REINSDORF AND WIRTZ OFFER PLAN TO BUILD NEW BEARS' HOME

          Chicago Mayor Richard Daley Tuesday "welcomed a
     surprise suggestion" by Bulls/White Sox Chair Jerry
     Reinsdorf and Blackhawks Owner William Wirtz to build a
     privately funded stadium for the Bears near McCormick Place,
     according to Fran Spielman of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.  On
     Monday, they presented a plan to IL Gov. Jim Edgar's legal
     counsel for a $250M open-air stadium, "with an unspecified
     contribution from the Bears and government funding for
     infrastructure."  Sources said that Reinsdorf and Wirtz "are
     motivated by their desire to head off construction of a
     publicly financed domed stadium that would vie with the
     United Center for events."  A source close to the team
     owners said that they have hired Kansas City-based HNTB
     Corp. to design the facility.  Spielman notes a Reinsdorf-
     Wirtz plan would offer Bears Owner Michael McCaskey "the
     open-air stadium he has always favored.  For Wirtz and
     Reinsdorf, of course, their proposal offers exclusivity [for
     indoor events] for the United Center" (SUN-TIMES, 5/14).