BEARS CONTINUE TO POLITIC AS PLAN GOES TO LEGISLATURE

          The Bears have "offered to revise" the Solider Field
     renovation legislation so the state of IL will be
     "reimbursed" if city hotel tax revenue "falls short" of
     projections, according to McKinney & Spielman of the CHICAGO
     SUN-TIMES.  The Bears' "basic financing formula" has the
     state making annual payments of $21-102.3M over the next 30
     years to the IL Sports Facilities Authority to cover the
     stadium debt, with the state's "upfront payments" to be
     reimbursed monthly from Chicago's 2% hotel tax, which
     financed Comiskey Park.  Despite "assurances" from the team
     and Mayor Richard Daley that hotel tax revenues will grow by
     5% annually over the next 30 years, IL lawmakers "pondered
     the state's possible financial exposure" if hotel taxes
     failed to equal the annual debt payments.  The Bears are now
     "proposing using surplus hotel taxes in succeeding years to
     pay off any earlier shortfalls."  To the state's legislative
     "skeptics" the proposal is "incremental progress" but does
     not "calm fears that too little time exists in the General
     Assembly's fall veto session to adequately consider such a
     sprawling and complex financial equation."  Another
     "lingering concern" for lawmakers is how much money the
     Bears will gain from the deal, which they have not
     disclosed.  Meanwhile, the Bears selected Kenny Construction
     as its construction management team (CHI. SUN-TIMES, 11/19). 
          ACTION: IL Gov. George Ryan has "urged" the General
     Assembly to "move quickly" on authorizing the $387M in
     "state-backed" bonds for the renovation project.  Ryan: "I
     don't know why they need six or eight months to study this
     thing."  Ryan on the $100M loan the NFL has promised the
     Bears, "[The NFL] certainly [has] a lot of places they could
     spend that money.  It's available now.  It may not be
     available in January or February" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 11/18). 
     Under the header, "Stadium Plan Faces Some Hefty Barriers,"
     a CHICAGO SUN-TIMES editorial declares that a renovated
     stadium is "within grasp" if the plan "doesn't collapse from
     the weight of every special interest in Illinois piling on."
     Calling the plan a "fair one," the editorial states that
     while it is "disingenuous to sell the plan as one that is
     pain-free for taxpayers, the truth is, mostly taxpaying
     visitors end up with the tab" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 11/20).