REACTION NEGATIVE TO BEARS' DESIRES FOR NEW 'BURB HOME

     The latest issue of CRAIN'S CHICAGO BUSINESS examines Bears
Owner Michael McCaskey's desire for $185M in state funding for a
new $285M home for the team in suburban Chicago.  Jeff Borden
reports that the team "could build the stadium with much less
public money -- and possibly none."  Borden writes that
McCaskey's price tag for the new park is too high -- experts say
$200M "would be plenty" to pay for a new stadium -- and that
through methods such as advance payment on skyboxes and sale of a
new stadium's naming rights, McCaskey "could pull in almost $160
million before the doors open."  Also, the value of the franchise
"is expected to jump" $40M-200M once a stadium opens, "which
would make it easier to obtain bank financing, if necessary"
(CRAIN'S CHICAGO BUSINESS, 4/17 issue).  An editorial in CRAIN'S
calls McCaskey's plan "unrealistic, out of step with modern
sports economics and an affront to the ... Illinois General
Assembly" (CRAIN'S CHICAGO BUSINESS, 4/17 issue).