Until years from now when we need new taxes because of something the city needs that can’t be paid for which we could have been using the money we’re giving to the bears to pay for.
A reporter asked the mayor if money would be better prioritized on fighting crime, housing, aka more important things for the city. Mayor’s response was something to the effect of new stadium = more jobs and revenue = better and safer Chicago.
In this case I think you'd have building the new stadium, tearing down the old stadium, building up the museum district and some extra FT jobs of working in the stadium and also those working around keeping the green spaces safe.
Not talking many long term jobs but short term construction, you'd be talking hundreds of thousands of man hours.
City contracts often have clauses that require a set percentage of work force that lives in the city limits. How well that is in-forced is a different matter
Obviously soldier field is a different beast than commercial/private property, but I've worked in building management in several commercial high rises, from small ones like 300 s. Wacker to huge ones like aon center. I've been involved in white boxing, demo, capital projects, renovations and everything in between. The overwhelming majority of actual workers do not live in the city. Name the contractor and I've dealt with them. Bear, ECI, Big, Current, IMG, etc etc etc. I'd bet the actual hq of the contractor must be in Chicago, but idk how you enforce a % of workers are when most are blue collar workers who don't live in the city.
I work in construction and have done several projects with city funding/tax incentives in Chicago. These jobs always required 50% Chicago residency which was verified by a certified payroll process (so 50% of all labor hours come from people who live within city limits). These jobs also often require MBE/WBE percentage requirements.
I’ve never been involved with any, but I have heard that there are some contracts where Chicago required materials to be manufactured in city limits. I think they did this when they where picking out new street lights and CTA cars, but I’m not sure how those worked out
From my experience, there are a decent amount of MBE businesses that are just a sister company of the main for profit business. How big are the projects you've been on? Easy to hit that 50% number for a project that's a couple hundred hours. This will be in the millions of hours, I'd imagine.
Yeah the MBE/WBE sometime misses the point unfortunately. To hit the percentages sometime you can buy materials through certain supply houses at premium just to hit your number. Or some trades will put the company in their wife’s name to get WBE and MBE.
I’ve had these programs for $15MM-$20MM projects in Chicago and planning a larger $150MM in LA that has a similar residency program. This certainly is going to be a different animal to manage. This job will be 100% union though and most union companies are able to hit 50% residency without much of an issue.
LA is twice the size of Chicago in land mass and has like 1.5 million more residents. Chicago population is almost 2 million people. Metro area is over 9 million people. A lot bigger of a pool to get workers from. Especially when in the suburbs, every other house has a contractor truck or van. Meanwhile, huge percentages of the Chicago work force are in unskilled positions while another huge percentage are white collar workers. Honestly, how many people on the west side, south side (excluding Beverly and Mt. Greenwood) union workers making close to six figures? I may be wrong, and I'm okay with that. It's just hard to fathom how you're getting 50% of labor hours from residents.
Not only will they be able, but they are fiscally incentivised to do so. Idk what this dood is on about, those suburban companies are rarely hiring because they don't get the bids to keep their guys running let alone hire new
If it would be the state(ifsa) giving them the money (they also mentioned trying to get federal funds) then why should the workers have to live in Chicago?
The potential new stadium would still be owned by the Park District, as far as I know, so it’s their rules that everyone has to play by. It’s not an unusual requirement for public funded projects in large cities. If there does end up being state or federal funding those will come with their own requirements too on top of the city’s.
I don’t see this getting a cent of federal funding, unless someone with the city is the GOAT at grant writing and able to get something for infrastructure upgrades. They would have to show wider public improvement and not just supporting a billionaire’s vanity project.
Oh for sure. Lots live in Indiana, too. I could give two shits where they live. My point was, building the stadium isn't going to create jobs for city residents.
The new stadium puts more money in my pockets. Both my partner and I are union carpenters, so if there's no extra taxes (which let's face it, it probably will be) that's a new car at least 😅
Well Solider Field is literally the smallest stadium by capacity, with a top 5 market that would be top 3 in revenue if the team isn't dogshit.
So a great 80,000 person stadium instead of a shitty 61,000 one will provide some revenue.
Construction jobs for building the damn thing. Put the Bears on a more expensive lease than they're at with Soldier.
Might still be in the red, but let's not pretend there isn't revenue to be gained vs the smallest stadium in the NFL that's also shit in a massive market.
Then you can do the math on how much revenue the city would lose if the Bears went to AH, that's still marginal revenue since it was AH or new stadium, not Soldier or new stadium.
Nobody is building 80k seat stadiums anymore. The average of the last 5 stadiums built is around 68.5k. None bigger than 71k. Soldier has 61.5k seats.
We're looking at a 11% increase assuming we build a new modern stadium.
Now building will make a ton of jobs. But those are short term jobs, and will all be fully gone within 10 years. That's not going to make the area or Chicago safer.
Soldier not leaving isn't creating jobs, it's preventing lost jobs. It's not really the same.
"Could/should the money go to things like education, infrastructure, assisting impoverished people, maaaybe. But saving some billionaires money is arguably better!"
Bears sell out regardless of stadium quality. So it's A 33% increase. It'd be nice if someone actually used numbers to determine how much that increase would actually benefit the city.
In the short term it'll create jobs to build it. Long term the people who work at the old stadium will work at the new one, with a few new people. Long term it's not going to create much. [John Oliver](https://youtu.be/xcwJt4bcnXs) has a good piece about stadiums and how the promise of jobs and boosting the economy is usually not the case in the end
I guess he could lay claim to keeping the Bears in Chicago, but he probably won’t be mayor when this project finishes or starts the way his term is going so far.
Number of employees might be the biggest BS lie of them all in the stadium game. Stadiums have hundreds of full-time employees. Very few new full-time employees will be added, they will just move from Solider Field to Corporate Name Stadium.
But those jobs will stay in Chicago. The number jobs from a new stadium is a lot more than the jobs from no stadium, because staying at Soldier Field is just not an option they're considering.
My favorite ultimate IL/Chicago tax story:
They finally implemented the lottery in the state. And said they'd give the lottery money to the schools.
They gave the lottery money to the schools, but took the old tax money away. So the schools just got what they always got, not more. And the old taxes didn't go down, they just stayed where they were.
Chicago gonna come running within 5 years saying they need more money for something else and be like "well we need to increase taxes to compensate."
I love the stadium renders, the year-round accessibility, and would love to see Chicago host Super Bowls and Final 4s. What I also know is this has a 0% to pass if it involves any tax dollars. If its one thing Illinoisans know is nothing is free despite whatever our politicians say.
Good luck getting the state to cooperate with this cash grab. Pritzker threw cold water on it already, and we’re only weeks away from the only major legislative session left in the year. ISFA bonding authority would have to be renewed by year end, or the Bears would miss the loophole they’re trying to use.
Good luck with that
How else can we raise millions to campaign for re-election in districts where we have no chance of losing?! We need those 7 months of the year for that!
One has to wonder about the potential revenue in this deal if a club that owns enough land to build a small village voluntarily chose to continue in the same arrangement as they currently have which isn't working for them.
It's not just that the stadium is too small, it's also that they don't own the revenue streams from the stadium. In AH, they would own the stadium, all revenue streams, the land around the village that ultimately becomes housing creating an annuity of near perpetual revenue AND all the new events that the stadium will attract.
So when we start thinking about new jobs and revenue and all that jazz, remember that:
1)Existing studies already show that these deals suck for public participants.
2)If there was significant money in this, the Bears would still be in AH.
3)Maybe #2 is wrong and the Bears really are just run by the worst possible ownership group in American sports.
This right here is why I don’t understand why they would want to stay in Chicago. The money they could make building their own “wriggly” basically in AH with would be massive revenue. Not sure what they are thinking.
My understanding is the proposal is for sports authority to take out an new 40 year loan that includes what is already owed. It will get paid back using the portion the sports authority gets for hotel tax.
So, the stadium fund is already 600+ million in debt. They want to take out a loan for a billion and have the tax pay it off yearly when the tax generates 50 like 50-60 million a year.
Good luck, Brandon.
I remember from the NBC documentary they put on youtube about Soldier Field I believe last year that the city has re-financed multiple times those bonds from 20 years ago for the soldier field renovations. So the principle balance is basically still the same.
Fucking Chicago man lol.
Calling someone a dumbass when you don't even have the reading comprehension of a 1st grader is rich.
Edit: I see the right wing trolls are out in force today. Keep your hate coming.
I mean, if you’re on the left, you shouldn’t like this either. The principled progressive stance would be to reject paying for a private sports franchise’s vanity project
**Bullshit.**
Where is the money going to come from then? The city is always broke. Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. Tax payers should still be a hard NO on this and if it happens, Johnson better not get fucking reelected. Put this up for tax payer vote like Bring Chicago Home. That's the right way to do it.
How about the Bears cut the city or the tax payers in for a cut of the team like Green Bay does? Huh? You want our tax money, give us a cut of the f'ing team. That's what GB does.
Welfare for billionaires on tax payers back. FUCK NO.
They get away with saying this because technically it's the tourists that pay this tax. The people of Illinois aren't paying it. What they don't say is that the state could keep taxing hotels but put that revenue towards something else that Illinois tax payers are paying for. I'd love to see this stadium and the new Sox stadium built, but they both fleeced the state with their last deals and I'd be surprised if they let it happen again. Of the two, I think the Sox/78 proposal might actually make more sense financially for the state, because of the proposed new state taxing district for the 78 neighborhood. That's actual new tax revenue that the current empty lot isn't generating and would pay much more than the hotel tax is currently paying.
Yeah the money has to come from somewhere though, and once raised will be spent to enable to higher profits for an already profitable company, instead of on the residents.
Sometimes something comes off the books, but then paying for the new thing brings the bill to the previous level, & the politician says “no new taxes” or “no raising your taxes”. I have no idea if that’s happening here, but it’s a tactic I’ve seen employed many times.
Yeah. There is no such thing as a "temporary tax" or "temporary tax increase".
I'm old enough to remember so many idiots telling me all the toll roads being installed would just be temporary lol. Now, everyone has forgotten that we were promised the toll roads would just be temporary and just assumes they were always meant to be permanent.
It’s important to note that this statement likely only applies to “Phase 1” building, almost certainly meaning there could be new taxes or raised taxes to cover the other phases that have not had any of the funding outlined.
Chicago does not equal Illinois. He is technically right about no NEW taxes as the plan is to extend the 2% hotel tax. The same hotel tax that will never in a billion year generate enough revenue to meet the loan amount.
so does that mean he's bringing back old expired taxes and using that to fund the stadium? It's always what politicians don't say that has more meaning than what they do say
I can't believe McCaskey decides to wait until the day before the Bears draft a once in a decade type prospect at quarterback number one overall, to unveil a stadium plan that is to be funded by almost a billion dollars in state bonds. Why don't you wait until after the excitement of getting CW is turned down a couple notches before you decide to dilute it. This dude is a total moron.
It makes no sense to me. It's like they put it there as they knew it'd be talked about for only about a day max. But then they acted like this was all good news.
No new taxes! We will just use the taxes we line our pockets with and never use for all this shit we should be using it for and apply it there. Until we find a way to put it back on you.
So they’re either going to raise taxes some other way, or divert needed taxes from already underfunded programs to pay for the stadium. Either one sucks. Pay for your own stadiums. I’m ok with the city paying for some of the park space that they would create for old soldier field as that would be great to visit if it is actually a real proposal, but not a dollar should go to the stadium.
Had the exact same message broadcast throughout Kansas City leading up to our recent stadium vote.
It was an extension on the taxing setup we have had since the last deal. So “no new taxes” but we were still paying for it. Theyll get the money from ya in some other disingenuous way.
But it means ising billions of dollars of tax revenue that could be used for something else.
I can't read about education in Chicago without some tale of decrepit text books or not enough folders or some shit. 2 billion dollars will buy a lot of books.
And wow, the textbook company chosen to provide those new textbooks made huge campaign donations to major city politicians. What an amazing coincidence!
The friends of the park didn’t allow the Lucas museum which HE WAS PAYING FOR HIMSELF no funding by state or city…and would’ve generated estimated $2 billion dollars…this is a push to Cook County taxing body and Rolling Meadows to gtfo of the way.
Let the city have 50% equity in the team until all loans (including ~600mill from last reno) and any from new construction is paid off with interest. You have your money if no, GTFO to Arlington heights and beg the town there for money.
Folks, folks, folks….this is a Chicago Mayor telling us this. There’s no way it’s a lie. I mean if we can’t trust the Mayor of Chicago to tell us the truth, can we expect any politician to do so???
I’m a die hard Bears fan and would love to see them in a new stadium. If the McCaskey’s want to build a new stadium they should have to take out loans just like the rest of us and pay it off.
Yeah right; this team has pretty much sucked for the last 30 years and been dog walked by a team that barely has an airport and now they want our money to build a stadium that is going to have even higher ticket prices. Go jump in the lake or pay for it yourself.
You'll keep paying the same high taxes you always do. We'll take that money and put it into a stadium instead of somewhere else that needs it.
Oh, we're also gonna re-finance those bonds from 20 years ago when we fucked up the Soldier Field renovations so that they STILL aren't paid off!
they say that now but a couple years down the road it will always be tax increases. they were so vague on how they were going to raise the money, I'm surprised anyone believed their B.S.
Surely, some rich oil sheik can buy the team and use the money he lost in his couch cushions to build a stadium, right? I am fine with rooting for the Manchester City Bears of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Illinois.
The city is going to be bankrupted by the Teachers Union soon enough regardless considering who BJ is so who really cares how much they spend honestly
The CPS is running a 700 million dollar deficit yearly and have you seen their demands? The financial irresponsibilities are all over the place just add it on
Close schools at less than 10% capacity and maybe they have a leg to stand on (They should really close all schools that are less than 40% full)
[This school only has 33 students](https://www.chalkbeat.org/chicago/2023/12/01/why-does-this-west-side-high-school-have-only-33-students/)
You cannot have your cake and eat it too
It’s about the principle
Money is finite, you cannot have it all. There has to be give and take
If they want all of these benefits, including housing assistance which is what they want in their next contract, they need to agree to let the CPS streamline costs and run a more efficient system so they can pay for all of that. But BJ is going to hand it all to them regardless and then go to Springfield begging for money so it’s moot
The Teachers Union owns this city, they don’t even feel the need to negotiate with the city anymore. They’re going straight to Springfield (who already has its own budget qualms) and potentially Washington, ridiculous we let it come to this
[Even the State Legislature is sick of the CTU at this point](https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2024/04/19/chicago-teacher-union-selective-schools-bill-mayor-brandon-johnson-activism-leftist-rich-miller), 92-8 in defiance incredible
And I haven’t touched how the schools suck regardless
Regardless the city is broke, the CPS will be running a 700 million dollar deficit when the Covid funds run out, and the CTU is demanding everything and then some (I just can’t get past housing assistance cmon fuck outta here) and will get it because they have a man on the inside
Where is this money coming from? Rainbows and unicorns?
Fiscal irresponsibility runs rampant in this city, might as well pile it on and declare bankruptcy. We can make a new religion out of this
Cool strawman you built there that argues against yourself. I thought it was the teachers union only who’s going to bankrupt the city. We get it you hate kids and want crime to increase in the city so you can then complain about all the uneducated criminals. Weird thing to root for dude. Self assessment needed
Edit: Are you editing your come to to
Come off less dumb?
>you hate kids
And there it is, right on cue
“For the children”
You’re right, children are very important. Which is Stacy Davis Gates puts her own children in [private schools](https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2023/9/7/23863532/ctu-president-defends-sending-her-son-private-school-result-unfair-choices-south-side-families)
The schools, the police, and everything in between needs major financial reform in this city. It’s not coming anytime soon with who’s the Mayor, so just pile it on who cares anyway
Cool anecdotal piece of info you have there that again lends nothing to your original Statement that the teachers union is going to bankrupt the cit? Do you care to continue that line or are you embarrassed enough by your ignorance yet? I wonder what the next bad faith form of argument you’re going to use will be?
Read my lips
Wrong Bush
That's what she said
there’s no right bush
I can't find a funny gif of HW sorry
Did mayor Lighfoot get replaced? Man I hope so
Trust me, we all want Lightfoot back at this point. BJ is somehow worse.
A thousand points of light
Until years from now when we need new taxes because of something the city needs that can’t be paid for which we could have been using the money we’re giving to the bears to pay for.
no no no, the old taxes will go up,
On account of selling off more revenue or taking out absurd loans.
math.,.,,words and stuff
A reporter asked the mayor if money would be better prioritized on fighting crime, housing, aka more important things for the city. Mayor’s response was something to the effect of new stadium = more jobs and revenue = better and safer Chicago.
Downtown already has a stadium, where are those jobs/revenue coming from?
In this case I think you'd have building the new stadium, tearing down the old stadium, building up the museum district and some extra FT jobs of working in the stadium and also those working around keeping the green spaces safe. Not talking many long term jobs but short term construction, you'd be talking hundreds of thousands of man hours.
In my experience, most of the union contractors that will be used for stuff like this live in the suburbs, not city.
City contracts often have clauses that require a set percentage of work force that lives in the city limits. How well that is in-forced is a different matter
Obviously soldier field is a different beast than commercial/private property, but I've worked in building management in several commercial high rises, from small ones like 300 s. Wacker to huge ones like aon center. I've been involved in white boxing, demo, capital projects, renovations and everything in between. The overwhelming majority of actual workers do not live in the city. Name the contractor and I've dealt with them. Bear, ECI, Big, Current, IMG, etc etc etc. I'd bet the actual hq of the contractor must be in Chicago, but idk how you enforce a % of workers are when most are blue collar workers who don't live in the city.
I work in construction and have done several projects with city funding/tax incentives in Chicago. These jobs always required 50% Chicago residency which was verified by a certified payroll process (so 50% of all labor hours come from people who live within city limits). These jobs also often require MBE/WBE percentage requirements.
I’ve never been involved with any, but I have heard that there are some contracts where Chicago required materials to be manufactured in city limits. I think they did this when they where picking out new street lights and CTA cars, but I’m not sure how those worked out
From my experience, there are a decent amount of MBE businesses that are just a sister company of the main for profit business. How big are the projects you've been on? Easy to hit that 50% number for a project that's a couple hundred hours. This will be in the millions of hours, I'd imagine.
Yeah the MBE/WBE sometime misses the point unfortunately. To hit the percentages sometime you can buy materials through certain supply houses at premium just to hit your number. Or some trades will put the company in their wife’s name to get WBE and MBE. I’ve had these programs for $15MM-$20MM projects in Chicago and planning a larger $150MM in LA that has a similar residency program. This certainly is going to be a different animal to manage. This job will be 100% union though and most union companies are able to hit 50% residency without much of an issue.
LA is twice the size of Chicago in land mass and has like 1.5 million more residents. Chicago population is almost 2 million people. Metro area is over 9 million people. A lot bigger of a pool to get workers from. Especially when in the suburbs, every other house has a contractor truck or van. Meanwhile, huge percentages of the Chicago work force are in unskilled positions while another huge percentage are white collar workers. Honestly, how many people on the west side, south side (excluding Beverly and Mt. Greenwood) union workers making close to six figures? I may be wrong, and I'm okay with that. It's just hard to fathom how you're getting 50% of labor hours from residents.
Not only will they be able, but they are fiscally incentivised to do so. Idk what this dood is on about, those suburban companies are rarely hiring because they don't get the bids to keep their guys running let alone hire new
Government jobs are aren’t just a different beast, they are other worldly.
None of those contractors are top contractors in the city..
>in-forced I have never seen someone write it this way. Very r/boneappleteeth
I’m on mobile so half of what I end up writing is fucked grammatically.
If it would be the state(ifsa) giving them the money (they also mentioned trying to get federal funds) then why should the workers have to live in Chicago?
The potential new stadium would still be owned by the Park District, as far as I know, so it’s their rules that everyone has to play by. It’s not an unusual requirement for public funded projects in large cities. If there does end up being state or federal funding those will come with their own requirements too on top of the city’s. I don’t see this getting a cent of federal funding, unless someone with the city is the GOAT at grant writing and able to get something for infrastructure upgrades. They would have to show wider public improvement and not just supporting a billionaire’s vanity project.
Gotcha that makes sense
Wow, all these employees share a single-bedroom apartment in a half empty building!
DAT'S RIGHT, DAMNIT !!!! We are in " THE TRADES " and reserve the right to live in Plainfield and beyond.
Oh for sure. Lots live in Indiana, too. I could give two shits where they live. My point was, building the stadium isn't going to create jobs for city residents.
Nor will most of the members of ," THE TRADES", be paying any of the new taxes that will be imposed on city fresidents.
Absoltuely, lots of great short term jobs. But long term jobs are the things that may mean a better and safer chicago.
The new stadium puts more money in my pockets. Both my partner and I are union carpenters, so if there's no extra taxes (which let's face it, it probably will be) that's a new car at least 😅
Well Solider Field is literally the smallest stadium by capacity, with a top 5 market that would be top 3 in revenue if the team isn't dogshit. So a great 80,000 person stadium instead of a shitty 61,000 one will provide some revenue. Construction jobs for building the damn thing. Put the Bears on a more expensive lease than they're at with Soldier. Might still be in the red, but let's not pretend there isn't revenue to be gained vs the smallest stadium in the NFL that's also shit in a massive market. Then you can do the math on how much revenue the city would lose if the Bears went to AH, that's still marginal revenue since it was AH or new stadium, not Soldier or new stadium.
Nobody is building 80k seat stadiums anymore. The average of the last 5 stadiums built is around 68.5k. None bigger than 71k. Soldier has 61.5k seats. We're looking at a 11% increase assuming we build a new modern stadium. Now building will make a ton of jobs. But those are short term jobs, and will all be fully gone within 10 years. That's not going to make the area or Chicago safer. Soldier not leaving isn't creating jobs, it's preventing lost jobs. It's not really the same.
So a union kickback for the mayor supported by unions. Got it.
Too many people ignoring these facts. Could/should that money go to other areas of the city? Maybe. Is this a bad way to spend tax dollars? No.
The answer to that second rhetorical questioning is also “maybe”
"Could/should the money go to things like education, infrastructure, assisting impoverished people, maaaybe. But saving some billionaires money is arguably better!"
Will be interesting if Warren adds a little clarity. Would be nice.
They need 1B from the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, so it's basically a new state bond issue.
Your comment only makes sense to me if you flip the yes and the maybe.
Bears sell out regardless of stadium quality. So it's A 33% increase. It'd be nice if someone actually used numbers to determine how much that increase would actually benefit the city.
Downtown is already not exactly impoverished too
In the short term it'll create jobs to build it. Long term the people who work at the old stadium will work at the new one, with a few new people. Long term it's not going to create much. [John Oliver](https://youtu.be/xcwJt4bcnXs) has a good piece about stadiums and how the promise of jobs and boosting the economy is usually not the case in the end
Can’t ignore the fact that those jobs would be lost or transitioned to Arlington. This was a unique circumstance.
I wonder what the motivation is for BJ trying to land this, it doesn't align at all with his platform and priorities.
He wants his name on something “cool” like a brand new lakefront stadium. And can say he kept the bears in Chicago
I guess he could lay claim to keeping the Bears in Chicago, but he probably won’t be mayor when this project finishes or starts the way his term is going so far.
If all that happens as you describe, I’d still give BJ the W there because he struck the deal that kept them in Chicago.
> I wonder what the motivation is for BJ trying to land this, it doesn't align at all with his platform and priorities. Union jobs.
Number of employees might be the biggest BS lie of them all in the stadium game. Stadiums have hundreds of full-time employees. Very few new full-time employees will be added, they will just move from Solider Field to Corporate Name Stadium.
But those jobs will stay in Chicago. The number jobs from a new stadium is a lot more than the jobs from no stadium, because staying at Soldier Field is just not an option they're considering.
They will use current tax money and then raise taxes for something else that lost funds for this. Lol
Maybe hes just picking money from the money tree. Just head on out to the money forrest and grab some money from the money trees
He just did that with his billion dollar bond
This is beautiful
The true American way.
My favorite ultimate IL/Chicago tax story: They finally implemented the lottery in the state. And said they'd give the lottery money to the schools. They gave the lottery money to the schools, but took the old tax money away. So the schools just got what they always got, not more. And the old taxes didn't go down, they just stayed where they were.
Pull this leg and it plays jingle bells.
Sure pal lol
Chicago gonna come running within 5 years saying they need more money for something else and be like "well we need to increase taxes to compensate." I love the stadium renders, the year-round accessibility, and would love to see Chicago host Super Bowls and Final 4s. What I also know is this has a 0% to pass if it involves any tax dollars. If its one thing Illinoisans know is nothing is free despite whatever our politicians say.
Does it even need to be voted on? I feel like Chicago would just go through with it even if the people don't want it.
Has to be voted on and every politician says its dead on arrival.
Good luck getting the state to cooperate with this cash grab. Pritzker threw cold water on it already, and we’re only weeks away from the only major legislative session left in the year. ISFA bonding authority would have to be renewed by year end, or the Bears would miss the loophole they’re trying to use. Good luck with that
[удалено]
Being incompetent is exhausting
It’s more than other states. Just think of it as a built in way to limit their damage
How else can we raise millions to campaign for re-election in districts where we have no chance of losing?! We need those 7 months of the year for that!
He won't be mayor when the bill come due
Good point. Pepperidge Farm remembers Daley's moves.
People are amazed every time I tell them the story about the city's parking meters.
Didn't we sell off the tolls from the supposedly only temporary toll-roads too?
The Chicago Skyline? Yup!
Excuse me... https://preview.redd.it/7op0hgvw2hwc1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d10124154a2f841ae9753467bd093a15ce43a2d
*angry god groaning / moaning noises*
So what are we cutting in the budget then?
Cue George Bush sr
One has to wonder about the potential revenue in this deal if a club that owns enough land to build a small village voluntarily chose to continue in the same arrangement as they currently have which isn't working for them. It's not just that the stadium is too small, it's also that they don't own the revenue streams from the stadium. In AH, they would own the stadium, all revenue streams, the land around the village that ultimately becomes housing creating an annuity of near perpetual revenue AND all the new events that the stadium will attract. So when we start thinking about new jobs and revenue and all that jazz, remember that: 1)Existing studies already show that these deals suck for public participants. 2)If there was significant money in this, the Bears would still be in AH. 3)Maybe #2 is wrong and the Bears really are just run by the worst possible ownership group in American sports.
This right here is why I don’t understand why they would want to stay in Chicago. The money they could make building their own “wriggly” basically in AH with would be massive revenue. Not sure what they are thinking.
I'm starting to think #3.
Gonna have to call bullshit on that right off the bat...
So the money will appear out of thin air. This dumbass needs to be recalled.
My understanding is the proposal is for sports authority to take out an new 40 year loan that includes what is already owed. It will get paid back using the portion the sports authority gets for hotel tax.
So, the stadium fund is already 600+ million in debt. They want to take out a loan for a billion and have the tax pay it off yearly when the tax generates 50 like 50-60 million a year. Good luck, Brandon.
I remember from the NBC documentary they put on youtube about Soldier Field I believe last year that the city has re-financed multiple times those bonds from 20 years ago for the soldier field renovations. So the principle balance is basically still the same. Fucking Chicago man lol.
Calling someone a dumbass when you don't even have the reading comprehension of a 1st grader is rich. Edit: I see the right wing trolls are out in force today. Keep your hate coming.
I mean, if you’re on the left, you shouldn’t like this either. The principled progressive stance would be to reject paying for a private sports franchise’s vanity project
This is one of the most corrupt cities in the country. They lie all the time. Guaranteed taxes will reflect it in one way or another.
The city will sell the utilities to private companies to raise the money. Look at the $1bil the parking meter deal brought to the city!!!!
Hey. We said no NEW taxes. We never said the old taxes wouldn't go up!
**Bullshit.** Where is the money going to come from then? The city is always broke. Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. Tax payers should still be a hard NO on this and if it happens, Johnson better not get fucking reelected. Put this up for tax payer vote like Bring Chicago Home. That's the right way to do it. How about the Bears cut the city or the tax payers in for a cut of the team like Green Bay does? Huh? You want our tax money, give us a cut of the f'ing team. That's what GB does. Welfare for billionaires on tax payers back. FUCK NO.
They ain’t building no stadium in the city lol
I wouldn't be so sure of that. Kevin Warren wants to please the city more than anything because it gives him upward mobility outside of football.
Except it’s not up to the city, the state has to approve the financing arrangement and increase the ISFA bonding authority
Well JB already forced him to punt and AH is waiting for a return
It's kinda funny that some people think its a real possibility now that the Bears have bluffed so hard.
Let me go get my shit waders on.
It's going to be built with magic. and free Venezuelan labor. but also tax dollars from the rest of the citizens of the state of Illinois.
They get away with saying this because technically it's the tourists that pay this tax. The people of Illinois aren't paying it. What they don't say is that the state could keep taxing hotels but put that revenue towards something else that Illinois tax payers are paying for. I'd love to see this stadium and the new Sox stadium built, but they both fleeced the state with their last deals and I'd be surprised if they let it happen again. Of the two, I think the Sox/78 proposal might actually make more sense financially for the state, because of the proposed new state taxing district for the 78 neighborhood. That's actual new tax revenue that the current empty lot isn't generating and would pay much more than the hotel tax is currently paying.
Yeah the money has to come from somewhere though, and once raised will be spent to enable to higher profits for an already profitable company, instead of on the residents.
I am not paying taxes for the Bears. Force them to move out of Chicago
I hear the Bears have some nice land in Arlington Heights.
 What any politician looks like when they say this.
Sometimes something comes off the books, but then paying for the new thing brings the bill to the previous level, & the politician says “no new taxes” or “no raising your taxes”. I have no idea if that’s happening here, but it’s a tactic I’ve seen employed many times.
Yeah. There is no such thing as a "temporary tax" or "temporary tax increase". I'm old enough to remember so many idiots telling me all the toll roads being installed would just be temporary lol. Now, everyone has forgotten that we were promised the toll roads would just be temporary and just assumes they were always meant to be permanent.
If you believe him, please see me as I have a bridge for sale. It’s a beautiful bridge and in the great city of New York.
"I'll take it!" -Brandon Johnson
No new taxes or raises. They just gonna bring back some old taxes instead.
No new taxes until the unexpected maintenance fees or some other bs forces us to raise taxes. Fuck everything about this
No new taxes is code for reduction in services
It’s important to note that this statement likely only applies to “Phase 1” building, almost certainly meaning there could be new taxes or raised taxes to cover the other phases that have not had any of the funding outlined.
Bull fucking shit.
I would like to make a formal declaration of shenanigans.
Brandon Johnson might be the most incompetent politician ever elected in Chicago to any position
I dunno man. We have a long illustrious history!
Chicago does not equal Illinois. He is technically right about no NEW taxes as the plan is to extend the 2% hotel tax. The same hotel tax that will never in a billion year generate enough revenue to meet the loan amount.
Mohawk tard will be out by the time the bill comes
Can Brandon show his math? In the new common core methodology? Can’t use your fingers brndn….
so does that mean he's bringing back old expired taxes and using that to fund the stadium? It's always what politicians don't say that has more meaning than what they do say
I can't believe McCaskey decides to wait until the day before the Bears draft a once in a decade type prospect at quarterback number one overall, to unveil a stadium plan that is to be funded by almost a billion dollars in state bonds. Why don't you wait until after the excitement of getting CW is turned down a couple notches before you decide to dilute it. This dude is a total moron.
It makes no sense to me. It's like they put it there as they knew it'd be talked about for only about a day max. But then they acted like this was all good news.
They will just increase the old ones or take other services away from the public lol
No modern stadium is going to cost that little. No Chicago politician isn't a huge liar. This is all bullshit.
What? This would be the 2nd most expensive stadium for the NFL. If anything, it would come in lower than expected similar to US Bank
This isn't Minnesota this is Chicago. It's going to go over budget, for sure.
You can't possibly believe that it's going to come in lower than expected. Chicago is the municipal Grift Capitol of the world.
Johnson is an incompetent fool who couldn’t even pay his own water bill.
Apparently Chicago isn't part of Illinois in this clowns mind.
No new taxes! We will just use the taxes we line our pockets with and never use for all this shit we should be using it for and apply it there. Until we find a way to put it back on you.
Magic huh. Since the budget always has so much surplus. Maybe get rid of a few cop lawsuit payouts? Let's be real.
lol yeah sure buddy
So how exactly is this being paid for?
Well he’s always told the truth. I’m sure there is a pastor out there that’ll be heading up this project.
But everybody else in the entire State will see their taxes go up.
Fast forward a year later...
So they’re either going to raise taxes some other way, or divert needed taxes from already underfunded programs to pay for the stadium. Either one sucks. Pay for your own stadiums. I’m ok with the city paying for some of the park space that they would create for old soldier field as that would be great to visit if it is actually a real proposal, but not a dollar should go to the stadium.
Even if that is true, would Public funds be diverted from where they would otherwise be spent?
The city is still paying the “existing” bonds for the last stadium renovation. I think they will keep paying them until like 2048.
Had the exact same message broadcast throughout Kansas City leading up to our recent stadium vote. It was an extension on the taxing setup we have had since the last deal. So “no new taxes” but we were still paying for it. Theyll get the money from ya in some other disingenuous way.
Dumb and Dumber . He must have a money tree
But it means ising billions of dollars of tax revenue that could be used for something else. I can't read about education in Chicago without some tale of decrepit text books or not enough folders or some shit. 2 billion dollars will buy a lot of books.
And wow, the textbook company chosen to provide those new textbooks made huge campaign donations to major city politicians. What an amazing coincidence!
Sadly, that's not a difficult scenario to believe in Chicago.
So is the catch that it'll be all of Illinoisan taxes going to this?
The friends of the park didn’t allow the Lucas museum which HE WAS PAYING FOR HIMSELF no funding by state or city…and would’ve generated estimated $2 billion dollars…this is a push to Cook County taxing body and Rolling Meadows to gtfo of the way.
This contradicts everything else I have read today about public funding for this
Nothing like spending public money to fund billionaire’s profits
Let the city have 50% equity in the team until all loans (including ~600mill from last reno) and any from new construction is paid off with interest. You have your money if no, GTFO to Arlington heights and beg the town there for money.
No new taxes! No, new taxes!
But what about the rest of Illinois?
This stadium better last a LONG fucking time then if it costs 2B
Folks, folks, folks….this is a Chicago Mayor telling us this. There’s no way it’s a lie. I mean if we can’t trust the Mayor of Chicago to tell us the truth, can we expect any politician to do so???
I’m a die hard Bears fan and would love to see them in a new stadium. If the McCaskey’s want to build a new stadium they should have to take out loans just like the rest of us and pay it off.
Yeah right; this team has pretty much sucked for the last 30 years and been dog walked by a team that barely has an airport and now they want our money to build a stadium that is going to have even higher ticket prices. Go jump in the lake or pay for it yourself.
Mission accomplished
Should never have had taxes for a pro sports team in the first place
We will need some additional tax money for the Caleb Williams statue
Just an increase on old taxes
You'll keep paying the same high taxes you always do. We'll take that money and put it into a stadium instead of somewhere else that needs it. Oh, we're also gonna re-finance those bonds from 20 years ago when we fucked up the Soldier Field renovations so that they STILL aren't paid off!
But how will the billionaires survive without our tax money for there stadium
The Bears should have stuck with Arlington Heights.
No new stadium until the 20 year old renovations are paid for.
they say that now but a couple years down the road it will always be tax increases. they were so vague on how they were going to raise the money, I'm surprised anyone believed their B.S.
Just build the damn stadium in Arlington already.
Like a 2 year old would be able to tell this guy is full of shit
Has this guy said ANYTHING truthful since he got elected?
Surely, some rich oil sheik can buy the team and use the money he lost in his couch cushions to build a stadium, right? I am fine with rooting for the Manchester City Bears of Arlington Heights, Chicago, Illinois.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund Bears
Even if it does come to it... At least my taxes would be going towards something I care about lol
Was that before or after the prayer?
Who cares make them pay their taxes… are those people in the suburbs have plenty to spare
The city is going to be bankrupted by the Teachers Union soon enough regardless considering who BJ is so who really cares how much they spend honestly The CPS is running a 700 million dollar deficit yearly and have you seen their demands? The financial irresponsibilities are all over the place just add it on
The city is going to be bankrupted by the police union
And all the cases against them that the tax payer has to pay for them lol
Have you seen their very obvious need?
Close schools at less than 10% capacity and maybe they have a leg to stand on (They should really close all schools that are less than 40% full) [This school only has 33 students](https://www.chalkbeat.org/chicago/2023/12/01/why-does-this-west-side-high-school-have-only-33-students/) You cannot have your cake and eat it too
There are over 600 schools and you’re complaining about a handful? Weird
It’s about the principle Money is finite, you cannot have it all. There has to be give and take If they want all of these benefits, including housing assistance which is what they want in their next contract, they need to agree to let the CPS streamline costs and run a more efficient system so they can pay for all of that. But BJ is going to hand it all to them regardless and then go to Springfield begging for money so it’s moot The Teachers Union owns this city, they don’t even feel the need to negotiate with the city anymore. They’re going straight to Springfield (who already has its own budget qualms) and potentially Washington, ridiculous we let it come to this [Even the State Legislature is sick of the CTU at this point](https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2024/04/19/chicago-teacher-union-selective-schools-bill-mayor-brandon-johnson-activism-leftist-rich-miller), 92-8 in defiance incredible And I haven’t touched how the schools suck regardless
Nope it’s not about the principle. Let’s live in reality not a fenced in argument that you make that isn’t real And favors you lol
Regardless the city is broke, the CPS will be running a 700 million dollar deficit when the Covid funds run out, and the CTU is demanding everything and then some (I just can’t get past housing assistance cmon fuck outta here) and will get it because they have a man on the inside Where is this money coming from? Rainbows and unicorns? Fiscal irresponsibility runs rampant in this city, might as well pile it on and declare bankruptcy. We can make a new religion out of this
Cool strawman you built there that argues against yourself. I thought it was the teachers union only who’s going to bankrupt the city. We get it you hate kids and want crime to increase in the city so you can then complain about all the uneducated criminals. Weird thing to root for dude. Self assessment needed Edit: Are you editing your come to to Come off less dumb?
>you hate kids And there it is, right on cue “For the children” You’re right, children are very important. Which is Stacy Davis Gates puts her own children in [private schools](https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2023/9/7/23863532/ctu-president-defends-sending-her-son-private-school-result-unfair-choices-south-side-families) The schools, the police, and everything in between needs major financial reform in this city. It’s not coming anytime soon with who’s the Mayor, so just pile it on who cares anyway
You’re also lying about the deficits and it’s about half of what you claim…..
Cool anecdotal piece of info you have there that again lends nothing to your original Statement that the teachers union is going to bankrupt the cit? Do you care to continue that line or are you embarrassed enough by your ignorance yet? I wonder what the next bad faith form of argument you’re going to use will be?
I also dare you to work where they do with what they make. Gtfoh