In a private breakfast meeting with Soldier Field skybox
owners, Bears President Michael McCaskey "ripped" Chicago Mayor
Richard Daley's $156M proposal to renovate Soldier Field,
according to the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. McCaskey said the deal "pales
in comparison" with Gary's $482M Planet Park proposal, but added
that questions about taxpayer resistance and environmental
regulations could delay the Gary idea, making it less attractive.
John Kass writes these questions also "undercut" McCaskey's
leverage with City Hall. Daley responded to McCaskey' by saying
he should make his complaints public. Daley noted a Monday
meeting between mayoral aides and Bears negotiators yielded no
such complaints (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 11/22). In the CHICAGO SUN-
TIMES, Fran Spielman reports McCaskey told the box owners he does
not think it is possible to carry out some of the proposed
renovations, including lowering the playing surface 21 feet.
However, Adrian Smith of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, the architect
behind Daley's plan, said the project is doable. Smith on
McCaskey: "He is simply not talking from a basis of fact."
After the meeting, McCaskey "ducked" the media, but Bears
VP/Operations Ted Philips said the skybox holders agreed that
Soldier Field is too old and does not work. Spielman notes that
sources from inside the meeting say participants were not
"canvassed" and that criticism of Soldier Field came from
McCaskey, not from skybox owners (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 11/22).
