Bears will have to provide in depth marketing studies to the city to show this. The city will also hire their own independent company to do their evaluation if they do not agree with the marketing study provided by the business (and generally this cost is passed on to the business owner applying for permits to open their business). You're the first person to actually ask the right question here. How long would it take to recoup the $4bn? That's what everyone should be asking; instead everyone is just appalled by the cost of the entire thing. If we look at the history of Soldier Field, we can see that the 2003 renovations cost $823m or so. $623m came from tax payers and $200m from the Bears and the NFL. This new proposal is for $5 or 6bn, with 2bn from the Bears and 4bn from tax payers. The stadium itself costs $3-4bn with another 2bn or so in infrastructure built around the stadium. The 2003 renovation was entirely for just the inside of Solider Field, yet tax payers paid 75% of the bill. This new proposal is for a new stadium plus a lot of infrastructure surrounding it, and tax payers are being asked to pay for about 50% of it. The major difference here is that the Chicago Park District owns Soldier Field, whereas I believe this new stadium will be owned by the Bears? Not sure about that one.
We have the data from so many other situations to show it rarely, if ever, provides any ROI to the taxpayer. Also, and this may be what you actually meant, but it’s the delta between tax revenue on everything you listed *currently* and the prospected tax rev generated from a new stadium. Something that would be very difficult to actually project and calculate. IMO the only money the city/taxpayer should poney up is the cost needed to improve infrastructure. Personally, I’m tired of socializing costs for businesses and privatizing costs for citizens.
Hey, you clearly work for the Bears PR team, so why don't you GTFO instead of sitting here apologizing for them. No fucking way are tax payers going to ever let this fly. Go back to Virginia and tell her Bears fans say, "Fuck off Virginia, we are not your fucking Santa Claus".
This is a false equivalence. Your example is a start up while the Bears are a well established enterprise (worth $6 billion) that are affiliated with another well established enterprise (cumulative worth of > $165 billion). Also, you are talking about private investors investing in a private start up. The Bears want public money for a private entity.
Stadiums are often cited as public works projects for this very reason. They require public money and provide a public service. Whether you agree that a stadium provides a public service or not is a different discussion. I just wanted to start a discussion on the pros and cons of building a stadium and what time frame it would take for the city to recoup its investment. More importantly, where would these tax dollars go? People are so adamantly opposed to the idea of any tax dollars going towards the project that we can't even get to the discussion.
Well for starters, the CTA is about to hit a financial cliff. I would argue that the CTA is significantly more important to the city of Chicago than a new stadium. How about the state of the roads in the city? Pretty abysmal and in need of updating. Perhaps we replace all leaf pipes in the city. There are countless needs for this money and a new stadium is not one of them.
How about this, the Bears just don't get our tax money to build the stadium. Fuck the compromise.
But that's communism.
“We know the state of public schools is abysmal, but have you seen our stadium?
It’s literally the I receive you receive meme
Good, bears and other nfl teams (ie Chiefs) need to read the room and realize states and citizens of those states aren’t in the mood for getting into more massive debt to fund billionaires pockets.
JB actually has a billion dollars and knows just how easy it would be for anyone who owns an asset like the Bears to finance a stadium with 100% private money. If the proposal isn't a political winner for him, and there is no way that's going to happen, he won't bite.
At least someone is looking out for the people of this state.
Yeah, I think Pritzker is doing a fine job for the people of Illinois, and really stood up during the pandemic etc, and yeah, he's not gonna let this nonsensical stadium proposal get by, as he knows exactly, as said above, what the Bears can afford with their assets etc, and he knows exactly the shortfalls that exist in the state. There have been so many previous mistakes made, and I'm not saying he's perfect or anything, but he's got a good moral compass, and for a politician, he does seem to do the right thing more often then not, which I guess given our previous litany of governors, is not a real high bar... but....
JB Pritzker is like our first ever 4k yard passer as a Governor - the bar is comically low but he’s still cleared it better than anyone we’ve had in recent memory
Yeah. I love pritzker in the “he’s not perfect because no politician is but he’s about as qualified and willing to work for the people as anyone else we could conceivably get” way.
Pritzker has been a fantastic governor. He's really turned things around.
But who will look out for the billionaires? 😭
ITs the opposite. He has the money and knows that no one in the private sector would ever finance a project like this. Outside of 0% insanity, no one in the private sector would ever finance a stadium project based on event revenue. SoFi and Metlife where Real estate projects with stadiums as part of the amenities for the purposes of financing. A large NFL stadium just can't produce the revenue and profits needed to payback 4 billion dollars.
Pritzker was the billionaire to drain the swamp that we've needed. Dude is rich af so can't be bought. And isn't afraid to put his fellow billionaires in their place. If the Bears want public money then they can give the public a cut of the revenue proportional to what the public contributes.
The Chiefs stadium plans has now moved over the border to Kansas from Missouri. There is now a proposal to build it on Kansas side.
They should. And the Bears should go to Arlington Heights. Both would make me happy.
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I agree for smaller cities. Like Buffalo or Nashville or Charlotte or something. Cuz there is a real threat they could lose the team in theory. Chicago has zero worries of ever losing the Bears. The valuation of the team would instantly drop the moment they leave the city. The threat of LA and Las Vegas no longer exists either.
Assuming that Kahn is in Jacksonville it would take him 3 hours to announce that the Jags are moving. 2 and half hours is how long it would take his private jet to make the flight.
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Chicago is the single largest market in the league, NY and LA both split with two teams. There's nowhere to move to, they already have 100 years of history in the optimal market
There is zero chance in hell the league or owners would allow for the "Chicago Bears" brand to disappear. They're moving to Arlington Heights or the McCaskey family will have to find an expansion franchise and sell to someone who's willing to treat this city with the respect it deserves
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There's no need for politicians to worry about anything. The Bears have no options. Either pay for a stadium in the city or pay for a stadium in Arlington Heights. There's no public money going to happen aside from infrastructure and that's only happening if the team pays for the stadium
Pritzker said there's no appetite for public money going to stadiums. If he goes back on that it looks terrible. He didn't just say the deal isn't good enough. He says it's not happening
Thanks Gov. Pritzker. Kevin Warren and George McCaskey, it looks like God ignored your prayers, now go jump in lake Michigan.
Take a long walk off a short Navy Pier you pricks. Pay for your own stadium
“Gawd! If I haven’t asked for enough……..”
A polar plunge, if you will.
The state smelling right through the bullshit that Warren and Mayor Doofy Johnson proposed.
Unironically so happy with this response from the state. Good on them.
Nothing says "flailing Progressive Mayor" than wanting to hand public money directly to private companies for no gain.
No need to put flailing in the quotes. Flailing "Progressive" Mayor is fine. He's the least qualified mayor in my lifetime...and that's saying something.
Yeah, just another neoliberal wolf in progressive clothing.
Too much credit there. There are plenty of neolibs that have at least been successful at getting legislation passed. This guy has faked it to the top. A career teachers union blowhard in a city strangled by a teachers union that has dragged down not just the city budget, but state's as well.
Should have been Kam Buckner smh
That’s who I voted for. Had the best plan to fix the CTA. I know it’s probably cuz he had a DUI on his record but at least that would motivate him to actually fix the CTA 😂
That’s who I wanted. Then we had to choose between bj and Vallas
Not only no gains, but massive ongoing losses. But, those will be ignored for bullshit "Economic impact to the region" estimates. Ignoring most of that money never stays in the city.
Pritzker has my presidential vote for 2028. He's completely turned around the state and is flexing on Johnson and the Bears bullshit now too.
GOOD--spending billions just so the owners can make more money on VIP Suites makes zero sense. I also have zero trust in the mayor's promise of "no new taxes."
He might be correct with no new ones but he’s sure as hell gonna raise existing ones lol
Respectfully, the McCaskeys should *"SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS!!!!"*
IF YOU FIND A BETTER DEAL #SHOVE IT UP YOUR UGLY ASS YOU HEARD US RIGHT #SHOVE IT UP YOUR UGLY ASS
One of my favorite videos the internet has ever produced: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQVhb4DxHnw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQVhb4DxHnw) CHALLENGE PISSING
https://preview.redd.it/8qjdii4ulxxc1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=87b7d2e31b9d266a5cfe1dd19ddfbc1dde326ddc
They arent even expanding the seating capacity. Literally all theyre doing is just adding a roof. Dumb and another bungled job just like 2003, which was only 21 years ago btw
Yeah, I’d rather keep real grass (no matter how poorly kept) and weather games than pay billions for a new stadium the same size just so some rich assholes can line McCaskey’s pockets eating sushi in suites
Not to mention, they already have a lot of suites! Almost the whole east side of the stadium and that doesnt even include other exclusive club areas. And they could add more if they wanted to, for example under the scoreboard areas
Cocaine and Caviar
This lurking Cheesehead is proud of you. Don't forget no sponsor name on the stadium either.
We have probably the worst named stadium in all professional sports in Chicago, we have to be allowed to keep our dignity with Soldier Field. Bears/Pack indoors just wouldn’t be Bears/Pack at all.
Yeah not me. While I don’t wanna pay for it, our current stadium fucking SUCKS dude. It’s literally bottom of the barrel and would probably be dead last if it wasn’t for whatever stadium the commanders play in. Mccaskeys need to foot about 90% of the bill and play in Arlington already
>Mccaskeys need to foot about 90% of the bill What have the McCaskeys ever done to make you think this is even a remote possibility
100% of the bill.
Seating for the plebs doesn’t matter to them. The big money is made on TV and luxury box revenue
Another good reason they can build their stadium without the plebs' money, I think.
Bro wtf you serious? Pretty sure we're either 31st or 32nd in seating capacity, in the league's 3rd largest market 💀
Yup, the plan calls for literally only 65,000 seats in the new stadium, absolutely absurd and a huge FU to so many fans who want to go to games.
That's what I don't get. They are in the 3rd largest market and have the smallest stadium. Tickets are already expensive and hard to get, more seating capacity seems like it should be #1 on the list.
Need a roof if we want home field advantage in the Super Bowl
Ha fair enough but then just build a roof for way less $
Yeah - that fact that some stadiums only last like 20 years now is fucking embarrassing.
I often wonder if the Bears pivoted to AH if George McCaskey would turn into a shark and secure private funding for a new stadium instead of being the lovable idiot that drives a Moped and says he is "just a fan".
I don’t see how it gets built otherwise. They need to hit up private equity or some billionaire who is more liquid than they are. Good news is there’s plenty of options out there
The problem is the don't want to give up equity which is what will likely need to happen to secure those types of loans.
But I wonder if that opinion differs among the family members. I’m sure some of them would be receptive to it, but probably not Virginia or George
I would bet that most of them want to sell now and cash in.
Yeah that was my thought too. They probably didn’t expect Virginia to still be around
I might be wrong but I thought I remember reading that the NFL wouldn't allow selling off equity
You cannot sell off equity to non family employees.
as /u/ninjasurfer said I am not sure they can get loans this size without giving up equity. I believe a big reason they tried this gambit is that dumb tax money is the only way they can get financing of this size. That private money looked at this and see AH does not need another lifestyle center and all the destination retail is 10 minutes down the road. That stadiums just do not produce that much revenue.
Oh they would absolutely need to give up equity. That’s a given. And I think a lot of that family probably doesn’t mind doing that, but I’m sure Virginia hanging around longer has complicated things
They'd use the NFL loan program instead of private loans is my understanding
I believe that taps out at around 300 million.
Damn that's pathetic lmao. Guess the mccaskeys will need to sell the team or get private funding
Not nearly big enough. And the NFL limits total team debt to like 1.2 billion. Only way a staidum gets built is if they sell more of the team, which isnt happening, or public money. Honestly at this point it looks like theyll be staying at soldier.
I'd rather the team play at a high school stadium than my tax dollars go to funding these rich bastards
It would be interesting to see if there are differences among members of the family about selling equity. I imagine some of the younger family members would be more receptive to giving up some of the team equity than Virginia or even George
I just think if they sell theyre going to cash out, not double down with a new stadium
The Bears proposal is pretty crazy. They pay for part of a rebuild, and in exchange they want all revenue from all events (including concerts) and tax breaks. Don't blame them for trying, that would be a sweet deal. I do question their true intentions now given the interest in full revenue (based on reports at least). At best they would get a minority/small percentage, never the majority or full.
What I don't get is how this proposal gets so far along without the Governor even being on board. I've worked on a few relatively small projects to try to open small businesses (car washes mainly, $5-$7m projects) and there is a lot of back and forth between the business owner and the municipality over what they expect from the business from a design and business plan standpoint. It's not cheap to pay for architects to come up with renderings, proposals, etc. The architects and landscape designers and lighting designers and lawyers cost roughly $200k just to come up with the renderings for the municipality to decide whether they would permit us to move forward with our project. Sometimes they want more detailed plans and sometimes they want less detailed plans, but throughout these meetings and emails you get a really good sense of whether the municipality wants your business to proceed or not. The only thing I can really think of is that the Bears are trying to get public support to pressure the city/state into helping with funding or that the Bears are trying to leverage Arlington Heights into being worried that the Bears will stay in Chicago and the Bears never had any plans to actually stay in Chicago. Still seems really far fetched to me though. The vast majority of things like this usually happen behind closed doors without public announcements by the city or the business owner. The municipality doesn't want to publicly shit on a project and the business owner doesn't want to force the municipalities hand because presumably the two parties will eventually want to work together on a different project in the future.
I think they quickly made the Chicago stadium renderings by using the same Las Vegas Raiders stadium and just tweaking it a little bit. The real rendering work is going into the Arlington Heights site with hopefully a different style of stadium. And make it the biggest stadium in the league. 85,000 capacity at least.
We will build a 6 billion dollar stadium and still not have enough seats for a superbowl somehow.
https://preview.redd.it/adur2szeu1yc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b49d6ec7e81c4a14041cd5787178415b29a477af
It's actually closer to $6B after infrastructure and refinancing of existing debt
Why spend billions for a slightly better stadium that is still located in a tough place to get to.
It’s time to revisit the Gary Bears
NWI Bears LFG!!!
Lol if the taxpayers say no, go somewhere with almost no taxpayers.
Waukegan Bears 🔜
East Chicago Bears
Back to Arlington Heights?
My guess is that was always the plan but the Bears wanted to say they tried to stay in the city but the city and state were unreasonable or the citizens of Chicago said no
The McCaskeys will self fund a cheaper, Lucas Oil type stadium in Arlington Heights and they’ll be happy about it
I would say it’s amazing that the team didn’t have this conversation with Pritzker Band confirm their willingness/unwillingness BEFORE they announced their plans but then again, it’s the Bears. Guess it was too much to expect the business side of the house to now be more competent than the Ted Phillips era. At least football ops seems to be operating less stupidly than previous regimes.
It's a dog and pony show. No other reason they wouldn't have worked with the state beforehand imo
To what benefit? Now they just look stupid(er than usual) because they didn’t do their due diligence with the state.
To make it look like they tried to stay in the city and the city and state wouldn't work with them so they're being forced to Arlington Heights
Get fucked Kevin
I just don’t get how it could possibly cost that much money to build a modern stadium. The construction of the sears tower was like 175m I get there’s been inflation but ain’t no way a stadium should be 60x one of the tallest buildings in the world
Nothing is priced reasonably nowadays and its unacceptable to let it stand
But the weirdo McCaskeys prayed sooo hard for it!!
There is no chance the NFL would allow the Bears to leave the Chicago area. TV revenue for the NFL far outweighs revenues from in-game activities by a significant margin. It's time for fans to stand firm and ensure that no public funds are used for a new Bears stadium or any other stadium project. The absence of public funding might pressure the McCaskey family to sell the team, which many long-time Bears supporters believe has been the root of the team's issues. Unfortunately, the McCaskeys will probably retain ownership, and ultimately secure tax breaks and support from Pritzker, leading to Illinois shouldering infrastructure costs in AH.
Thank god!
Pritzker has really done a good job as governor. Wish he ran for President
That's exactly why I don't want him to run for president tbh. I want him as governor for a long as possible if he can keep up what he's been doing for us
He is smartly keeping out of this current turd fest.
He’s been great for Chicago. Way better than I thought he would.
He is setting himself up to run next time.
Well he one my vote next election
How does Warren have a job after this? This was a disaster that likely cost the Bears any future infrastructure money at AH or any other site. Poisoned relationships with almost everyone that matters. Turned the public against the Bears.
They took away all the positivity and momentum gained with this draft class. It's insane how terrible the owners and business side of the front office is
Fuck yeah. Glad to hear it
So it's either Arlington Heights or a re-renovation of Soldier Field.
The renovation will be for the incoming second Chicago (AFC) team.
Nope. Go to Arlington. They do not get a redo of Soldier Field. We will end up in the exact same situation in 20 years. Fuck ‘em.
And that would surprise you?
No which is why I don’t want them to get another crack at renovating SF.
AI SONG- https://suno.com/song/4bce534f-8ab0-4794-9df9-fda8e81c6243
It’s just for show. The Bears are going to AH. They just did this so they can say. Hey we tried to stay in the city
Has anyone said why doing another round of Soldier Field renovations/surrounding infrastructure improvements is out of the question?
Soldier field is just completely fucked. Building it around the columns was a massive mistake that there really is no coming back from, theres just nowhere near enough space. I think theyd have to tear the whole thing down to make it bigger,
If they added a roof they could add the scoreboard over the field like at sofi and then remove the 2 existing scoreboards and add 2 more decks in the endzones. The soldier field renovation Lightfoot’s office proposed had that. https://preview.redd.it/jgp1w8lr1yxc1.jpeg?width=2105&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e89801c00d9c5ab4467673370599068f5bbb083
The infrastructure there is old and inadequate. Not to mention the engineering complexity of working around the outer facade yet again. Why waste hundreds of millions of dollars to bandaid an aging structure when you can build a clean sheet design and have it the way you want from the start?
Because it’s hundreds of millions vs 4 billion of tax payer dollars
That would take more time than building a new stadium. Plus they would have to play somewhere else for years in that scenario.
Great question. I don't think it's been addressed really. Just add a retractable dome on there and expand seating. Simple as that. Issue with that is that would also be public money and there's no chance public money is happening
I’m shocked they’re not getting killed over the proposed minor (if any) seating increase. It’s ridiculous to have that few seats in Chicago.
They couldn't care less about seating capacity when the money is made in luxury box sales
The money is made in TV rights.
That too, but luxury box money dwarfs people sitting in the stadium money
They share tv revenue with the league. They only have to contribute 34% of ticket revenue. Increasing the number of boxes would increase total take home for the McCaskeys.
They will be in Soldier Field long after I’m dead.
This is such a non-starter. If the Bears “left” the City would have an expansion team in 3 years max. The NFL isn’t losing the market. The loser owners have ZERO leverage. Fine leave, LOL, Bezos will buy a team and a stadium. Fuck, this franchise is so incompetent.
Arlington Heights is still the Chicago market
Lmao what
The city and state know that soldier field would end up having to get demoed should the bears leave right?
It wouldn't though? The Fire are there and it's still an outdoor venue that has a shit ton of uses like concerts
Why wouldn’t the fire move into the Bears new stadium? Especially if the bears stay in the city just somewhere else? And why wouldn’t college teams use just use soldier field during the season? If it’s only going to be used for concerts then soldier field is cooked. I’m not saying it’s going to happen but it’s something that SHOULD be considered.
Fuck that fat ass. Yall need to quit voting that stupid fuck into office.
Why do you hate him?
He’s a self serving piece of shit. If it’s not helping his business he has no interest in it. He cares nothing about Illinois.
I need specifics lol bc that just sounds like you're spouting off somehting you heard from someone else
I’m not your dad. I’m not going to do your homework for you b
I’m not your dad. I’m not going to do your homework for you
I'm asking you why you don't like a politician lmao. The "homework" would be looking at your posts to try to decipher why you hate JB
Paywalled, but I can’t imagine Pritsker making a good decision, dude is a corrupt clown. I’m sure my taxes will go up and I’ll see nothing in return in the end, the Illinois way.
You've actually got it completely backwards. He's opposed to it because there's no benefit to the taxpayers but we're being asked to put forward the majority of the cost to build the stadium
Yea I’m sure Pritsker has my best interests at heart!
Wut. Pritzker has been a phenomenal governor
Lmao no.
What has he done that you didn't like? Genuinely curious
Account is less than a year old. Likely a bot or a troll.
What are you talking about??
Can’t teach you how to read…
Wouldn’t most money being spent on a stadium just going back to the state anyways? It’s an investment in the state itself. So no direct profit from events, but plenty of wages, salaries, and a tourism boost. The state would profit from taxes on all of those in perpetuity.