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REINSDORF-WIRTZ STADIUM PROPOSAL LONG WAY FROM DONE DEAL

          In Chicago, the financing plan for a new outdoor
     stadium for the Bears offered by United Center partners
     Jerry Reinsdorf and William Wirtz was examined by both the
     TRIBUNE and SUN-TIMES.  The TRIBUNE's John Kass: "Absent
     hard evidence, this newest proposal still looks just as
     shaky as all the others."  On Friday, IL Gov. Jim Edgar
     "threw more cold water on the plan," saying that the state
     would not provide free land for the stadium, as Reinsdorf-
     Wirtz had proposed.  Kass noted that privately funded
     football facilities "have been rare ... largely because they
     are so expensive to build and because they cannot
     accommodate enough non-football events to make money."  But
     United Center sources say Reinsdorf and Wirtz "genuinely are
     convinced they could build an outdoor stadium and still give
     the Bears the same revenues Edgar would offer from a domed
     facility" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 5/18).  In the SUN-TIMES, Fran
     Spielman noted that the latest plan has "landed on a pile of
     stadium proposals that's been gathering dust for nearly 30
     years."  Marc Ganis, President of Chicago-based Sportscorp
     Ltd.: "Part of the reason [none of the proposals have been
     accepted] is that there has been a contentious relationship
     between the ownership of the Bears and the political
     leadership for quite some time" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/18).

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