As the Chicago Bears and White Sox both look for public funding for new stadium developments, newly obtained internal emails show that Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office pushed to publicly present a united front with the Sox after meeting with owner Jerry Reinsdorf in early January.
The emails obtained via Freedom of Information Act request show a spokesman for the Sox reached out to Johnson’s communications staff at 4:38 p.m. on Jan. 16, asking for a call. Six minutes later, the Sox spokesman sent over a draft of a possible White Sox statement, reading “White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and team representatives met last week with Mayor Johnson and his staff to discuss potential future ballpark opportunities within the city of Chicago. While we look forward to continuing these conversations, we cannot respond to specific reports or speculation at this time.
Johnson’s deputy press secretary responds, “Will run it up the chain and get back to you shortly.”
An hour later, the Sox spokesman checks back again. Johnson’s staff replies asking, “Could we do a joint statement from the Mayor and Mr. Reinsdorf?”
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That statement paints a warmer picture of the entities’ partnership, reading, “Mayor Brandon Johnson and White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf met to discuss the historic partnership between the team and Chicago and the team’s ideas for remaining competitive in Chicago in perpetuity. The partnership between the City and the team goes back more than a century and the Johnson administration is committed to continuing this dialogue moving forward.”
Hours later, the emails show that second statement was the one that was distributed to members of the press inquiring about the team’s negotiations with the city over a new home, potentially a property known as The 78 on the Near South Side.
The emails also show a meeting on Feb. 9 at City Hall that included representatives of the city, the Sox and The 78 developer Related Midwest. Less than two weeks later, on Feb. 20, Reinsdorf traveled to Springfield to meet with lawmakers amid reports he wanted $1 billion in public funding to leave Guaranteed Rate Field, 33 years after it was constructed.
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Long before Reinsdorf’s ask, the Chicago Bears initiated their own push to build a new home: either in Arlington Heights, or now – as a battle over their property taxes in the northwest suburb has complicated those plans – possibly remaining in Chicago along the lakefront. The Bears have long said they would not ask for public funding for the stadium itself but would request taxpayer money for infrastructure like roads and sewers.
As first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business, the two teams are being told to present their requests for public dollars to state lawmakers together, as one proposal.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday confirmed that effort but cast doubt on the appetite for publicly funding either development.
"It’s all the same issue, you know, I think organizing it together seems to make some sense if they can do that. I mean, these are different businesses that will be in different locations so I’m not exactly sure how that will work,” Pritzker said. “What do they have in common? They're looking for taxpayer dollars.”
"Stadium projects around the country have occurred with public dollars, fewer and fewer over the years and there's a reason for that," Pritzker continued, "that the return on investment for taxpayers has to be proven now before we would actually move forward. I have not seen proof that this is a good deal for the taxpayers of the state of Illinois, but they have not presented that case yet."
"Lots of great pictures and things that I think are exciting, and I would love to see new stadiums, I’m just not sure that the taxpayers are going to get what they deserve out of that investment with their dollars,” he added.
Complicating those requests for public funding: taxpayers still owe millions on the two stadiums.
The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority owes $50,329,500.00 on bonds for Guaranteed Rate, and $589,143,412.50 on the 2002 renovation of Soldier Field, for a total of $639,472,912.50. The bonds for those stadium projects are paid in part through the state’s 2% hotel tax, but if those revenues can’t make the multi-million dollar payments, Chicago’s share of the state income tax picks up the shortfall. Guaranteed Rate’s bonds are slated to be paid off in 2029, while the Soldier Field deal runs through 2032.
As the teams negotiate with one another to present a unified proposal, Illinois Senate President Don Harmon said in a statement, “I’m not going to referee fights between billion dollar sports franchises.
A source close to the Bears confirmed the team has “always been willing to work with any Chicago team.
Just like Reinsdorf, observers can expect the Bears to also make their own Springfield visit. The team’s officials have had ongoing conversations with lawmakers, with an in-person trip likely to also happen this legislative session.
