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).
