Bears Unveil New Site for Prep Bowl
- Thread starter ignazio
- Start date
The guess parking wasn’t given much priority. How long before the Park District has no money for up keep and the place falls apart? The Bears took the cheap way out and in 20 years this will look like a huge mistake.
Imagine what this construction will do to traffic on LSD and the Stevenson ramp for a few years, particularly during the Memorial Day through Labor Day Grant Park festival season. I would wonder about the results if this idea was put to a city or state-wide referendum vote. Big JB does not seem onboard either.
Someone should be going to jail for the mistake they made with the so called "renovations" that we are still paying for...but if it means I won't have to cover state title games outside in late November.....spend away!
Makes no sense. The gov is not going to give the bears money. Lawsuits will drag on for years if trying to build on the lakefront.
Is this just a ploy to play chicken with the AH area school taxing bodies?
Way to ruin a great racetrack facility.
Is this just a ploy to play chicken with the AH area school taxing bodies?
Way to ruin a great racetrack facility.
Arlington Park was shut down for good in 2021. Horse racing at the track was O-V-U-H.
Nobody as in nobody stepped up to buy it and resume racing there because horse racing in Illinois is basically dead.
Maywood shut down. Arlington Park shut down. Sportsman's Park shut down.
Some OTB sites in the Chicago area could not even make it as casinos and slots seemingly at every third store in some neighborhoods took the legs out of horse racing.
Not unlike what happened with the dog-racing facilities in Wisconsin back in the day. At one point, there were 8 or 9 of them and eventually they all shut down.
The Bears did not ruin a great race-track facility. The betting world that exists today did that.
Three snake oil salesmen: George McCaskey, Kevin Warren and Brandon Johnson.
Not only that. There was and is a shocking number of race horses being put down every year after breaking their legs. Widespread doping is to blame.
Last edited:
The Bears want to build a world class stadium and facilities to attract events like the Superbowl, Final 4, Olympics etc. I find it interesting they never talked about the big issue with the City. Crime! Chicago reputation around the world is terrible. People are not thrilled to come to the city if they don’t make it safe. IMO
There are a myriad of reasons why the Museum campus makes no sense. Being completely inaccessible by light rail and a giant lake cutting off access from all points to the East is certainly one reason.
The biggest concern comes down to why in the world would a business want to drop 2 billion on an entity that they will not own when they could instead drop 5-6 billion and own all future revenue generated from major events (and even leases from hotel and casino companies desiring to operate on their new campus). And oh yea, they have already dropped 200 million into that project which they could potentially own and double the value of their franchise.
Owning your own stadium is a massive advantage. Hoping the city and state tell the Bears to go pound sand and they have to go back to the project they already began in Arlington.
The Bear gameday experience v those of the Sox, Bulls, Hawks and Cubs comes up the least in those conversations for a variety of factors. Small # of games/year that usually finish before dark, a relatively isolated location with little neighborhood surface street or (old) public housing exposure, the chance a miscreant gets more than they bargained for from groups of liquored up 250 lb+ dudes etc. I will agree that if there is lot more reliance on distant parking and public transit then today, could be a much greater concern.
I dont see why sports teams continually need new stadiums to play a measley 8 games every year.
Forget it, save the taxpayers money.
My guess is they don’t have the liquidity to drop 5-6 billion.
Agreed that is likely the case, especially with the net worth of the family being largely the franchise.
I always saw AH as a viable exit plan for the family when the matriarch passes. No one group of the family will have the resources or desire to continue running the franchise. Lining up financing and getting a shovel in the ground for their own facility would nearly double the valuation of the franchise. And it would be conveniently timed right around the time Virginia turns 102 or 103.
The family could sell the franchise without ever having to service any of that debt and they would get the supercharged valuation for the facility/team combination upon the sale. Basically, the increased valuation of the team would likely outpace the debt they take out to help them cash out 1-2 billion extra when the inevitable sale comes.
And even if the plan is to keep the team long term, there is so much more money to be made if you own an entity and cash in revenue from hotels, casinos, restaurants, Final Fours, concerts, etc. I get they likely don't have the cash for it, but I thought this creativity is what Kevin Warren was brought in for. Not spending 2 bil for a project the government will own.
This still seems a long way off. Will need action in Springfield to get ISFA involved and I'm personally pretty doubtful the political will for that exists.
I know Johnson is pitching it as no new taxes, but the extension of the hotel tax is new, even if the idea is it's paid by tourists. And when hotel taxes don't cover it like has happened twice on current bonds, then what?
I can't imagine any new stadium before 2030, as this takes time to play out. May still end up at AH.
I know Johnson is pitching it as no new taxes, but the extension of the hotel tax is new, even if the idea is it's paid by tourists. And when hotel taxes don't cover it like has happened twice on current bonds, then what?
I can't imagine any new stadium before 2030, as this takes time to play out. May still end up at AH.
What a mess this has turned into and what a dog and pony show the Bears put on yesterday.
The new stadium looks beautiful but they did not address the parking, access or who will pay for this.
I just reviewed ownership of all 32 teams stadiums it does seem that public ownership of stadiums is the most common way it happens with only a handful owned by team ownership.
Cook County is valuing the Arlington Heights property at $197 million for property taxes which they paid for the land. They were only valuing the land for Arlington Park at $33 million and had settled with Churchill Downs for a valuation of $95 million. The biggest benefactor of this property tax are the 3 school districts (D15, D25, D214) that educate the areas students.
With all that said the major banks have walked away from this project because they view the property tax valuations unstable and dont want to be left standing with the ongoing debt from this project.
So in my opinion how do the Bears move forward with either Chicago or Arlington Heights? The McCaskeys need to sell. They do not have the money to assist in either of these projects or connections to produce the funding.
On a side note the NFL is worth over $145 Billion. It is time for the NFL to start putting out its own loans and funding for these stadiums. These owners are getting filthy rich off the backs of their communities.
The new stadium looks beautiful but they did not address the parking, access or who will pay for this.
I just reviewed ownership of all 32 teams stadiums it does seem that public ownership of stadiums is the most common way it happens with only a handful owned by team ownership.
Cook County is valuing the Arlington Heights property at $197 million for property taxes which they paid for the land. They were only valuing the land for Arlington Park at $33 million and had settled with Churchill Downs for a valuation of $95 million. The biggest benefactor of this property tax are the 3 school districts (D15, D25, D214) that educate the areas students.
With all that said the major banks have walked away from this project because they view the property tax valuations unstable and dont want to be left standing with the ongoing debt from this project.
So in my opinion how do the Bears move forward with either Chicago or Arlington Heights? The McCaskeys need to sell. They do not have the money to assist in either of these projects or connections to produce the funding.
On a side note the NFL is worth over $145 Billion. It is time for the NFL to start putting out its own loans and funding for these stadiums. These owners are getting filthy rich off the backs of their communities.
I've often heard that the Bears want a new stadium, in part, because their current stadium is the smallest in the NFL at a capacity of 61,500 seats. The proposed new stadium will contain 70,000 seats, which wouldn't even put it in the top ten of current NFL stadiums ranked by number of seats. Chicago is one of the largest markets in the NFL by population and it will have a brand new stadium smaller than those in other NFL cities like Balitmore, Kansas City, Charlotte, and Buffalo. Billions of dollars will be spent on a brand new stadium that will sit just 8,500 more football fans than the current one. Kinda makes me go hmmmm....
Also, who will OWN this new stadium, especially if public funds are used to pay for a portion of it? The Park District owns Soldier Field as well as the land on which the proposed stadium is to be built. Will the Bears own the stadium and lease the land? Will the Park District sell the land to the Bears? Was stadium ownership covered in the announcement and I missed it?
Also, who will OWN this new stadium, especially if public funds are used to pay for a portion of it? The Park District owns Soldier Field as well as the land on which the proposed stadium is to be built. Will the Bears own the stadium and lease the land? Will the Park District sell the land to the Bears? Was stadium ownership covered in the announcement and I missed it?
It was Lucas actually. He took his museum to LA where it is scheduled to open in 2025.
And he and his wife Melody just spent $33 million on a double condo at Chicago and Michigan Ave.
Last edited:
They had Ted Phillips do the AH purchase and said AH was their sole focus. They thought they could bully the school districts/AH and that didn't work. Then they bring in Kevin Warren and he's trying to leverage AH with Chicago. This has all be done backwards, they know this isn't gonna happen on the lakefront, no way they are that dumb.
Also, a very interesting to choose to announce the day before they are drafting a franchise QB...almost like a Friday afternoon news dump.
Also, a very interesting to choose to announce the day before they are drafting a franchise QB...almost like a Friday afternoon news dump.
The plan laid out actually makes more green space than currently there. I still think they end up in AH
Tough to make that argument with February weather in Chicago. Yes, the stadium would be domed but the Super Bowl has turned into a week long event with many events held outdoors.
The lack of accessible parking for an event like that would be beyond a nightmare.
Plus if the renderings and initial info is correct the new stadium still wouldn't have the required seating capacity to host a Super Bowl, which I believe is 75,000. What I read said the new stadium would have similar seating to Soldier Field at 65,000 and could hold up to 77,000 for a Final Four.
70,000 is the Super Bowl minimum but you can have temporary seats so they would have to add 5,000 but the bigger deal is 35,000 parking spot within a mile there are 5,800 at McCormick Place so it depends on how close parking decks are in the Loop. The NFL may waive the requirement one time but after that the Super Bowl is never coming back.
SubCub
I thought the same thing. I mean when Warren first started talking o thought he was going to tell us who the Bears weren’t picking! 😂 it really did sound that way.
The issue, at least from a legal stake isn't strictly the green space. It's public v private ownership. They've said it's publically owned, but that sure seems in name only.
Reason #456,730 why the new lakefront stadium will never get built. The cost has already gone up $1 billion since Monday.
Just please go to AH and own the stadium and have more room for everything they want to build.
chicago.suntimes.com
Just please go to AH and own the stadium and have more room for everything they want to build.
Bears stadium costs? Add another $1.2 billion
The Bears put the figure at $4.7 billion. But a state official says the tally to taxpayers goes even higher when you include the cost of refinancing existing debt.
chicago.suntimes.com
Can you please cite a source for where they have said that? I don't doubt you, but I want to see it in context. I don't understand why they would spend $2 billion of their own money on a stadium and not want ownership of it.
The Burnham Park Project includes a new publicly-owned multipurpose replacement stadium located just south of Soldier Field that's part of a singular year-round hub centered on park-based culture and recreation.
https://www.chicagobears.com/news/bears-release-plans-for-stadium-project-in-chicago
Thanks.
The press release goes on to say, "The Bears have pledged to contribute more than $2 billion to the project—over 70% of the total stadium cost. The remaining stadium funds are proposed to come from the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority (ISFA), a government entity that was created by the Illinois General Assembly in 1987 for the purpose of constructing and renovating sports stadiums for professional teams in the state of Illinois."
If the Bears are going to foot the bill for "over 70% of the total stadium cost," why would they not want at least 70% ownership of the stadium? Are they basically gifting their "share" of the stadium to the ISFA? I fail to see the business sense here. What am I missing?
Plus, doesn't the Park District own the land on which the stadium will be built? So then they will lease or sell the land to the eventual owner? Perhaps the overall project cost includes purchase of the land (assuming the Park District is a willing seller). Lots of questions.
Last edited:
Reports say they want revenue from non-Bears eventss included in the lease agreement. That's why I say it's public in name only. Today they just get their gate revenue, concessions, and a portion of parking. But now concerts and events and ancillary revenue also would stay with Bears too.
So the Park District can "own". They probably have to insure it and have some operational costs. There no property tax since it's "publically owned". Bears may be on hook for other maintenance costs like field turf - relatively minor cost. And then they now get all the revenue? And what are they paying for the lease? Unless the monthly lease payments are ungodly, the public gets all the risk and little reward to offset that risk.
Also it seems like the Bears don't intend to directly put up a ton of this cost. They are counting on expensive PSLs from fans to fund a huge portion of their commitment. Unclear if they're also sneakily counting payments as part of their lease to "count" towards their pledged commitment.
Devil is all in the details and sure seems like the mayor is putting his name on a plan with quite a lack of them.
Last edited:
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
-
Option Football LOVERS.... and haters- Latest: Kevin JCHS 81
-
-
-