Springfield has no interest in funneling taxpayer dollars to stadium projects. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said it. Senate President Don Harmon has said it.
Now, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, perceived previously as the most open of the three Springfield leaders to some public funding of new Bears and White Sox stadiums, is slamming the door even louder. Speaking to WTTW-Ch. 11 on June 3, Welch said, “There’s just no appetite to use taxpayer funding to fund stadiums for billionaires.”
Pressed on whether that hard stance could soften after the November election, Welch paused a few beats and then banged his gavel.
“Even after the election,” he said.
It was only six weeks ago that Welch said he told Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren there was no support in the capital for approving stadium subsidies during the spring legislative session, which ended last month. But, he cryptically added at the time, “Now, in Springfield, environments change.”
That caveat seemed to encourage the teams to press for their plans all the harder, with the Bears in particular embodying the oft-used “Dumb and Dumber” meme: “So you’re telling me there’s a chance.”
Caveats have changed into a caveat emptor. Welch foresees no such change in the environment in the fall veto session, after incumbents are safely reelected (or not), nor in the January lame-duck session.
Case closed.
This page has opposed the Bears’ plans to build south of Soldier Field as currently constituted but has urged the team also to consider other sites including the former Michael Reese Hospital site on the Near South Side. There’s also considerable potential for a mixed-use development anchored by a new White Sox stadium at the so-called 78 site just south of Roosevelt Road.
Sometimes, though, the timing just isn’t right. Stadium projects costing billions and seeking taxpayer help are heavy lifts in the best of times. Democrats Welch, Harmon and Pritzker — all of whose support is required to make any of these stadiums happen as they’re presently envisioned — have been telling the franchise owners, the media and the region repeatedly that they’ve got far more pressing priorities. That’s how they’re reading the mood of the electorate.
For the Bears and White Sox, this “read my lips” declaration from Welch should have them shifting to Plan B.
What Plan B looks like for each franchise likely will reflect their very different circumstances. The Bears own a stadium-ready site in Arlington Heights, which used to be the team’s Plan A and then was ditched for a domed lakefront palace after Warren took control of the team and improbably lined up Mayor Brandon Johnson as cheerleader-in-chief. Unlike the Bears, who no one believes will leave the Chicago area, the White Sox have options to move to another metro area if they feel they can’t succeed in Chicago. It doesn’t help White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf that this year’s squad is flirting with the worst winning percentage in Major League Baseball history.
Here’s what the current state of play looks like to us. Floating more taxpayer-backed debt through the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority to finance stadium construction is off the table. To win other forms of public support that might be available in the right scenario — say, financing for infrastructure around a new stadium — teams will have to pay for the core stadium construction themselves. With franchise valuations climbing all the time, there’s no shortage of ability to do so. That Chicago’s franchise owners have been loath to sell shares and dilute their ownership isn’t the problem of Pritzker, Harmon or Welch, nor indeed the state of Illinois.
That’s the problem of Reinsdorf and the McCaskey family.
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