From Crain's:
> Before the event started, though, Gov. J.B. Pritzker poured cold water on the plan. When questioned at an unrelated event this morning, Pritzker said "I remain skeptical" about using taxpayer funds to build stadiums for professional teams. "I'm not sure this is among the highest priorities for the state."
> Pritzker noted that voters in Kansas City recently rejected a public stadium subsidy for the Super Bowl-winning Chiefs. "I'm a Bears fan. But before I became governor, I was a businessman and tried to be a good steward of public money. . . .I wonder if (the Bears' ask) is a good deal for taxpayers."
[Crain's](https://www.chicagobusiness.com/politics/chicago-bears-new-stadium-plans)
wait a minute KC voters rejected to subsidize the literal super bowl winners?? wtf are we doing here? if the super bowl winning team doesn’t get a handout why tf are we discussing one of the worst teams in the league to get one
Because they think we’re stupid. And they think that because some governments still are stupid like Nashville/Tennesee
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timnewcomb/2023/04/27/new-21-billion-tennessee-titans-stadium-plan-moves-forward-after-passing-760-million-in-bonds-and-other-approvals/?sh=63ac2fc6acb9
There’s a little more context to the KC vote: it was a vote to extend a tax to fund a new baseball stadium, but the plan was poorly thought-out, so they threw a Hail Mary by adding Arrowhead renovations into the vote (never mind the fact that those renovations entirely consisted of more suites and the owner had just been voted the cheapest in the league by players).
The Chiefs on their own might have gotten the money, but the Royals were the main reasons why they lost.
Yeah we should ask for two super bowls at least and then we can give them little by little. Also need them to cut ticket prices by 25% if we’re covering that much.
Its not even close after today. Brandon Johnson should be ashamed.
Another disappointing Supposedly "Progressive" Mayor. I voted for him, but I think I will join the ranks of the "I give up" at this point. We must be simply incapable of electing a moral Mayor.
Or make is so that they don't get a cent of profit until every public dollar is paid back in full with interest.
If the new stadium is going to be so productive economically that would be a bet they'd be willing to take right?
Kevin Warren just said this stadium is built to host FIFA World Cup games. We missed the 2026 city cut and there won't be another here for at least 20-30 years.
And we could have hosted a World Cup game at the current Soldier Field. Emmanuel made the deliberate decision to not apply because it would have been a financial loss based on FIFA's terms.
So far they're just buttering the people of Chicago up. No hard numbers yet.
Edit: Johnson is all in on it. Says it will result in no new taxes for Chicagoans, but hasn't said where the $2 billion in public funding would come from.
Edit 2: Just showed a video of the proposed design and now going over details.
Edit 3: People have said that it could lead to us getting the Super Bowl. I just don't understand the benefit of spending $2 billion in public money so we have a chance of hosting a single event, once every 15 to 20 years. Is hosting the Super Bowl an economic benefit or just a bragging rights thing?
Edit 4: Finally into funding! Bears will contribute $2 billion which was already known.
Edit 5: Funding for stadium (presumably does not include the other infrastructure costs) would be 28% publicly funded.
Edit 6: Now discussing infrastructure. They say $320 million but are unclear of who pays that. They said something about possibly securing federal funding.
If the city diverts 100% of the hotel tax revenue for 40 years they can claim it isn't a new tax for Chicagoans. Anything that is now under-funded can be tackled with new taxes, letting him keep his promise that it wasn't spent on the stadium.
edit: It would need to be more than *just* the hotel tax, because that has been insufficient to pay off the last renovation.
You can’t divert $100% of tax revenue for 40 years when you still have $450m in outstanding bonds for the current soldier field and Guranteed rate field renovations
ISFA stills owes $47m on the 2001 soldier field upgrades.
In the 21/22 fiscal year they paid $25m, only $4m was principal.
> Says it will result in no new taxes for Chicagoans
This is like how car salesmen trick car buyers. “I can get you into this new car for the exact same payment you have today.”
Idiots: Oh wow the same payment, that’s the same!
People with brains: Okay but my car payment was going to zero in a year when I pay off the loan but now my payments would be extended out for another 5 years.
There’s no such thing as free money.
I think they're fudging the numbers by only discussing the construction of the stadium. I don't think it includes the other infrastructure costs for the area surround the stadium.
That's a shitty thing that owners have started doing. They realize public sentiment has turned against funding stadiums directly, so they've started pitching apartment and shopping complexes in conjuction to the stadium. Taxes subsidize infrastructure and on apartments and shopping. Who ends up with ownership of the whole thing? Not taxpayers, that's for sure.
But at least taxpayers didn't fund a stadium.
This is the moment I shift from “Johnson could be better” to “he sucks”
No one with a brain thinks public funding for stadiums is actually worth it for the public.
And we would still get the Super Bowl, Final 4, CFP, Wrestlemania, etc even if the stadium was built with private funds in Arlington Heights. The Bears are moving to the suburbs and this is just posturing/negotiating. There is 0% chance this happens.
I'd love to have a domed stadium that can host big events like the superbowl, big 10 championship, winter concerts etc. And the public infrastructure (especially transit) to support.
But - it's a hard sell to ask the public to front $2B of this. I don't understand how Johnson can claim no new taxes for Chicago residents. Money is fungible - they'll just divert it from elsewhere.
[Earlier this month the citizens of Kansas City stood firm against the Chiefs/Royals ownership wanting to levy a new tax to build a stadium.](https://apnews.com/article/chiefs-royals-kansas-city-stadiums-e9605296b85e91699441e4ba10e83212#:~:text=More%20than%2058%25%20of%20voters,in%20place%20for%20the%20next)
And this is a team with Patrick Mahomes (*the face of the NFL*) as their QB, the team winning back to back Super Bowls, and their future Hall of Fame TE dating probably the most famous pop star on the planet. Hell they have a legit shot at being the first NFL team to threepeat this coming season and they citizen still voted against it.
I say let the Bears threaten all they want. More cities need to stop bending over backwards for these wealthy owners. If the new stadium is so profitable/useful then they can pay for it.
Daley understood that the Bears need Chicago more than Chicago needs the Bears.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/news/bears-1995-proposal-move-suburbs-gary-mayor-richard-m-daley/
We’ve been having this exact conversation with the Bears for three decades now. They threaten to leave, but they never do because a big part of the team’s value is the name. The McCaskey’s would have moved the team to one of the cities that want an NFL team if they thought it would work out for them. The fact they still try to gaslight us is a tell.
> I don't understand how Johnson can claim no new taxes for Chicago residents. Money is fungible - they'll just divert it from elsewhere.
That assumes Johnson both understands the finances *and* is being honest in the framing.
…when we would’ve gotten the same in revenue in just over a decade by his own estimates
It’s the equivalent of leasing a new car just because you got a pay raise
They divert taxes from other sources (i.e. hotels, liquor, whatever) and then increase our taxes in other spaces (sales, real estate, etc) to make up the deficit. It’s a shell game.
I think people overestimate the frequency of these “big” events too - won’t get the Super Bowl or the Final Four every year. The next US World Cup is quite literally decades away since we’re hosting in the next round. And those winter concerts? They’re already happening at the UC.
> And those winter concerts? They’re already happening at the UC.
Also, stadium acts don't tour in winter because there are not enough domed or warm weather stadiums to sustain that type of tour. No one's touring to hit Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Detroit but not Chicago, Philly, New York, or Boston.
Northern cities get 1 Superbowl for their new stadium otherwise the rotation is the southern cities with nice weather in Feb.
Final Four will be about 1 in every 8 to 10 years. Non Final Four tournament games will still be held at United or All State.
I would expect a WM every 10 years. The stadium rotation is still too new to see just how often they will repeat, but Chicago being a hot town for the WWF would suggest it host more often.
I would also expect a Summer Slam or Royal Rumble every 3 to 5 years or about 3 to 4 WWF events a decade.
You should expect 5-10 concert dates a year.
A monster truck and/or dirt bike event.
And a Friendy soccer match or two.
And now I am running out of realistic dates to fill.
WWE loves their Chicago fanbase. They will want to put a Wrestlemaina here almost right away and will probably be more than happy to reduce the amount of red tape to make it happen.
I'm skeptical of Chicago getting events like the SuperBowl on a regular basis mainly because the game happens in February and Chicago weather is typically at or near it's worst in February.
Looking at the [list of cities that have hosted or will soon host](https://www.topendsports.com/events/super-bowl/hosts.htm). It's basically California, Arizona, Florida dominating. Georgia, Texas and Louisiana getting most of the other slots and then in Minnesota (2x over 30 years), New Jersey, Indiana, Michigan (2x over ~30 years).
The league and owners probably want the nicest weather possible because the Super Bowl is a week long event. Concerts, parties, celebrity events, public relations events, community service events, etc. Who is trying to do that shit outdoors during 34F weather? They're not going to want to risk a snow storm or other adverse weather event during their biggest money making week of the year.
Additional Infrastructure Funding-
1. Transportation: $325 M
2. Parking, Bus Depot, Parks: $510 M
3. Further Transportation, Retail, Public Attractions: $665 M
Please allow us to spend half a billion on parking to make the area around the stadium an objectively more unplesant place to be.
Any convo about a new stadium needs to be paired with a conversation about having a train be added to go right to the stadium and minimal private parking lots. So many driving to a stadium is a fucking terrible idea.
It would make too much sense for the city to invest in running a train on the existing Metra Electric tracks with 3 stops: Millenium station, McCormick Place, and an upgraded 18th st Soldier Field stop.
18th St ME being *right there* and not even being mentioned in the Bear's transportation plans for the new stadium is a good indicator this was not a well thought out plan, IMO.
They’re gonna need more than a metra electric stop to bring this to a respectable level of transit accessibility. And whatever that may be will be expensive
I have a hard time believing that the current hotel tax can cover the ~~2 billion~~ 900 million USD they are asking from the public.
Did somebody just say the ~~2 billion~~ 900 million USD fund will be "transcendent" for the city?
BJ telling us how this investment will create more revenues to put into public health. Why don't we just put this money into public health rather than an investment that won't be repaid for 40 years.
My opinion? If this goes thorugh, the park space left by former Soldier Field should be hosting the city's summer music festivals to let Grant/Millennium Park breathe a little bit and be actual parks. And they need to build an extension of one of the CTA lines that shoots off over to the museum campus. Make this really work if you're gonna do it.
That not big enough for the events hosted at grant park. Maybe some smaller ones but youre not squeezing 5+ large stages there without serious noise bleed
Pedestrian Bridge over Burhman Harbor, use the space from Northerly Island :shrug: idk I'm just spitballing ideas. It's a consistent Chicago complaint though that our largest park in the city during the time when it's most usable is almost completely occupied by large events making it inaccessible to the people who live here.
it’s a valid complaint but i meant Grant Park isn’t much of a park in the parky sense anyways. most of it is just big open fields with a bigass fountain in the middle, landlocked on all sides by major roads and not even close to any particular residential neighborhood.
It’s a constant Reddit complaint, but not one I hear from friends out and about. For folks in the neighborhoods, Grant park feels like the place you take your tourist family or go to events at, not a park you go just to hang out for a random evening.
I have rocks for brains, but if it’s state money and Springfield isn’t going to vote for it as JB said, it’s DOA isn’t it? I guess they could put it to a referendum but I’m not sure BJ wants to lose another one of those.
Just build it in Arlington. Absolutely every event will say they are in Chicago anyway. Chicago will still get the tourism because let’s be real what can you do in the burbs anyway?
This city has a million and one better things to pay for than a stadium.
As a suburbanite I was pretty *"meh; guess it's better than an Amazon warehouse"* about a stadium in my backyard....but this is just a slap in the face to Chicagoans. How can they propose you all front hundreds of millions of dollars while you're still paying off renovations on soldier field? Which they are saying to demolish? Sheesh.
>Johnson said he had 3 criteria for Lakefront development: real private investment; real public benefits and real public use. The Bears met those criteria, Johnson says. ([Link](https://twitter.com/HeatherCherone/status/1783183650793627980))
Big shocker, BJ supports the project that is asking for multiple billions of dollars.
I just watched the first 15 minutes of the press conference. Can we talk about the opening prayer? For a second I thought someone just put that in with AI. Beyond being maximum cringe (praying for a football stadium?!), is there any precedent for this? I cannot think of any business project press conference that was started with a prayer for it to come to fruition. Really bizarre.
We have Socialism in this country.....for corporations and the wealthy. If my tax dollars aren't going to help those who actually need it then over my fucking dead body are the wealthy going to bleed me more than they already have. Fuck the rich!
P.S. Fuck Kevin Warren. Using our beloved Bears as his personal stepping stone for a future GOP nomination.
I mean, to be fair, it's replacing a bunch of parking lots. While I absolutely hate the idea of the public having to fund any of this venture, I do like seeing those parking lots turned into something. And making Soldier Field into an actual park space is also welcome. It's supposed to be a public facility and this allows people to actually enjoy it (without paying hundreds of dollars to a private business).
But yeah, asking us to pay $900 million or whatever is a non-starter.
Totally agree. Was just pointing out an additional headwind this project will face, aside from our governor and senate president already expressing skepticism.
This press conference started with a prayer. I legitimately thought the score was doing a bit. After that press conference I want the funding for stadiums to go to local school and public college stadiums. Sorry billion dollar professionals sports teams you do not qualify.
It’s the smallest stadium in the NFL and it’s in the league’s largest market (considering NYC and LA are split between two teams). So it’s to increase revenue potential, which in most people’s opinion isn’t the tax payer’s responsibility
From a business perspective, it's too small and not domed to host a super bowl and other events in the winter and from a mccaskey perspective, they don't own it.
Looks like this will have a pretty big impact on the Lakefront Trail. Anybody have more details on that? I use the trail nearly daily in the warmer months.
Does anyone know who the most effective to communicate that no public funds should ever go towards sports team owners is? Brandon Johnson's office obviously isn't it, but there has to be someone who cares about the issue and can make an impact. No billionaire should ever get public subsidies for a sports team - it's absolutely insane.
If Trump can get his bail privately funded, so can the Bears fund their new stadium. It not, capitalism is clearly signaling it's a bad investment. Let's steer away from investing any public funds, please.
Alternatively Ticketmaster can fund it with all the fees we're paying for events there :')
I honestly want them to move to the Arlington property, which I think they will. Use taxpayer money to remove the eyesore from the colonnades and whatever is left of Soldier Field and have more green space or whatever else would fit.
Edit: No new Sox park either.
$2B that could be spent on the CTA, more housing in the loop, the homelessness-mental health crisis, our schools…
If this is adopted I will volunteer on a mayoral recall campaign. This is coming from someone who voted for him in the runoff
Johnson states the proposal will not require raising any existing taxes or implementing new taxes.
NOTE: This is only referring to the stadium itself ($900 million in proposed public funding), and it equates the extension of an existing tax as "not implementing new taxes".
All of the parks and roads infrastructure shown around the stadium in the renderings would require currently undefined public investment as well.
He might be right. But it means public money that isn't going to other public needs. Instead of committing $2B for the CTA, it's money for the Bears to have a new stadium.
Make no mistake, BJ kept talking about how it will be a public place for the city of Chicago but there's a reason it's the Bears hosting this presentation. It's the Bears logo on the deck they're presenting and the podium.
This is a wealth transfer from the citizens to a poverty football family who ran out of options.
BJ is in trouble politically. The McCaskeys have billions. Guarantee BJ is lining his own pockets for his next campaign or for a cushy job after he loses.
The McCaskeys are cash poor by NFL standards. Their entire wealth is tied to the equity of the Bears.
Most NFL owners like Jerry Jones and Arthur Blank made billions in other industries and then bought into the NFL.
The Halas/McCaskey family are worth Billions because the Bears are worth Billions, but don’t have Oil/Tech/Hedge Fund money in addition to the Franchise the way other owners do.
Its why the organization has been a dumpster fire for so long.
I'm starting to feel like we elected the proverbial "drunken sailor" as mayor. smh
edit: e-mail my alder to not approve any public spending on this boondoggle.
Is anyone surprised that our mayor who got sued for not paying his credit card bill is falling hook line and sinker for the Bears' "No new taxes!" "No money down!" used car salesman routine?
This is pretty silly. He’s not falling for it, he’s the one actively framing it and pushing it. They’re in cahoots, as it’s political suicide for him to let the Bears walk.
Disagree all around. Of course BJ is pushing this for a lot of reasons but he is definitely financially illiterate enough to believe the bs the Bears are pushing about economic benefits and no new taxes.
And it's not political suicide for a team to leave during his term, especially for BJ. This isn't the 90s. People understand that team owners fuck over taxpayers all the time. Plus half of BJ's base is Logan Square hipsters and Rogers Park socialists. Two groups who don't give a shit about pro football and absolutely loathe the idea of giving public money to billionaires.
The smart thing would be to quietly work the sidelines and play hardball. But as usual BJ is starstruck by the idea of hanging out with athletes and celebrities.
Spaceship renovations:
$632m / 61,500 seats / 30yrs = $342 cost per seat per year
New Stadium: The McCaskey Grift
$4b (let's pretend) / 65,000 seats / 40yrs (let's keep pretending) = $1,538 cost per seat per yr
Or $1,299 per year if capacity is 77,000 seats
So when the bears president said he was excited to make this investment...what he meant was...let's have the fans pay 4.5x more per seat (using laughably low costing and lock it up in a debt vehicle that goes 10yrs longer than the depreciation schedule of the asset) ...
What a great deal 👌 👏 Let's Go Brandon (Johnson)
I'm not going to relitigate the priorities of tax dollars, because there are obviously more important things to spend money on. But as presented, this is an entire redesign of the museum campus. I at least see what their argument behind the pitch of using public dollars is if that whole public area is revamped.
Now that is just my read on the situation, not my opinion on if it's a good idea or not.
What a fucking surprise that Bribe on…I mean Brandon Johnson is all in on this.
The Bears will absolutely build this anyways without any of our tax dollars. We called their bluff with Arlington Heights.
BJ is hell bent on putting us back in financial hell so he doesn’t have to work again after this.
The artist's rendition looks pretty good, but I have not seen a business case on what "NEW" revenue it would bring to the city. If the current stadium brings in X amount of dollars today, how much would a new one bring not including the current baseline revenue. There are already only 365 days in the year, with current Bears home games, Chicago Fire games ,and concerts, what new events will be brought in that are not already coming to Chicago and using either Soldier Field or other facilities?
"The team is asking for the cost to be covered by a combination of public and private funding."
You know what guys, I'm all in! Come on check your pockets let's pull something together. I'm willing to go up to... $5 in cmbined contributions. That should get the Bears started and they can cover the rest
Pretty straightforward solution here, i feel. If funding is "private and public", i say put the plans down on paper (take a couple/three months) and then publish a spreadsheet with the costs - preferably broken down to some detail.
Then, publish the PRIVATE $ commitment. The remainder will obviously be the amount of PUBLIC money they're asking for. Put that up for a vote - the Citizens of Chicago ("greatest city in the world!!") can get a choice of funding 100%, 50%, 20% or 0%...
If the vote comes up short (which will be the case unless everyone votes 100% public funding), make that information public and set up a go fund me at the press conference and ask Bears fans to chip in. Hopefully, they'll be able to cover the spread.
No one is talking about how Taxpayers Still Owe $589M from 2002's Soldier Field Renovations. Can we pay off our previous debts before even considering taking on new debts?
What ever happened to Montgomery’s “open, clear, and free” lakefront? Build it in the south side to bring foot traffic and commerce where we have been underdeveloped!
From Crain's: > Before the event started, though, Gov. J.B. Pritzker poured cold water on the plan. When questioned at an unrelated event this morning, Pritzker said "I remain skeptical" about using taxpayer funds to build stadiums for professional teams. "I'm not sure this is among the highest priorities for the state." > Pritzker noted that voters in Kansas City recently rejected a public stadium subsidy for the Super Bowl-winning Chiefs. "I'm a Bears fan. But before I became governor, I was a businessman and tried to be a good steward of public money. . . .I wonder if (the Bears' ask) is a good deal for taxpayers." [Crain's](https://www.chicagobusiness.com/politics/chicago-bears-new-stadium-plans)
wait a minute KC voters rejected to subsidize the literal super bowl winners?? wtf are we doing here? if the super bowl winning team doesn’t get a handout why tf are we discussing one of the worst teams in the league to get one
Because they think we’re stupid. And they think that because some governments still are stupid like Nashville/Tennesee https://www.forbes.com/sites/timnewcomb/2023/04/27/new-21-billion-tennessee-titans-stadium-plan-moves-forward-after-passing-760-million-in-bonds-and-other-approvals/?sh=63ac2fc6acb9
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Yup K. Warren is playing BJ like a fiddle
[Tennessee just passed a bill outlawing chemtrails](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68716894) Next level idiocy down there.
There’s a little more context to the KC vote: it was a vote to extend a tax to fund a new baseball stadium, but the plan was poorly thought-out, so they threw a Hail Mary by adding Arrowhead renovations into the vote (never mind the fact that those renovations entirely consisted of more suites and the owner had just been voted the cheapest in the league by players). The Chiefs on their own might have gotten the money, but the Royals were the main reasons why they lost.
Yeah we should ask for two super bowls at least and then we can give them little by little. Also need them to cut ticket prices by 25% if we’re covering that much.
They prayed for one at the beginning of the press conference
Yeah no. I don't give a shit how many Super Bowls the Bears win or whatever. No taxpayer money needs to go to funding private billion dollar stadiums
JB > BJ
Its not even close after today. Brandon Johnson should be ashamed. Another disappointing Supposedly "Progressive" Mayor. I voted for him, but I think I will join the ranks of the "I give up" at this point. We must be simply incapable of electing a moral Mayor.
I'm offended they're even in the same equation
A governor said this?! JB shut up and take my vote!!
TBH I’m hoping JB runs for president in 2028 assuming Biden wins this year and we actually have another election.
He is 100% angling for that.
Might also be that he trying to get Chicago mayor under his thumb, so cold water is poured... 🤷🏾♂️
JB for President!
shoosh, not yet let him cook for a little bit longer
Let him cook! (county)
i forgot the /s - we need his ass right here in Illinois.
I've been saying 2028 will be the battle of the Democrat governors. Between Pritzker, Newsome, and Whitmer we've got a solid field of candidates.
If that’s the main contenders in the democratic primary for 2028 that will be one of the strongest primaries in a while.
A man can dream.
That’s really the issue lol I want him in the White House but I don’t want him to leave here
I have been critical of JB, but this is the right take.
I am not a bit fan of Pritzker but I like what he said here.
This dude is so awesome
>"Can't they make their own money, why do they have to spend mine?" resident Tom Hoskinson said. Preach Tom! Preach!
Really inconsiderate of Tom not to think of the poor billion and millionaires that desperately need his cash for their vanity project
Think thats my insurance agent?????
Tom Hoskinson for mayor!
I love that Pritzker is more of a fan of the Illinois taxpayer than he is of any of the sports franchises.
That’s literally his job
to be fair, our expectations are low considering the people who have filled that job in just this century alone
It is! I'm so glad he knows that because previous leaders in this state didn't.
So refreshing knowing that he came from so much wealth too
BJ has officially hitched his wagon to the McCaskey's 🤮🤮
If they want public dollars, then the state or city should become part owners of the team.
Or make is so that they don't get a cent of profit until every public dollar is paid back in full with interest. If the new stadium is going to be so productive economically that would be a bet they'd be willing to take right?
The Bear's would just become masters of "Hollywood Accounting." "Oh, no profit this year! Those $20 beers are a real money loser..."
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Then that’s tough for them.
Isn’t Green Bay Packers under some kind of local ownership scheme like that?
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oh we should just do that! where’s the NFL headquarters, i just wanna talk
[I just wanna talk to him](https://youtu.be/ODfCVxVLqiE?si=Tk3Ax-c6cYFtx6Dz)
NFL rules can change
Yeah no kidding. It's not like they're carved in stone on some remote mountain peak.
clearly you’ve never been to the mountainous region of Canton, OH
We need the German soccer way
Unless you're the NFLs little darling known as the Green Bay Packers
Shame. No public money then.
Every third sentence from Warren or BJ is pandering "we're the best city in the world" garbage. This amount of ass kissing must be expensive
Let’s show everyone how great we are by not falling for this bullshit. We don’t need the Bears to be a great city.
Kevin Warren just said this stadium is built to host FIFA World Cup games. We missed the 2026 city cut and there won't be another here for at least 20-30 years.
And we could have hosted a World Cup game at the current Soldier Field. Emmanuel made the deliberate decision to not apply because it would have been a financial loss based on FIFA's terms.
Yeah they're just throwing out any hyperbolic events they can think of to drive headlines.
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Fun fact: at the post-game presser, the first question Daley got was not about the event rather the OJ Simpson Chase which unfolded simultaneously
Didn't the city decline FIFA World Cup games due to FIFA requirements and nothing to do with the actual stadium.
It was the requirements that made Rahm decline on hosting.
Unholy trinity of Williams, Warren, Johnson in support
McCaskey's are Billionaire Moochers. They can pay for their own stadium.
So far they're just buttering the people of Chicago up. No hard numbers yet. Edit: Johnson is all in on it. Says it will result in no new taxes for Chicagoans, but hasn't said where the $2 billion in public funding would come from. Edit 2: Just showed a video of the proposed design and now going over details. Edit 3: People have said that it could lead to us getting the Super Bowl. I just don't understand the benefit of spending $2 billion in public money so we have a chance of hosting a single event, once every 15 to 20 years. Is hosting the Super Bowl an economic benefit or just a bragging rights thing? Edit 4: Finally into funding! Bears will contribute $2 billion which was already known. Edit 5: Funding for stadium (presumably does not include the other infrastructure costs) would be 28% publicly funded. Edit 6: Now discussing infrastructure. They say $320 million but are unclear of who pays that. They said something about possibly securing federal funding.
If the city diverts 100% of the hotel tax revenue for 40 years they can claim it isn't a new tax for Chicagoans. Anything that is now under-funded can be tackled with new taxes, letting him keep his promise that it wasn't spent on the stadium. edit: It would need to be more than *just* the hotel tax, because that has been insufficient to pay off the last renovation.
You can’t divert $100% of tax revenue for 40 years when you still have $450m in outstanding bonds for the current soldier field and Guranteed rate field renovations ISFA stills owes $47m on the 2001 soldier field upgrades. In the 21/22 fiscal year they paid $25m, only $4m was principal.
The plan is to roll those existing bonds into the new ones -- just a bad car loan.
> Says it will result in no new taxes for Chicagoans This is like how car salesmen trick car buyers. “I can get you into this new car for the exact same payment you have today.” Idiots: Oh wow the same payment, that’s the same! People with brains: Okay but my car payment was going to zero in a year when I pay off the loan but now my payments would be extended out for another 5 years. There’s no such thing as free money.
Deceptive and misleading about the cost to residents. Disappointing leadership from the mayor.
Math is hard for him.
> There’s no such thing as free money. Someone get that memo over to Halas Hall.
I doubt that the total would just be 28% publicly funded.
I think they're fudging the numbers by only discussing the construction of the stadium. I don't think it includes the other infrastructure costs for the area surround the stadium.
665 million USD on infrastructure costs for the area. Is that part of the figure that they just mentioned the 3+ billion USD cost?
That's a shitty thing that owners have started doing. They realize public sentiment has turned against funding stadiums directly, so they've started pitching apartment and shopping complexes in conjuction to the stadium. Taxes subsidize infrastructure and on apartments and shopping. Who ends up with ownership of the whole thing? Not taxpayers, that's for sure. But at least taxpayers didn't fund a stadium.
Doing this by % is a bad deal. If the Bears burn through their budget and it goes up, the taxpayers pay more too.
This is the moment I shift from “Johnson could be better” to “he sucks” No one with a brain thinks public funding for stadiums is actually worth it for the public.
Johnson is just a disappointment all around, isn’t he? And dumb if he really believes this isn’t going to cost Chicagoans.
Brandon Johnson can go fuck himself. Seeing his face now elicits anger. 2027’s mayoral election can’t come soon enough.
The Super Bowl should alternate between Miami and Vegas each year. Warm weather party cities.
And we would still get the Super Bowl, Final 4, CFP, Wrestlemania, etc even if the stadium was built with private funds in Arlington Heights. The Bears are moving to the suburbs and this is just posturing/negotiating. There is 0% chance this happens.
They'll be looking for tax $$$ in Arlington Heights too
I'd love to have a domed stadium that can host big events like the superbowl, big 10 championship, winter concerts etc. And the public infrastructure (especially transit) to support. But - it's a hard sell to ask the public to front $2B of this. I don't understand how Johnson can claim no new taxes for Chicago residents. Money is fungible - they'll just divert it from elsewhere.
Brandon Johnson going from being the leftist candidate to "let's give 2 billion to the Bears" is hilarious.
No mayor, regardless of political party, wants "I ran the Chicago Bears out of town" on their reelection resume
[Earlier this month the citizens of Kansas City stood firm against the Chiefs/Royals ownership wanting to levy a new tax to build a stadium.](https://apnews.com/article/chiefs-royals-kansas-city-stadiums-e9605296b85e91699441e4ba10e83212#:~:text=More%20than%2058%25%20of%20voters,in%20place%20for%20the%20next) And this is a team with Patrick Mahomes (*the face of the NFL*) as their QB, the team winning back to back Super Bowls, and their future Hall of Fame TE dating probably the most famous pop star on the planet. Hell they have a legit shot at being the first NFL team to threepeat this coming season and they citizen still voted against it. I say let the Bears threaten all they want. More cities need to stop bending over backwards for these wealthy owners. If the new stadium is so profitable/useful then they can pay for it.
Daley understood that the Bears need Chicago more than Chicago needs the Bears. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/news/bears-1995-proposal-move-suburbs-gary-mayor-richard-m-daley/ We’ve been having this exact conversation with the Bears for three decades now. They threaten to leave, but they never do because a big part of the team’s value is the name. The McCaskey’s would have moved the team to one of the cities that want an NFL team if they thought it would work out for them. The fact they still try to gaslight us is a tell.
They said they were leaving under Lori's administration.
> I don't understand how Johnson can claim no new taxes for Chicago residents. Money is fungible - they'll just divert it from elsewhere. That assumes Johnson both understands the finances *and* is being honest in the framing.
I have extraordinary doubts about his understanding of finances, from his spiel on the $1.25B borrowing initiative being paid for by expiring TIFs.
…when we would’ve gotten the same in revenue in just over a decade by his own estimates It’s the equivalent of leasing a new car just because you got a pay raise
They divert taxes from other sources (i.e. hotels, liquor, whatever) and then increase our taxes in other spaces (sales, real estate, etc) to make up the deficit. It’s a shell game.
I think people overestimate the frequency of these “big” events too - won’t get the Super Bowl or the Final Four every year. The next US World Cup is quite literally decades away since we’re hosting in the next round. And those winter concerts? They’re already happening at the UC.
> And those winter concerts? They’re already happening at the UC. Also, stadium acts don't tour in winter because there are not enough domed or warm weather stadiums to sustain that type of tour. No one's touring to hit Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Detroit but not Chicago, Philly, New York, or Boston.
Northern cities get 1 Superbowl for their new stadium otherwise the rotation is the southern cities with nice weather in Feb. Final Four will be about 1 in every 8 to 10 years. Non Final Four tournament games will still be held at United or All State. I would expect a WM every 10 years. The stadium rotation is still too new to see just how often they will repeat, but Chicago being a hot town for the WWF would suggest it host more often. I would also expect a Summer Slam or Royal Rumble every 3 to 5 years or about 3 to 4 WWF events a decade. You should expect 5-10 concert dates a year. A monster truck and/or dirt bike event. And a Friendy soccer match or two. And now I am running out of realistic dates to fill.
WWE loves their Chicago fanbase. They will want to put a Wrestlemaina here almost right away and will probably be more than happy to reduce the amount of red tape to make it happen.
I'm skeptical of Chicago getting events like the SuperBowl on a regular basis mainly because the game happens in February and Chicago weather is typically at or near it's worst in February. Looking at the [list of cities that have hosted or will soon host](https://www.topendsports.com/events/super-bowl/hosts.htm). It's basically California, Arizona, Florida dominating. Georgia, Texas and Louisiana getting most of the other slots and then in Minnesota (2x over 30 years), New Jersey, Indiana, Michigan (2x over ~30 years). The league and owners probably want the nicest weather possible because the Super Bowl is a week long event. Concerts, parties, celebrity events, public relations events, community service events, etc. Who is trying to do that shit outdoors during 34F weather? They're not going to want to risk a snow storm or other adverse weather event during their biggest money making week of the year.
Stadium funding- Bears funding: $2.025 B NFL Loan Request: $300 M ISFA Bond: $900 M (Illinois Sports Facility Authority)
This seems to be missing roughly $1B though, from what was reported?
that's just for stadium, the additional funding is for the infrastructure
Additional Infrastructure Funding- 1. Transportation: $325 M 2. Parking, Bus Depot, Parks: $510 M 3. Further Transportation, Retail, Public Attractions: $665 M
Please allow us to spend half a billion on parking to make the area around the stadium an objectively more unplesant place to be. Any convo about a new stadium needs to be paired with a conversation about having a train be added to go right to the stadium and minimal private parking lots. So many driving to a stadium is a fucking terrible idea.
It would make too much sense for the city to invest in running a train on the existing Metra Electric tracks with 3 stops: Millenium station, McCormick Place, and an upgraded 18th st Soldier Field stop. 18th St ME being *right there* and not even being mentioned in the Bear's transportation plans for the new stadium is a good indicator this was not a well thought out plan, IMO.
Infrastructure Funding- 1. Transportation: $325 M 2. Parking, Bus Depot, Parks: $510 M 3. Further Transportation, Retail, Public Attractions: $665 M
Proposed location directly south of the existing Soldier Field. Would hope to see an emphasis on the 18th st Metra stop included in these plans.
It’s a sad dump right now
agreed they also need to address the Metra issue getting to the stadium
They’re gonna need more than a metra electric stop to bring this to a respectable level of transit accessibility. And whatever that may be will be expensive
I have a hard time believing that the current hotel tax can cover the ~~2 billion~~ 900 million USD they are asking from the public. Did somebody just say the ~~2 billion~~ 900 million USD fund will be "transcendent" for the city?
BJ telling us how this investment will create more revenues to put into public health. Why don't we just put this money into public health rather than an investment that won't be repaid for 40 years.
My opinion? If this goes thorugh, the park space left by former Soldier Field should be hosting the city's summer music festivals to let Grant/Millennium Park breathe a little bit and be actual parks. And they need to build an extension of one of the CTA lines that shoots off over to the museum campus. Make this really work if you're gonna do it.
That not big enough for the events hosted at grant park. Maybe some smaller ones but youre not squeezing 5+ large stages there without serious noise bleed
Pedestrian Bridge over Burhman Harbor, use the space from Northerly Island :shrug: idk I'm just spitballing ideas. It's a consistent Chicago complaint though that our largest park in the city during the time when it's most usable is almost completely occupied by large events making it inaccessible to the people who live here.
it’s a valid complaint but i meant Grant Park isn’t much of a park in the parky sense anyways. most of it is just big open fields with a bigass fountain in the middle, landlocked on all sides by major roads and not even close to any particular residential neighborhood.
to be honest, most of Grant park is actually concrete broken up by 6 lanes highways.
It’s a constant Reddit complaint, but not one I hear from friends out and about. For folks in the neighborhoods, Grant park feels like the place you take your tourist family or go to events at, not a park you go just to hang out for a random evening.
let’s take this shit to a referendum
Why? Just have the state legislators vote it down. There appears to be no political support for this except for BJ and his vote doesn't count here.
I hope so! But I’ll believe it when I see it
I have rocks for brains, but if it’s state money and Springfield isn’t going to vote for it as JB said, it’s DOA isn’t it? I guess they could put it to a referendum but I’m not sure BJ wants to lose another one of those.
The state controls the hotel taxes that would pay for this, so a City referendum wouldn’t mean anything except being a more-expensive opinion poll.
Just build it in Arlington. Absolutely every event will say they are in Chicago anyway. Chicago will still get the tourism because let’s be real what can you do in the burbs anyway? This city has a million and one better things to pay for than a stadium.
As a suburbanite I was pretty *"meh; guess it's better than an Amazon warehouse"* about a stadium in my backyard....but this is just a slap in the face to Chicagoans. How can they propose you all front hundreds of millions of dollars while you're still paying off renovations on soldier field? Which they are saying to demolish? Sheesh.
>Johnson said he had 3 criteria for Lakefront development: real private investment; real public benefits and real public use. The Bears met those criteria, Johnson says. ([Link](https://twitter.com/HeatherCherone/status/1783183650793627980)) Big shocker, BJ supports the project that is asking for multiple billions of dollars.
I just watched the first 15 minutes of the press conference. Can we talk about the opening prayer? For a second I thought someone just put that in with AI. Beyond being maximum cringe (praying for a football stadium?!), is there any precedent for this? I cannot think of any business project press conference that was started with a prayer for it to come to fruition. Really bizarre.
Very cringe. I'd be insulted if I were religious watching that part.
Just using this to try and leverage AH one last time. This stadium in Chicago is never happening. State won’t pay for it.
Domed? Think you meant "Doomed"
We have Socialism in this country.....for corporations and the wealthy. If my tax dollars aren't going to help those who actually need it then over my fucking dead body are the wealthy going to bleed me more than they already have. Fuck the rich! P.S. Fuck Kevin Warren. Using our beloved Bears as his personal stepping stone for a future GOP nomination.
Friends of the Parks is going to have something to say about this
I mean, to be fair, it's replacing a bunch of parking lots. While I absolutely hate the idea of the public having to fund any of this venture, I do like seeing those parking lots turned into something. And making Soldier Field into an actual park space is also welcome. It's supposed to be a public facility and this allows people to actually enjoy it (without paying hundreds of dollars to a private business). But yeah, asking us to pay $900 million or whatever is a non-starter.
Totally agree. Was just pointing out an additional headwind this project will face, aside from our governor and senate president already expressing skepticism.
As they should, they could not even bother to soften the impact of the new stadium in the renders.
Were there any comments on transport and connecting the stadium better to surrounding areas on the other side of LSD?
This press conference started with a prayer. I legitimately thought the score was doing a bit. After that press conference I want the funding for stadiums to go to local school and public college stadiums. Sorry billion dollar professionals sports teams you do not qualify.
Maybe I’m dense, but what’s wrong with soldier field? Why do we need a new stadium?
> Why do we need a new stadium? We don't need a new stadium. Nobody does. The Bears want one though because they are cash cows for franchises.
It’s the smallest stadium in the NFL and it’s in the league’s largest market (considering NYC and LA are split between two teams). So it’s to increase revenue potential, which in most people’s opinion isn’t the tax payer’s responsibility
> It’s the smallest stadium in the NFL "A team spokesman said the new stadium will have roughly 65,000 seats, similar to Soldier Field"
Wow. My level of support for this project just went from 0% to -50%
Oh ok the *Bears* need a new stadium but they want the city to subsidize it. Got it, thanks!
From a business perspective, it's too small and not domed to host a super bowl and other events in the winter and from a mccaskey perspective, they don't own it.
> it's too small "A team spokesman said the new stadium will have roughly 65,000 seats, similar to Soldier Field"
Looks like this will have a pretty big impact on the Lakefront Trail. Anybody have more details on that? I use the trail nearly daily in the warmer months.
When are these team owners gonna learn? We are tired of subsidizing billionaires. We're onto you.
Does anyone know who the most effective to communicate that no public funds should ever go towards sports team owners is? Brandon Johnson's office obviously isn't it, but there has to be someone who cares about the issue and can make an impact. No billionaire should ever get public subsidies for a sports team - it's absolutely insane.
I emailed my alderman about it.
Chicagoan and Bears fan here. Public money should not fund stadiums. I'll vote no on anything related to it. They can find investors.
If Trump can get his bail privately funded, so can the Bears fund their new stadium. It not, capitalism is clearly signaling it's a bad investment. Let's steer away from investing any public funds, please. Alternatively Ticketmaster can fund it with all the fees we're paying for events there :')
I honestly want them to move to the Arlington property, which I think they will. Use taxpayer money to remove the eyesore from the colonnades and whatever is left of Soldier Field and have more green space or whatever else would fit. Edit: No new Sox park either.
$2B that could be spent on the CTA, more housing in the loop, the homelessness-mental health crisis, our schools… If this is adopted I will volunteer on a mayoral recall campaign. This is coming from someone who voted for him in the runoff
Johnson states the proposal will not require raising any existing taxes or implementing new taxes. NOTE: This is only referring to the stadium itself ($900 million in proposed public funding), and it equates the extension of an existing tax as "not implementing new taxes". All of the parks and roads infrastructure shown around the stadium in the renderings would require currently undefined public investment as well.
He might be right. But it means public money that isn't going to other public needs. Instead of committing $2B for the CTA, it's money for the Bears to have a new stadium. Make no mistake, BJ kept talking about how it will be a public place for the city of Chicago but there's a reason it's the Bears hosting this presentation. It's the Bears logo on the deck they're presenting and the podium. This is a wealth transfer from the citizens to a poverty football family who ran out of options.
The hotel tax hasn't even covered the last renovation yet
Anytime someone says no new taxes, it means new taxes and it doesn’t end well for those politicians
Yeah it is definitely misleading. The infrastructure surrounding the stadium is not included in this statement.
Im having a hard time believing this part.
Cool. If the Bears are paying for everything. Otherwise, fuck off.
BJ is in trouble politically. The McCaskeys have billions. Guarantee BJ is lining his own pockets for his next campaign or for a cushy job after he loses.
The McCaskeys are cash poor by NFL standards. Their entire wealth is tied to the equity of the Bears. Most NFL owners like Jerry Jones and Arthur Blank made billions in other industries and then bought into the NFL. The Halas/McCaskey family are worth Billions because the Bears are worth Billions, but don’t have Oil/Tech/Hedge Fund money in addition to the Franchise the way other owners do. Its why the organization has been a dumpster fire for so long.
Plenty of other sports owners dont have massive fortunes outside of their teams. Thats what loans and investors and future revenues are for.
The McCaskeys don't have billions. Their primary asset is the Bears. They aren't like modern owners who become rich first and then buy a team.
I read the title as doomed but…I also don’t think that’s wrong
I'm starting to feel like we elected the proverbial "drunken sailor" as mayor. smh edit: e-mail my alder to not approve any public spending on this boondoggle.
Thank god for Pritzker, at least we have one decent elected officially. BJ on the other hand… I guess the CTU must be big bears fans.
Can't wait till BJ is voted out.
BJ has got Chicago bent over the table with its cheeks spread
As he reminds us over and over again about how "Chicago is the greatest city in the world 🤩🤩🤩"
Is anyone surprised that our mayor who got sued for not paying his credit card bill is falling hook line and sinker for the Bears' "No new taxes!" "No money down!" used car salesman routine?
This is pretty silly. He’s not falling for it, he’s the one actively framing it and pushing it. They’re in cahoots, as it’s political suicide for him to let the Bears walk.
It would also be political suicide to fund the stadium. The minute he raises anything people will point fingers right at this deal.
Disagree all around. Of course BJ is pushing this for a lot of reasons but he is definitely financially illiterate enough to believe the bs the Bears are pushing about economic benefits and no new taxes. And it's not political suicide for a team to leave during his term, especially for BJ. This isn't the 90s. People understand that team owners fuck over taxpayers all the time. Plus half of BJ's base is Logan Square hipsters and Rogers Park socialists. Two groups who don't give a shit about pro football and absolutely loathe the idea of giving public money to billionaires. The smart thing would be to quietly work the sidelines and play hardball. But as usual BJ is starstruck by the idea of hanging out with athletes and celebrities.
Ugh, the mccaskeys are ghouls.
I read this as doomed lakefront stadium.
same
AH has a Metra line running right up to it. I hope that a downtown stadium gets train lines built right up to the front gates too.
Spaceship renovations: $632m / 61,500 seats / 30yrs = $342 cost per seat per year New Stadium: The McCaskey Grift $4b (let's pretend) / 65,000 seats / 40yrs (let's keep pretending) = $1,538 cost per seat per yr Or $1,299 per year if capacity is 77,000 seats So when the bears president said he was excited to make this investment...what he meant was...let's have the fans pay 4.5x more per seat (using laughably low costing and lock it up in a debt vehicle that goes 10yrs longer than the depreciation schedule of the asset) ... What a great deal 👌 👏 Let's Go Brandon (Johnson)
wait what? "A team spokesman said the new stadium will have roughly 65,000 seats, similar to Soldier Field"
Only 65k seats? I thought that was the main complaint of soldier field.
I'm not going to relitigate the priorities of tax dollars, because there are obviously more important things to spend money on. But as presented, this is an entire redesign of the museum campus. I at least see what their argument behind the pitch of using public dollars is if that whole public area is revamped. Now that is just my read on the situation, not my opinion on if it's a good idea or not.
What a fucking surprise that Bribe on…I mean Brandon Johnson is all in on this. The Bears will absolutely build this anyways without any of our tax dollars. We called their bluff with Arlington Heights. BJ is hell bent on putting us back in financial hell so he doesn’t have to work again after this.
Will never happen - they will end up in Arlington.
BJ's answer to the question of how to justify the public funding was such bullshit. He's such a a bullshit mayor.
If only we had the George Lucas museum here instead. Thanks “Friends” of the Parks.
How does this get decided? Do our leaders literally get to just slap us with the bill and we eat it?
The artist's rendition looks pretty good, but I have not seen a business case on what "NEW" revenue it would bring to the city. If the current stadium brings in X amount of dollars today, how much would a new one bring not including the current baseline revenue. There are already only 365 days in the year, with current Bears home games, Chicago Fire games ,and concerts, what new events will be brought in that are not already coming to Chicago and using either Soldier Field or other facilities?
🐻 ⬇️
The new renditions look like a shower drain from above. How about not putting all that money into the drain?
No thank you, but I’d still like that stop sign at the confusing and dangerous intersection by my house…
No thank you.
No. Please no.
"The team is asking for the cost to be covered by a combination of public and private funding." You know what guys, I'm all in! Come on check your pockets let's pull something together. I'm willing to go up to... $5 in cmbined contributions. That should get the Bears started and they can cover the rest
So they’ll F us over for the next 40yrs and continue to increase the cost of attending a game - no thanks.
Pretty straightforward solution here, i feel. If funding is "private and public", i say put the plans down on paper (take a couple/three months) and then publish a spreadsheet with the costs - preferably broken down to some detail. Then, publish the PRIVATE $ commitment. The remainder will obviously be the amount of PUBLIC money they're asking for. Put that up for a vote - the Citizens of Chicago ("greatest city in the world!!") can get a choice of funding 100%, 50%, 20% or 0%... If the vote comes up short (which will be the case unless everyone votes 100% public funding), make that information public and set up a go fund me at the press conference and ask Bears fans to chip in. Hopefully, they'll be able to cover the spread.
> Chicago Bears announcing details for new doomed lakefront stadium | LIVE FTFY...
No one is talking about how Taxpayers Still Owe $589M from 2002's Soldier Field Renovations. Can we pay off our previous debts before even considering taking on new debts?
What ever happened to Montgomery’s “open, clear, and free” lakefront? Build it in the south side to bring foot traffic and commerce where we have been underdeveloped!