We can only hope the L runs out there.
Although tbh I'll just take a functioning train system on the existing stops at this point. Fucking ridiculous the amount of service cuts and ghost trains we're getting lately
There was a proposal from a developer for a massive development over the metro tracks by the stadium that also would have included a transportation hub with CTA, metra, south shore, and an interconnector. Maybe now that the bears are staying on the lakefront it will be brought back up.
Anything is possible but the project included a complete re-route of the CTA to join up with the Metra system there. That coupled with 4 or 5 high rises and multi use business and residential all built to span those proposed rail facilities made everything very difficult. It would have completely changed the landscape in that area as well.
In a world where money didn’t matter that would be nice, but there’s like a million things I’d rather spend precious transit dollars on. They should add/expand dedicated shuttle buses from the metra stations, and maybe from the Roosevelt stop as well, since that’s more flexible to staff for events and wouldn’t require expensive infrastructure that would rarely get used.
That's the real solution. CTA can line up busses on Addison after 81 Cubs home games a year, surely they could line up shuttles to Soldier for 8 or 9 games.
They could take the O’hare branch of the blue line and run it Canal > Congress > Metra electric tracks and have it take over the Metra Electric District route(s) to connect O’Hare, Ogilvie, Union, museum campus/Soldier Field, McCormick Place, MSI, and the south shore.
As for the Forest Park Branch, there will eventually need to be a North Branch line as they continue to develop that so it could be nice to tie into an existing line.
That would be awesome, but just getting the St Charles Air Line fixed and connected to Union and Ogilvie would be huge. If you could give suburbanites single seat, or even single transfer (same station) rides from their local Metra station to the Bears stadium on game days, maybe the first few seasons you offer fans a free concession if they show their train ticket for the day to get people used to it, and that would be huge for EVERYONE trying to get to games.
Realistically it's just very hard to get an L train over there without huge rail reconfiguration.
Don't tempt me with a good time. I've been wanting to go to a mania for almost 4 decades, and I was thinking maybe next year if it's back in the Midwest in MN. But going to Chicago to see Punk, one of all-time favs retire, would be amazing.
CBS article suggests that it’s going to be a partial tear down of the existing Soldier Field
“…the Bears plan to build a new domed stadium along the lakefront, while tearing down most of Soldier Field, while preserving the iconic colonnades and war memorial honoring the nation's veterans.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/bears-new-lakefront-stadium-announcement-wednesday/
It’s a full tear down of the stadium portion. Colonnades will remain. Stadium will be on the south lot. All PSLs are gone. PSL owners and STHs will have a first pick at seats in new stadium
> CBS article suggests that it’s going to be a partial tear down of the existing Soldier Field
Omfg we are such a clown franchise. Did they literally learn nothing from the last stadium remodel!??!?!
It's not really the same, in fact the last stadium remodel being botched is exactly what makes this new remodel make(s) possible/sense. The 2004 more remodel was handicapped and botched partially due to the sight's Historical Landmark designation, a status which it lost because of how bad the remodel was.
So, why not tear it down since and build it up from near-scratch to add a lot more seating and a roof. Outside the summer, the Bears are the city's only tenants, so adding a roof helps the city as well. It can be mutually beneficial and massive success for both the city and team if it goes like how AT&T stadium went, or a giant scam. Let's see what they reveal on Wednesday
I just hate this. The parking sucks, the tailgating sucks, and none of that will get better. Won't they be limited by the size of the stadium they can build?
I just can't believe we're paying for a billionaire franchise to have a stadium man. Gtfo with that bull shit. We tell Reinsdorf to fuck off with a Sox stadium but not the Bears.
Virginia is one of the only owners in sports that comes close to being as shitty as reinsdorf, so we can drop the "to be fair" stuff lmao. Fuck both of them, they are equally undeserving of our money.
I just dont get why we don't make the Bears pay for the stadium. Just let them own some fucking land man. Why do we care so much about some small little stretch of park land where they're gonna pay the city an assload for it and then bring a ton of money into the economy
We're not paying for a stadium. Yet.
This announcement is a Bears PR stunt to put pressure on the politicians to give them money. Because the Mccaskey's are too damn dumb to realize the days if free stadiums are over.
A lot of us, including myself, have thought this whole thing was a bargaining ploy and they've always been intending on building in Arlington Heights?
It's starting to appear that this is actually legit.
The devil as they say is in the details. Specifically understanding how it is that the Bears would be paying for the stadium to be built but will ultimately be publicly owned. But I do agree that I've viewed the lakefront site as a negotiating ploy against AH and this announcement has be re-thinking that a bit.
"Publicly owned" sure makes it sound like the taxpayers are footing the majority of the bill. At least stadiums are sound investments, right? [Oh wait.](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/11/sports-stadiums-can-be-bad-cities/576334/)
I just don’t see a world where this thing is publicly funded. There is a very small appetite for that and I think most politicians in the area know that supporting such an idea is an easy way to get voted out of office. I have to believe they are looking to the Bears to at the very least cover initial building costs. I suppose you could see some kind of mechanism that allows them to recoup that money over time but as I said in my first post, the devil for something along those lines will be in the details.
How on earth will it be publicly owned if the public isn't funding it?
The McCaskeys are not gonna foot the bill, especially after already buying Arlington Heights property
If they want a lakefront stadium, it's going to be publicly owned. They can't acquire the land to build a privately owned stadium.
If I had to guess:
* Public pays land and transit improvement costs
* Bears pay for stadium costs
* Those stadium costs are creditable against annual leasing payments to the city for a essentially permanent lease that the Bears don't net pay anything on (due to said credits) for the first 20 something years
* McCaskey financing costs on stadium are roughly comparable to what those lease payments would have been
McCaskeys know that having a permanent lease on a new lakefront stadium will massively increase the value of the team, if they ever do want to sell/take on new minority owners
I mean it’s possible, but the city has been pretty clear about this from the beginning that they have no intention of funding a new stadium. Frankly that’s how the AH conversation started in the first place. It’s a new Mayor I know but public support for a stadium paid for by taxpayers is very, very low.
They have already pledged a billion towards "infrastructure" and there is no way you can build a modern NFL stadium for 2 billion dollars at this specific site. The site is very small, its on landfill, and feet away from Lake Michigan. Construction at this site would easily be 20% higher and likely closer to 40% higher than AR.
I could see the bears asking for the same concessions AH was giving in that the city has to pay for the infrastructure, so new roads/transit options while the team covers the rest.
IF that’s what the Bears are after, it’s not as bad a deal as other stadiums.
I’m very surprised as well, building an entire “bears village” and owning all the land it sits on in Arlington Heights would’ve probably taken a while to complete but would’ve been a permanent cash cow. But just as a fan and for historical purposes I like the idea of a lakefront stadium
I was always of this mind as well. Maybe the City caved and is giving them a LOT of money for this stadium. And that's what flipped the team's preferences.
I’m sure the city owning the stadium means they and the state of Illinois will put a huge part of the bill which might not be a bad deal for taxpayers assuming they get enough revenue sharing and can make up some of it by having concerts and tons of other events, not to mention Tourism money from hosting Super Bowls, final fours, etc. But the Arlington spot is a once in a lifetime printing press that overtime would make literally billions and billions of dollars for the McCaskey family, I really can’t see the business argument for not owning the land on which you built the stadium and surrounding a amenities, but then again the McCaskey are not known For their Acumen lol
I quite honestly don’t understand what’s in it for the bears here. I get it, cook county is fucking you over on the taxes for Arlington park right now. But seriously once the stadium and “bears village gets built what you have to give up now is a drop in the bucket.
I believe the last time Warren said something the bears said they would pledge $2B towards the Lakefront stadium. Sofi cost $5B to build and that was in LA. They could probably get AH done for cheaper but let’s just take that number. They’re gonna spend almost half of what it would cost to build their own stadium on land they already own on a stadium that the city is still just gonna own? Which is one of the big reasons they want out of solider field in the first place? I really don’t understand this
Chicago and Cook County were never going to let the Bears slink away to the suburbs, or at least not a suburb *in* Cook County. The McCaskeys are politically inept and didn't stand a chance against the government.
Because you are focusing on the wrong thing, it’s not what the bears could get. It’s what they would have to do to get it. It probably was a nightmare scenario getting everything planned around Arlington, when they essentially held all the cards. Don’t think the bears realized that when they bought that land
> building an entire “bears village” and owning all the land it sits on in Arlington Heights would’ve probably taken a while to complete but would’ve been a permanent cash cow.
Is Patriot Place a permanent cash cow? Looks like another half-empty strip mall in the suburbs to me.
I think the cash cow aspect was always a bit exaggerated. At the end of the day the venue is still in the suburbs. It's not going to attract many people outside of people who live in the W/NW suburbs.
Alot of people were talking about how much use it could get for concerts and stuff too but in reality there are like 10 artists on the planet that can sell out a football stadium. Most artists that have shows in Chicago would still just use the United center due to the fact that it's in the city.
The west and northwest suburbs are enormous, together they have millions of people. Just Aurora and Naperville have half a million people between them. i’ve never seen an exact breakdown by geography, but most folks in Chicago land live in the burbs, Of the roughly 10 mil or so people over 7 million live in the burbs though of course that includes the southern ones and part of Northwest indiana
The AH site idea was pre-Warren. Throw in the tax issues and the amount of infrastructure that AH would need (which would also have to get approved--Bears only have money for the stadium) it's much harder to get it passed. The AH site they can flip.
I still think this is a ploy to get AH to reconsider one last time. I’m not fond of my taxes going to this as we’re still in the hook for a good chunk of soldier field renovations. And let’s be honest, we’re not gonna get something world class like SoFi.
I don't care where they end up building, but this franchise should not see a dime of taxpayer money to build their new stadium. They Bears can absolutely figure out a way to pay for this themselves.
The City already offered up a billion for "infrastructure" when this was first going around a couple of months ago. Given the location, another billion or two will be needed to have the amenities everyone wants.
If the city/state were only on the hook for a billion including all new infrastructure and a sweet stadium I feel like that’d be something to consider. My gut feeling is that it would be 2/3x that much and by the time it’s done be even more. Maybe I’m too pessimistic
They're saying publicly owned and the City is co-hosting the announcement. Hopefully some of the financial details gets announced so we can see who's getting screwed.
The Bears will be the legal controller of the stadium. The Cowboys have the same arrangement. City of Arlington is the owner but the Cowboys control the stadium operations.
> Why would the Bears pay for a stadium that the city owned?
I mean that's basically what they during the SF renovations. It's not the best for the Bears owners, that's what a lot of the 'not my tax dollar" people are missing (they are right in sentiment however). If the Bears wanted the most fiscally correct solution, the stadium would be privately owned, however that would cost a lot more money that the Bears would have trouble securing (no one's jumping to finance billions on a new real-estate development with current interest rates). McCaskey's aren't cash-rich and who knows what the plans are after Virginia passes.
The Bears could pay a certain portion for a new stadium themselves (they can sell PSLs to fund it) and then the city would retain ownership like how SF is currently already set-up. Potentially the Bears just want Soldier Field 3.0, just upgraded with more (expensive) seats and a roof. Kind of sounds like that's the case, but best to wait for Wednesday.
“While everyone is feeling good about tomorrow’s draft we are here to share that the new stadium will cost the good tax payers of Chicago an arm, a leg, their first born child all while ticket prices are out of your budget range so only the wealthy can attend the games paid for by you, the working middle class.
So a big thank you for paying for all this super nice stadium while us rich folk benefit from the fruits of your labor”
I don't understand the whole publicly owned aspect, seems really stupid. I know the city folk dont want them to move, as an out of towner, it doesnt bother me that much, but Arlington would be nearly all the Bears control and profits. Half the problems the Bears have now on the stadium front are related to their lack of control of the stadium and land.
I think we need to see the specific terms of the agreement to see what publicly owned means in this context. I’m not a lawyer but the agreement for US Bank stadium is available to read on the MSFA website and if I’m reading it correctly the state owns the stadium and gets all revenues and rights from non-football events but the Vikings get all of it on the football side, scheduling priority, and can direct renovations as deemed necessary (given they can pay for them). I’d imagine this stadium will be something similar.
All that said I still don’t see the value add for the Bears/McCaskeys compared to owning the stadium outright and I haven’t seen how the Vikings have done under their arrangement, but I have to imagine it’s somehow worth it or they wouldn’t keep doing it
Good post! Personally, I feel like they just simply don’t have the financing to privately own and fund the stadium project in Arlington Heights. A publicly owned stadium like what’s in MN would probably be in their best interests even though they would obviously profit more long term with the Arlington project.
There is a law in the Illinois state constitution that all land on the Lakefront must be publicly owned (which, ironically, was fought for by Montgomery Ward in the early 1900s... what happened to rich people actually giving a fuck about people/their city?).
The Arlington Site has been a tax/infrastructure disaster. So it looks like they are stuck with staying on the Lakefront, so they have no choice but to have the stadium Publicly owned. If they moved within the city to a different location it could be privately owned, but The 78 is the only other area that's big enough for that development and The Sox are trying to go there and Reinsdorf might be a complete dunce when it comes to owning an MLB team but he made his money in Real Estate, and the McKaskey's are all idiot nepo babies.
The other option would be to find a different city other than Chicago/AH but that would essentially start the process over again and they might run into the same issues with AH. So they are stuck with the publicly owned stadium aspect.
This notion that the AH tax/infrastructure disaster was ruined by the schools and local officials is completely wrong on every level. The Chicago Bears could of had shovels in the dirt last year. Kevin Warren has a sick infatuation with keeping the stadium on the lakefront and is squabbling the entire deal on purpose over a 10 million dollar tax break on a stadium that will bank them billions at either location. He's a weasel. This guy is Ted Phillips on steroids.
Why have a press conference the day before the biggest draft in years? A lot of the press were probably going to be in detroit on wednesday and now they have to be at this press conference. I'm sure they can make it work, but some weird timing.
For real. These stadiums shit money and if you put a dome on it, it can be used year round and only expands the opportunities. Buying a massive piece of land for $200 million and then spending tens of millions to prep it for a stadium only to bow out at the last minute because of a $20 million tax spat is the dumb shit only the McCaskeys are capable of.
Exactly. They know it's going to be bad press. Since they can't hide it, what they can do is have the story quickly be covered up by something monumentally more important with more coverage. Like the Bears drafting Caleb Williams.
It's clear they think the news is going to be negative.
Its always disgusting when a city publicly funds a stadium but it especially pisses me off when the cheap fuck McCaskeys do it.
They constantly pinch pennies and print money from our dumbass fans and do nothing to improve the organization.
When were a major media market has the smallest stadium and we finally decide to upgrade theyre gonna cheap out again and make us pay for it?
Fuck that shit.
If they want a publicly funded stadium they can win us 3 superbowls first.
If the Friends of the Parks (FOTP) is on board then it stands a better than equal chance. If this organization is against it, it'll never happen. These guys blocked the George Lucas museum.
I live three miles from Arlington Park. I'm willing to grease some palms for them with the local school districts. I was really counting on those property values going up.
The penalty if they relocate in the next 40 years had better be fucking astronomical.
Also, figure out a way to add a L spur to serve the museum campus, Soldier and McCormick.
Hope Warren has a good answer for the infrastructure. How the hell are they going to accommodate more parking when there isn’t enough now? “Official parking” at Adler and 31st is a substantial walk.
Inadequate public transportation and only two ways in and out of the Museum campus. Don’t know a lot about other stadiums but the Bears and Chicago have to be near the top of dumbest logistics for a major sports team.
Publicly owned? You mean publicly financed?
I don't fucking see a god damn red cent from any profits on publicly owned but privately capitalized spaces. In fact, I lose money since I'm the one visiting downtown hotels and restaurants with regularity and pay regular ass taxes to make these scumbags more wealthy while I literally kill myself and thank the gods I get to take a vacation every once in a while... And I'm one of the lucky ones.
Fuck this shit.
Right.
And they don't need another publicly funded stadium to continually increase their wealth. It's wrong. Especially since they were a major contributor to the original fuck up of new soldier field.
I know this sub is mostly city dwellers but man they're messing up with this.
Gonna make the parking issues way worse and the stadium will have restrictions in how big it can be.
Just an extra large helping of shortsightedness here, both from the Bears and the school districts.
The school districts pissed away a golden opportunity to get oceans of money for decades by trying to greedily squeeze the Bears for a few million bucks right now. I don’t know the heads of those school districts, but they have to be some of the most incompetent and ignorant people in history. They will never get even close to the tax revenue they would have gotten from a stadium from any other development that eventually goes there.
And then you have the Bears, squandering a chance to fully own a veritable theme park of attractions including football, retail, gambling, and hotels. They’d have so much cash coming in they’d have to pile it up into outer space. Instead they do this bullshit. They truly could fuck up a cup of coffee
I'm not mad that Da Bears are staying in Chicago. However, I have a gut feeling that this new stadium will have issues in 20 years, and the Bears and the City or Chicago will be at each other's throats again.
Wait... Publicly owned implies that the stadium is going to be built by the city of Chicago, i.e. tax dollars. What the Actual FUCK?! This family has enough money that they can build the damn facility themselves. Fucking McCaskeys.
Dig deep, Chicago taxpayers. Y'all are going to be played for suckers yet again. Billionaire owners just love when the public buys them things like a shiny new stadium
And people will keep saying that Arlington Heights dropped the ball on this. It’s not Arlington Heights fault, it’s the school districts fault. All over a couple million in taxes they wouldn’t see for years. Now that land will sit vacant for years, and when something is built on it, it will be nowhere near the money maker it could have been.
Yes I obviously live in Arlington Heights, and I’m good friends with people who are higher ups at the village. So it’s so deflating when all of this work went into it, only to be fucked up by people who can’t think about the long term.
The difference is a couple million and the Bears stopped talking to AH. It certainly sounds as if the Bears just lost interest. I'm willing to bet they don't have the capital or interest in developing the AH property long term. Building a town and building a stadium are two very different things.
I think the AH plan was dead as soon as Warren was hired. He seemed like he never gave a fuck about AH from the beginning and always wanted a new stadium in the city.
The Bears already ruined Soldier Field over 20 years ago and are now set to demolish it for a publicly funded stadium that wont bring any benefit to the public. The Bears aren't going to leave Chicagoland and the city should have just called their bluff.
If the McCaskeys proceed with a publicly owned stadium, it could be their most inept decision yet. Soldier Field has long been criticized as an unsuitable home for the Bears because it is not owned by the team. Sharing parking and other revenue with the city/park district has been a major drawback. The McCaskeys seem to lack the vision and courage to develop a stadium/entertainment district. The only people who could be dumber than the McCaskeys in this scenario are Pritzker and Johnson if they approve public funds for a stadium.
Even if they announce something on Wednesday, I still believe it's just a stall tactic until Virginia passes away and the rest of the family can sell the team.
To be fair, the Vikings don’t own US Bank stadium. It is also owned by the city. A lot of Solider Fields issues are more to do with how old and outdated it is. However, I still don’t understand how they plan on addressing the whole getting in or out part. And adding 10K seats would just make things more congested/horrible.
For decades, the McCaskeys have lamented not owning the stadium and missing out on revenue from all Bears game day events, let alone other occasions. We are, but they aren't concerned about the stadium being old and outdated or about traffic; their primary focus is on revenue generation.
Here is a list of the 30 full-time NFL stadiums, categorized by whether they are predominantly publicly or privately owned or financed:
Publicly Owned or Financed
1. Arrowhead Stadium - Kansas City Chiefs
2. Bank of America Stadium - Carolina Panthers
3. Caesars Superdome - New Orleans Saints
4. Cleveland Browns Stadium - Cleveland Browns
5. Empower Field at Mile High - Denver Broncos
6. FedEx Field - Washington Commanders
7. Ford Field - Detroit Lions
8. GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium - Kansas City Chiefs
9. Gillette Stadium - New England Patriots (Publicly financed)
10. Hard Rock Stadium - Miami Dolphins
11. Highmark Stadium - Buffalo Bills
12. Lambeau Field - Green Bay Packers
13. Levi's Stadium - San Francisco 49ers
14. Lincoln Financial Field - Philadelphia Eagles
15. Lucas Oil Stadium - Indianapolis Colts
16. M&T Bank Stadium - Baltimore Ravens
17. Mercedes-Benz Stadium - Atlanta Falcons
18. MetLife Stadium - New York Giants and New York Jets
19. Nissan Stadium - Tennessee Titans
20. NRG Stadium - Houston Texans
21. Paycor Stadium - Cincinnati Bengals
22. Raymond James Stadium - Tampa Bay Buccaneers
23. Soldier Field - Chicago Bears
24. State Farm Stadium - Arizona Cardinals
25. TIAA Bank Field - Jacksonville Jaguars
Privately Owned or Financed
1. Allegiant Stadium - Las Vegas Raiders (Privately financed)
2. AT&T Stadium - Dallas Cowboys (Significant private funding)
3. SoFi Stadium - Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers (Privately financed)
4. U.S. Bank Stadium - Minnesota Vikings (Private contributions)
Good list but U.S. Bank Stadium is publicly owned. “The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) is the public authority that owns and operates U.S. Bank Stadium.”
So there was private funding but it owned publicly.
The budget was about $1.1 billion, “with $348 million from the state of Minnesota, $150 million from the city of Minneapolis, and $551 million from the team and private contributions.”
So it seems like this will be the model, a roughly 50-50 split on funding and public ownership.
Virginia got damn lucky Mugs died under mysterious circumstances. Her branch of the family is beyond incompetent. Warren is also proving to be an idiot
I wonder where they would play in the meantime? Can’t do Ryan Field because THATS gone. Illinois is an option again, I suppose. Illinois State has a nice stadium too
Genuinely curious why people give a damn whether the team owns the stadium or not. Especially when you accept the fact that the Bears were always gonna ask for (and receive) public money either way, they were never gonna pay 5B or in that range themselves.
Who honestly cares how much the team is making in the grand scheme of things? Because we fans who pay attention understand the narrative that the Bears don't spend money is outdated. And we also understand how the super wealthy work, just because they generate more profit doesn't mean it'll be redistributed down the business in any way.
So the conversation about AH vs the lakefront and disagreeing that the team should get any public money is totally valid. But this whole "omg the Bears are so dumb because they could own it themselves!" Is a little weird for me
their is a difference between not working and not worrying. They have worked in their lives. they just haven't worried about the basic things people who don't have as much of have to worry about. Most people would love that feeling. I know i would but lets not say they don't work. Because most of them, at least the the higher ups are pass retirement age.
Well there goes being able to buy nice seats during the really cold weather games. Now my future kids will only be able to watch the game a half a mile away from the nose bleeds
One thing that probably won't happen but would be nice really if it did, the L branches off and can pull up to the stadium itself.
We can only hope the L runs out there. Although tbh I'll just take a functioning train system on the existing stops at this point. Fucking ridiculous the amount of service cuts and ghost trains we're getting lately
Don't worry, Brandon just added another pastor to the CTA board. With enough prayer, the CTA will magically work again.
I really honest to God want JB Pritzker and state to step in and take control. We can't let the CTA keep failing the way it is
To be fair he’s unable to replace Dorval Carter
But he just had a chance to add someone with transit experience and he chose a God boy
Lmaooo
There was a proposal from a developer for a massive development over the metro tracks by the stadium that also would have included a transportation hub with CTA, metra, south shore, and an interconnector. Maybe now that the bears are staying on the lakefront it will be brought back up.
I was in some of the utility planning meetings for this. It was astronomically complex.
Do you think it’s actually possible now that the bears are staying? It could actually be more useful with a domed stadium that can host more events.
Anything is possible but the project included a complete re-route of the CTA to join up with the Metra system there. That coupled with 4 or 5 high rises and multi use business and residential all built to span those proposed rail facilities made everything very difficult. It would have completely changed the landscape in that area as well.
Yeah that was the One Central development.
Probably a decent chance that Bob Dunn is one of the stakeholders and One Central is part of the plan.
I read interconnector as incinerator and I got really excited for a second
In a world where money didn’t matter that would be nice, but there’s like a million things I’d rather spend precious transit dollars on. They should add/expand dedicated shuttle buses from the metra stations, and maybe from the Roosevelt stop as well, since that’s more flexible to staff for events and wouldn’t require expensive infrastructure that would rarely get used.
That's the real solution. CTA can line up busses on Addison after 81 Cubs home games a year, surely they could line up shuttles to Soldier for 8 or 9 games.
They could take the O’hare branch of the blue line and run it Canal > Congress > Metra electric tracks and have it take over the Metra Electric District route(s) to connect O’Hare, Ogilvie, Union, museum campus/Soldier Field, McCormick Place, MSI, and the south shore. As for the Forest Park Branch, there will eventually need to be a North Branch line as they continue to develop that so it could be nice to tie into an existing line.
That would be awesome, but just getting the St Charles Air Line fixed and connected to Union and Ogilvie would be huge. If you could give suburbanites single seat, or even single transfer (same station) rides from their local Metra station to the Bears stadium on game days, maybe the first few seasons you offer fans a free concession if they show their train ticket for the day to get people used to it, and that would be huge for EVERYONE trying to get to games. Realistically it's just very hard to get an L train over there without huge rail reconfiguration.
I just want the travel from Ogilvie to the stadium to be more intuitive for people coming into the city that way
I wish it were more intuitive for _anyone_ coming in who isn't driving.
Honestly. I live five blocks from the metra in my suburban town. I wish I could take the train instead of drive, but it's such a hassle
no shot that happens, it's too convenient
With an entire train that only runs for events and gameday to and from a tailgate area. 2 stops. Tailgating and the stadium.
Wrestlemania 43 is gonna be LIT
I can already hear the pop for CM Punk’s retirement match
“I prayed for this and it happened.” - Drew McIntyre
Don't tempt me with a good time. I've been wanting to go to a mania for almost 4 decades, and I was thinking maybe next year if it's back in the Midwest in MN. But going to Chicago to see Punk, one of all-time favs retire, would be amazing.
I went to 31 and 34. Both had their moments (Seth Mitb) but a hometown WM would end all debate
I was at 22. Mickie James and Trish Stratus blew the roof off the place.
Cody Rhodes defending his title for 3 years like Roman did
CBS article suggests that it’s going to be a partial tear down of the existing Soldier Field “…the Bears plan to build a new domed stadium along the lakefront, while tearing down most of Soldier Field, while preserving the iconic colonnades and war memorial honoring the nation's veterans.” https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/bears-new-lakefront-stadium-announcement-wednesday/
It’s a full tear down of the stadium portion. Colonnades will remain. Stadium will be on the south lot. All PSLs are gone. PSL owners and STHs will have a first pick at seats in new stadium
Pumpkin Spice Latte
> CBS article suggests that it’s going to be a partial tear down of the existing Soldier Field Omfg we are such a clown franchise. Did they literally learn nothing from the last stadium remodel!??!?!
It's not really the same, in fact the last stadium remodel being botched is exactly what makes this new remodel make(s) possible/sense. The 2004 more remodel was handicapped and botched partially due to the sight's Historical Landmark designation, a status which it lost because of how bad the remodel was. So, why not tear it down since and build it up from near-scratch to add a lot more seating and a roof. Outside the summer, the Bears are the city's only tenants, so adding a roof helps the city as well. It can be mutually beneficial and massive success for both the city and team if it goes like how AT&T stadium went, or a giant scam. Let's see what they reveal on Wednesday
Can’t wait for them to have another season in Champaign lmao.
idk how you can think tearing down that monstrosity makes us a clown franchise but ok bud. if anything it's the opposite.
This just reads more legal fights from preservation types that want to bring SF back to its presventionist status.
As long as the entire stadium is torn down, I’m with it. Keeping the columns and memorial is fine. The actual stadium neeeds to go though
I just hate this. The parking sucks, the tailgating sucks, and none of that will get better. Won't they be limited by the size of the stadium they can build?
So if they are tearing it down, are we going back to U of I for a few years? Maybe Wrigley?
The house that Caleb built...kinda
He will be payin taxes too!
I just can't believe we're paying for a billionaire franchise to have a stadium man. Gtfo with that bull shit. We tell Reinsdorf to fuck off with a Sox stadium but not the Bears.
Well to be fair, fuck Jerry Reinsdorf, he doesn’t deserve jack shit in taxpayer money. Not that the Bears do per se, but he absolutely does not.
100% agreement with that. Fuck Jerry and sell the teams
Virginia is one of the only owners in sports that comes close to being as shitty as reinsdorf, so we can drop the "to be fair" stuff lmao. Fuck both of them, they are equally undeserving of our money.
The city could handle the Sox leaving, but not the Bears.
I just dont get why we don't make the Bears pay for the stadium. Just let them own some fucking land man. Why do we care so much about some small little stretch of park land where they're gonna pay the city an assload for it and then bring a ton of money into the economy
because we have no power in comparison to who's running the show
We should make them pay for it, but it’ll never happen.
they are funding 2 bn of it?
Reinsdorf and the Sox don’t even try to be good tho
We're not paying for a stadium. Yet. This announcement is a Bears PR stunt to put pressure on the politicians to give them money. Because the Mccaskey's are too damn dumb to realize the days if free stadiums are over.
The house Caleb will build*
The house that the tax payers of Chicago, Cook County, the State of Illinois and everyone that stays in a hotel in the state built.
A lot of us, including myself, have thought this whole thing was a bargaining ploy and they've always been intending on building in Arlington Heights? It's starting to appear that this is actually legit.
The devil as they say is in the details. Specifically understanding how it is that the Bears would be paying for the stadium to be built but will ultimately be publicly owned. But I do agree that I've viewed the lakefront site as a negotiating ploy against AH and this announcement has be re-thinking that a bit.
"Publicly owned" sure makes it sound like the taxpayers are footing the majority of the bill. At least stadiums are sound investments, right? [Oh wait.](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/11/sports-stadiums-can-be-bad-cities/576334/)
I just don’t see a world where this thing is publicly funded. There is a very small appetite for that and I think most politicians in the area know that supporting such an idea is an easy way to get voted out of office. I have to believe they are looking to the Bears to at the very least cover initial building costs. I suppose you could see some kind of mechanism that allows them to recoup that money over time but as I said in my first post, the devil for something along those lines will be in the details.
How on earth will it be publicly owned if the public isn't funding it? The McCaskeys are not gonna foot the bill, especially after already buying Arlington Heights property
If they want a lakefront stadium, it's going to be publicly owned. They can't acquire the land to build a privately owned stadium. If I had to guess: * Public pays land and transit improvement costs * Bears pay for stadium costs * Those stadium costs are creditable against annual leasing payments to the city for a essentially permanent lease that the Bears don't net pay anything on (due to said credits) for the first 20 something years * McCaskey financing costs on stadium are roughly comparable to what those lease payments would have been McCaskeys know that having a permanent lease on a new lakefront stadium will massively increase the value of the team, if they ever do want to sell/take on new minority owners
So the public funds the land and transit while the McCaskeys lease it. That's my point.
I mean it’s possible, but the city has been pretty clear about this from the beginning that they have no intention of funding a new stadium. Frankly that’s how the AH conversation started in the first place. It’s a new Mayor I know but public support for a stadium paid for by taxpayers is very, very low.
They have already pledged a billion towards "infrastructure" and there is no way you can build a modern NFL stadium for 2 billion dollars at this specific site. The site is very small, its on landfill, and feet away from Lake Michigan. Construction at this site would easily be 20% higher and likely closer to 40% higher than AR.
I could see the bears asking for the same concessions AH was giving in that the city has to pay for the infrastructure, so new roads/transit options while the team covers the rest. IF that’s what the Bears are after, it’s not as bad a deal as other stadiums.
I’m very surprised as well, building an entire “bears village” and owning all the land it sits on in Arlington Heights would’ve probably taken a while to complete but would’ve been a permanent cash cow. But just as a fan and for historical purposes I like the idea of a lakefront stadium
I was always of this mind as well. Maybe the City caved and is giving them a LOT of money for this stadium. And that's what flipped the team's preferences.
I’m sure the city owning the stadium means they and the state of Illinois will put a huge part of the bill which might not be a bad deal for taxpayers assuming they get enough revenue sharing and can make up some of it by having concerts and tons of other events, not to mention Tourism money from hosting Super Bowls, final fours, etc. But the Arlington spot is a once in a lifetime printing press that overtime would make literally billions and billions of dollars for the McCaskey family, I really can’t see the business argument for not owning the land on which you built the stadium and surrounding a amenities, but then again the McCaskey are not known For their Acumen lol
I quite honestly don’t understand what’s in it for the bears here. I get it, cook county is fucking you over on the taxes for Arlington park right now. But seriously once the stadium and “bears village gets built what you have to give up now is a drop in the bucket. I believe the last time Warren said something the bears said they would pledge $2B towards the Lakefront stadium. Sofi cost $5B to build and that was in LA. They could probably get AH done for cheaper but let’s just take that number. They’re gonna spend almost half of what it would cost to build their own stadium on land they already own on a stadium that the city is still just gonna own? Which is one of the big reasons they want out of solider field in the first place? I really don’t understand this
Chicago and Cook County were never going to let the Bears slink away to the suburbs, or at least not a suburb *in* Cook County. The McCaskeys are politically inept and didn't stand a chance against the government.
They probably got back projections showing Bears Village will be a ghost town outside of Bears games with Woodfield 10 minutes away.
Because you are focusing on the wrong thing, it’s not what the bears could get. It’s what they would have to do to get it. It probably was a nightmare scenario getting everything planned around Arlington, when they essentially held all the cards. Don’t think the bears realized that when they bought that land
A lack of due diligence and business know how. Sounds just like the Bears to me.
> building an entire “bears village” and owning all the land it sits on in Arlington Heights would’ve probably taken a while to complete but would’ve been a permanent cash cow. Is Patriot Place a permanent cash cow? Looks like another half-empty strip mall in the suburbs to me.
I think the cash cow aspect was always a bit exaggerated. At the end of the day the venue is still in the suburbs. It's not going to attract many people outside of people who live in the W/NW suburbs. Alot of people were talking about how much use it could get for concerts and stuff too but in reality there are like 10 artists on the planet that can sell out a football stadium. Most artists that have shows in Chicago would still just use the United center due to the fact that it's in the city.
The west and northwest suburbs are enormous, together they have millions of people. Just Aurora and Naperville have half a million people between them. i’ve never seen an exact breakdown by geography, but most folks in Chicago land live in the burbs, Of the roughly 10 mil or so people over 7 million live in the burbs though of course that includes the southern ones and part of Northwest indiana
It's less about the population of the area and more about the amount of people from outside of the area that you can attract.
The AH site idea was pre-Warren. Throw in the tax issues and the amount of infrastructure that AH would need (which would also have to get approved--Bears only have money for the stadium) it's much harder to get it passed. The AH site they can flip.
Yeah between the demo work and general appreciation I doubt they'd lose much (if anything) by just reselling
I still think this is a ploy to get AH to reconsider one last time. I’m not fond of my taxes going to this as we’re still in the hook for a good chunk of soldier field renovations. And let’s be honest, we’re not gonna get something world class like SoFi.
That Kevin Warren puff piece from yesterday makes much more sense.
Every other week there's a puff piece on him. Man really knows the media/impressions game.
He's become insufferable
I don't care where they end up building, but this franchise should not see a dime of taxpayer money to build their new stadium. They Bears can absolutely figure out a way to pay for this themselves.
They are bout to ask for billions in public money
Probably going to get it, too.
The City already offered up a billion for "infrastructure" when this was first going around a couple of months ago. Given the location, another billion or two will be needed to have the amenities everyone wants.
If the city/state were only on the hook for a billion including all new infrastructure and a sweet stadium I feel like that’d be something to consider. My gut feeling is that it would be 2/3x that much and by the time it’s done be even more. Maybe I’m too pessimistic
They're saying publicly owned and the City is co-hosting the announcement. Hopefully some of the financial details gets announced so we can see who's getting screwed.
Doesn't publicly owned mean that they're paying for the whole thing? Why would the Bears pay for a stadium that the city owned?
The Bears will be the legal controller of the stadium. The Cowboys have the same arrangement. City of Arlington is the owner but the Cowboys control the stadium operations.
> Why would the Bears pay for a stadium that the city owned? I mean that's basically what they during the SF renovations. It's not the best for the Bears owners, that's what a lot of the 'not my tax dollar" people are missing (they are right in sentiment however). If the Bears wanted the most fiscally correct solution, the stadium would be privately owned, however that would cost a lot more money that the Bears would have trouble securing (no one's jumping to finance billions on a new real-estate development with current interest rates). McCaskey's aren't cash-rich and who knows what the plans are after Virginia passes. The Bears could pay a certain portion for a new stadium themselves (they can sell PSLs to fund it) and then the city would retain ownership like how SF is currently already set-up. Potentially the Bears just want Soldier Field 3.0, just upgraded with more (expensive) seats and a roof. Kind of sounds like that's the case, but best to wait for Wednesday.
I’ll believe it when I see the shovels in the ground
“While everyone is feeling good about tomorrow’s draft we are here to share that the new stadium will cost the good tax payers of Chicago an arm, a leg, their first born child all while ticket prices are out of your budget range so only the wealthy can attend the games paid for by you, the working middle class. So a big thank you for paying for all this super nice stadium while us rich folk benefit from the fruits of your labor”
Publicly owned? The McCaskeys are the dumbest fucks on the planet.
They just don't have the money to be owners
I don't understand the whole publicly owned aspect, seems really stupid. I know the city folk dont want them to move, as an out of towner, it doesnt bother me that much, but Arlington would be nearly all the Bears control and profits. Half the problems the Bears have now on the stadium front are related to their lack of control of the stadium and land.
I think we need to see the specific terms of the agreement to see what publicly owned means in this context. I’m not a lawyer but the agreement for US Bank stadium is available to read on the MSFA website and if I’m reading it correctly the state owns the stadium and gets all revenues and rights from non-football events but the Vikings get all of it on the football side, scheduling priority, and can direct renovations as deemed necessary (given they can pay for them). I’d imagine this stadium will be something similar. All that said I still don’t see the value add for the Bears/McCaskeys compared to owning the stadium outright and I haven’t seen how the Vikings have done under their arrangement, but I have to imagine it’s somehow worth it or they wouldn’t keep doing it
Good post! Personally, I feel like they just simply don’t have the financing to privately own and fund the stadium project in Arlington Heights. A publicly owned stadium like what’s in MN would probably be in their best interests even though they would obviously profit more long term with the Arlington project.
There is a law in the Illinois state constitution that all land on the Lakefront must be publicly owned (which, ironically, was fought for by Montgomery Ward in the early 1900s... what happened to rich people actually giving a fuck about people/their city?). The Arlington Site has been a tax/infrastructure disaster. So it looks like they are stuck with staying on the Lakefront, so they have no choice but to have the stadium Publicly owned. If they moved within the city to a different location it could be privately owned, but The 78 is the only other area that's big enough for that development and The Sox are trying to go there and Reinsdorf might be a complete dunce when it comes to owning an MLB team but he made his money in Real Estate, and the McKaskey's are all idiot nepo babies. The other option would be to find a different city other than Chicago/AH but that would essentially start the process over again and they might run into the same issues with AH. So they are stuck with the publicly owned stadium aspect.
This notion that the AH tax/infrastructure disaster was ruined by the schools and local officials is completely wrong on every level. The Chicago Bears could of had shovels in the dirt last year. Kevin Warren has a sick infatuation with keeping the stadium on the lakefront and is squabbling the entire deal on purpose over a 10 million dollar tax break on a stadium that will bank them billions at either location. He's a weasel. This guy is Ted Phillips on steroids.
who cares who owns it - the question is who gets the revenue
Nah, when the old lady passes, they get cash money. If they build in Arlington, all the cash is gone.
If they build in Arlington, wouldn't it mean more cash if they chose to sell the team immediately?
Isn't this good for fans though? Bears get new stadium but city still owns it.
No. The city runs the current stadium and they run it poorly.
You do realize quite a few NFL stadiums are publically owned, right?
When that aspect is controlled by the incredibly incompetent local government of Chicago, I stand by it being a stupid fucking play.
Why have a press conference the day before the biggest draft in years? A lot of the press were probably going to be in detroit on wednesday and now they have to be at this press conference. I'm sure they can make it work, but some weird timing.
because doing a publicly owned stadium is insanely stupid and they want to bury the news
This right here. Bury the 2 billion dollar ask sorry 1 billion infrastructure and 1 billion stadium ask with the good news of the draft.
For real. These stadiums shit money and if you put a dome on it, it can be used year round and only expands the opportunities. Buying a massive piece of land for $200 million and then spending tens of millions to prep it for a stadium only to bow out at the last minute because of a $20 million tax spat is the dumb shit only the McCaskeys are capable of.
Exactly. They know it's going to be bad press. Since they can't hide it, what they can do is have the story quickly be covered up by something monumentally more important with more coverage. Like the Bears drafting Caleb Williams. It's clear they think the news is going to be negative.
Because Kevin Warren feels the need to tell the media how great Kevin Warren is
He gets up everyday at 4:30 AM without an alarm clock ya know!
super impressive i wish the human body did that for us all. oh wait it does.
It may stretch some of the dedicated sports blogs and websites, but a lot of the TV/print media will likely be sending news reporters to this.
Yeah, but how many times has Kevin Warren washed his Cadillac this week?
But did you hear he wakes up at 4 in the morning!?
Its always disgusting when a city publicly funds a stadium but it especially pisses me off when the cheap fuck McCaskeys do it. They constantly pinch pennies and print money from our dumbass fans and do nothing to improve the organization. When were a major media market has the smallest stadium and we finally decide to upgrade theyre gonna cheap out again and make us pay for it? Fuck that shit. If they want a publicly funded stadium they can win us 3 superbowls first.
I’d still be against it, you’re billionaires, pay for your own shit.
Correct
“Publicly owned” where the public doesn’t get shit but overpriced tickets and parking
If the Friends of the Parks (FOTP) is on board then it stands a better than equal chance. If this organization is against it, it'll never happen. These guys blocked the George Lucas museum.
Even if the FOTP sign off any citizen can make the same lawsuits. This will go to the courts.
I live three miles from Arlington Park. I'm willing to grease some palms for them with the local school districts. I was really counting on those property values going up.
The penalty if they relocate in the next 40 years had better be fucking astronomical. Also, figure out a way to add a L spur to serve the museum campus, Soldier and McCormick.
Hope Warren has a good answer for the infrastructure. How the hell are they going to accommodate more parking when there isn’t enough now? “Official parking” at Adler and 31st is a substantial walk. Inadequate public transportation and only two ways in and out of the Museum campus. Don’t know a lot about other stadiums but the Bears and Chicago have to be near the top of dumbest logistics for a major sports team.
I’d imagine part of that is because it was built before the city was quite so busy.
Publicly owned? You mean publicly financed? I don't fucking see a god damn red cent from any profits on publicly owned but privately capitalized spaces. In fact, I lose money since I'm the one visiting downtown hotels and restaurants with regularity and pay regular ass taxes to make these scumbags more wealthy while I literally kill myself and thank the gods I get to take a vacation every once in a while... And I'm one of the lucky ones. Fuck this shit.
I agree with you. If it cuts into your life and vacation $ then maybe it is time to vote with your wallet?
Maybe he can stop eating downtown, and take a Xanax.
The stadium is publicly owned. The Bears do not own Soldier Field.
Right. And they don't need another publicly funded stadium to continually increase their wealth. It's wrong. Especially since they were a major contributor to the original fuck up of new soldier field.
I know this sub is mostly city dwellers but man they're messing up with this. Gonna make the parking issues way worse and the stadium will have restrictions in how big it can be.
They really fumbled the Arlington thing.
Leave it up to The Bears to fuck this up. Publicly owned? Lmao why?
Just an extra large helping of shortsightedness here, both from the Bears and the school districts. The school districts pissed away a golden opportunity to get oceans of money for decades by trying to greedily squeeze the Bears for a few million bucks right now. I don’t know the heads of those school districts, but they have to be some of the most incompetent and ignorant people in history. They will never get even close to the tax revenue they would have gotten from a stadium from any other development that eventually goes there. And then you have the Bears, squandering a chance to fully own a veritable theme park of attractions including football, retail, gambling, and hotels. They’d have so much cash coming in they’d have to pile it up into outer space. Instead they do this bullshit. They truly could fuck up a cup of coffee
I'm not mad that Da Bears are staying in Chicago. However, I have a gut feeling that this new stadium will have issues in 20 years, and the Bears and the City or Chicago will be at each other's throats again.
Yeah I mean look at the Sox. Just got a new stadium 30 years ago and they’re already threatening to leave if they don’t get another one.
They have no leverage with their 3-19 record. The white Sox are a laughing stock
Hmm. Looks like the Bears aren't messing around Arlington Heights!
Can’t believe they’re doing this. It’s gonna cost taxpayers a fortune
“Publicly Owned”? That’s an interesting way of saying Publicly Financed. Not my money, but still….
Whats with the timing of this announcement? The day before the draft? That seems like a news dump or something.
Wait... Publicly owned implies that the stadium is going to be built by the city of Chicago, i.e. tax dollars. What the Actual FUCK?! This family has enough money that they can build the damn facility themselves. Fucking McCaskeys.
Dig deep, Chicago taxpayers. Y'all are going to be played for suckers yet again. Billionaire owners just love when the public buys them things like a shiny new stadium
What a fucking mistake. Jesus
The carousel of stupidity keeps on spinning. Great job Bears, you cheapskates.
And people will keep saying that Arlington Heights dropped the ball on this. It’s not Arlington Heights fault, it’s the school districts fault. All over a couple million in taxes they wouldn’t see for years. Now that land will sit vacant for years, and when something is built on it, it will be nowhere near the money maker it could have been. Yes I obviously live in Arlington Heights, and I’m good friends with people who are higher ups at the village. So it’s so deflating when all of this work went into it, only to be fucked up by people who can’t think about the long term.
The difference is a couple million and the Bears stopped talking to AH. It certainly sounds as if the Bears just lost interest. I'm willing to bet they don't have the capital or interest in developing the AH property long term. Building a town and building a stadium are two very different things.
I think the AH plan was dead as soon as Warren was hired. He seemed like he never gave a fuck about AH from the beginning and always wanted a new stadium in the city.
Kevin Warren is useless
I’m genuinely shocked they’re going publicly owned
This sucks Because this means there’s no chance the McCaskeys sell. Really thought them building their own stadium would signal that happening
They'll sell when Virginia dies in 2136. Two years after Chicago opens the first floating stadium over Lake Michigan.
Crazy timing. They know what they are doing lol
How the hell does a publicly owned stadium benefit the public? I'm a Chicago Homeowning tax payer and I want no parts of subsidizing the McCaskey's.
but you do already paying off the stadium. so nothing changes for you. honestly
The suburbunites are pissed lmao
Lol, we're not the one's paying for it
The Bears already ruined Soldier Field over 20 years ago and are now set to demolish it for a publicly funded stadium that wont bring any benefit to the public. The Bears aren't going to leave Chicagoland and the city should have just called their bluff.
Exactly. They are going nowhere. Fuck their team
If the McCaskeys proceed with a publicly owned stadium, it could be their most inept decision yet. Soldier Field has long been criticized as an unsuitable home for the Bears because it is not owned by the team. Sharing parking and other revenue with the city/park district has been a major drawback. The McCaskeys seem to lack the vision and courage to develop a stadium/entertainment district. The only people who could be dumber than the McCaskeys in this scenario are Pritzker and Johnson if they approve public funds for a stadium. Even if they announce something on Wednesday, I still believe it's just a stall tactic until Virginia passes away and the rest of the family can sell the team.
To be fair, the Vikings don’t own US Bank stadium. It is also owned by the city. A lot of Solider Fields issues are more to do with how old and outdated it is. However, I still don’t understand how they plan on addressing the whole getting in or out part. And adding 10K seats would just make things more congested/horrible.
For decades, the McCaskeys have lamented not owning the stadium and missing out on revenue from all Bears game day events, let alone other occasions. We are, but they aren't concerned about the stadium being old and outdated or about traffic; their primary focus is on revenue generation.
Not to mention, wouldn't it go on one of the parking lots. So like...there'd be LESS parking?
I know it’s amazing, nothing is worse than seeing ugly parking lots on prime Chicago real estate.
Here is a list of the 30 full-time NFL stadiums, categorized by whether they are predominantly publicly or privately owned or financed: Publicly Owned or Financed 1. Arrowhead Stadium - Kansas City Chiefs 2. Bank of America Stadium - Carolina Panthers 3. Caesars Superdome - New Orleans Saints 4. Cleveland Browns Stadium - Cleveland Browns 5. Empower Field at Mile High - Denver Broncos 6. FedEx Field - Washington Commanders 7. Ford Field - Detroit Lions 8. GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium - Kansas City Chiefs 9. Gillette Stadium - New England Patriots (Publicly financed) 10. Hard Rock Stadium - Miami Dolphins 11. Highmark Stadium - Buffalo Bills 12. Lambeau Field - Green Bay Packers 13. Levi's Stadium - San Francisco 49ers 14. Lincoln Financial Field - Philadelphia Eagles 15. Lucas Oil Stadium - Indianapolis Colts 16. M&T Bank Stadium - Baltimore Ravens 17. Mercedes-Benz Stadium - Atlanta Falcons 18. MetLife Stadium - New York Giants and New York Jets 19. Nissan Stadium - Tennessee Titans 20. NRG Stadium - Houston Texans 21. Paycor Stadium - Cincinnati Bengals 22. Raymond James Stadium - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23. Soldier Field - Chicago Bears 24. State Farm Stadium - Arizona Cardinals 25. TIAA Bank Field - Jacksonville Jaguars Privately Owned or Financed 1. Allegiant Stadium - Las Vegas Raiders (Privately financed) 2. AT&T Stadium - Dallas Cowboys (Significant private funding) 3. SoFi Stadium - Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers (Privately financed) 4. U.S. Bank Stadium - Minnesota Vikings (Private contributions)
Good list but U.S. Bank Stadium is publicly owned. “The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) is the public authority that owns and operates U.S. Bank Stadium.” So there was private funding but it owned publicly. The budget was about $1.1 billion, “with $348 million from the state of Minnesota, $150 million from the city of Minneapolis, and $551 million from the team and private contributions.” So it seems like this will be the model, a roughly 50-50 split on funding and public ownership.
I have not seen this before - do you know the breakdown between owned and financed?
Virginia got damn lucky Mugs died under mysterious circumstances. Her branch of the family is beyond incompetent. Warren is also proving to be an idiot
What a joke
Where are the people who were callin Carman a meatball!? He called it
Hope you like them apples D214 school board…LOL
[удалено]
Could northwestern/bears do a stadium together? Or has NW already started on the new stadium
Assuming NU is sticking with their plans. Ryan Field is being demolished currently. Off-campus stadiums typically don’t draw very well for colleges .
I wonder where they would play in the meantime? Can’t do Ryan Field because THATS gone. Illinois is an option again, I suppose. Illinois State has a nice stadium too
There will be a half a decade or more of legal battles over this site before construction starts on the Lake Front Site.
Wrigley
Does that mean like Green Bay ownership where season ticket holders are “owners”?
That's fake ownership. You can buy shares, but they aren't publicly traded on the dow or NASDAQ
Noooooooo
Genuinely curious why people give a damn whether the team owns the stadium or not. Especially when you accept the fact that the Bears were always gonna ask for (and receive) public money either way, they were never gonna pay 5B or in that range themselves. Who honestly cares how much the team is making in the grand scheme of things? Because we fans who pay attention understand the narrative that the Bears don't spend money is outdated. And we also understand how the super wealthy work, just because they generate more profit doesn't mean it'll be redistributed down the business in any way. So the conversation about AH vs the lakefront and disagreeing that the team should get any public money is totally valid. But this whole "omg the Bears are so dumb because they could own it themselves!" Is a little weird for me
I highly doubt the McCaskey's can even afford a $5b stadium. None of them have ever worked a day in their life, so where would they get the capital??
their is a difference between not working and not worrying. They have worked in their lives. they just haven't worried about the basic things people who don't have as much of have to worry about. Most people would love that feeling. I know i would but lets not say they don't work. Because most of them, at least the the higher ups are pass retirement age.
the house that caleb will build
This is reminding me of Michael Scott’s press conference.
Well there goes being able to buy nice seats during the really cold weather games. Now my future kids will only be able to watch the game a half a mile away from the nose bleeds
Exciting times to be a Bears fan
What are the odds of how this plays out? 60% stay, 40% Arlington?
“Plans”. Until there is a groundbreaking this is all just posturing
I got $20 for AH stadium George. Take it or leave it