Rendering of potential new White Sox stadium at The 78 siteRelated Midwest
White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf provided “key new details about why and how the team wants to decamp from Bridgeport’s Guaranteed Rate Field to a new, publicly owned stadium built on Related Midwest’s The 78 property in the South Loop,” according to Greg Hinz of CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS. Reinsdorf “consistently argued that his goal is not to make money but field a winning team -- in Chicago.” He said that financing the ballpark would require not only $1.1B “in subsidies from an existing tax on Chicago hotel rooms” but also up to $900M “in infrastructure work that already has been authorized but not funded by a tax-increment financing district that covers The 78 property.” Such a move, however, will “require legislative and possibly City Council approval.” He indicated that he is “on a fast track,” hoping to “begin preliminary construction work later this year and play in the new stadium by the 2028 season.” Reinsdorf also conceded that the White Sox and the Bears “may be competing for the same public-revenue source, the hotel tax, to pay for new Chicago arenas,” but said that the two family-owned teams are “trying to work out a mutually beneficial deal.” Hinz noted one thing that is “off the table: sharing a stadium.” In Reinsdorf’s view, the team “cannot succeed where it is located now.” He said, “At the location we’re at now, we cannot generate the revenue needed to pay those salaries.” Reinsdorf said the team “almost certainly will be sold after his death,” and “the big money” is “in the hands of outsiders who want to move the team to Nashville or another location.” He said that his “specific plan is to build the new stadium and sign a long-term lease with its legal owner: the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.” The lease would “require the team to play its games in Chicago, saving it for the city,” and Reinsdorf said that he “believes he can get his investment partners in the team to go along” (CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS, 2/21).
OPEN TO EXPLORE: In Chicago, Fran Spielman wrote Mayor Brandon Johnson yesterday “cracked the door open to providing a public subsidy.” Johnson was “considerably more receptive to the concept of using city tax revenue for new stadiums” -- either for the White Sox or the Bears -- than Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and some legislators have been. Johnson said, “Both organizations know that they have to put some skin in the game. They’ve expressed a commitment to do that.” Johnson: “As far as public dollars, we haven’t gotten into any of those specifics just yet. But I will say that we’re gonna explore all options. But we have to make sure that we’re doing right by the people of Chicago. ... Everything is on the table here. But again, I want to make sure there is a real commitment to public use and public benefit” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 2/21).
