Decision On Legality Of Soldier Field Financing Occurs Today

Two civic groups — Friends of the Parks and the Landmarks Preservation Council of IL — "will present their final legal attack" on the $632M plan to renovate Soldier Field, and "it's an attack that could easily succeed, throwing the project and the Bears into chaos," according to CNNSI.com's Lester Munson, who wrote the issue "is whether the huge taxpayer investment [more than $400M] in Soldier Field has any `public purpose.'" Cook County Circuit Court Judge John Madden will decide today "if the new stadium offers any benefit to the community or only provides private profit for" the McCaskey family, the team's owner. The civic groups "contend that only the McCaskeys will enjoy dividends from the public investment in the stadium. According to studies the groups commissioned, the McCaskeys' annual profits will triple when the stadium is completed while the value of their franchise will double to $800[M]." The IL Supreme Court cited the "public purpose" term in ruling against the Gateway Int'l Raceway in a similar dispute April 4, and if Madden rules that the Bears' deal "violates `public purpose' requirements, the Bears will be left homeless." Munson: "The project's only supporters are Mayor [Richard] Daley and the McCaskeys, a powerful combination that has treated all criticism with scorn and contempt." But "there's a good chance Judge Madden will stop the project, which would be a stinging humiliation for Mayor Daley and would render the Bears homeless" (CNNSI.com, 4/23). But in Chicago, Jay Mariotti writes Madden "isn't going to leave the Bears homeless today because two preservationist groups and a few nerdy architectural critics want to stop construction. ... If he wants to fine the McCaskeys for reported cost overruns and miscalculations, that's OK. ... The rehab project has progressed too far for such a bizarre curveball. ... Sneaky as this deal is between the mayor and the Bears, without even a public referendum, it's done" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 4/25).