Mayor of Chicago from the top rope on the consideration of moving the Bears stadium to the suburbs

[jethro_tull]

19 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

What would they call them? Illinois Bears? 

the worried fans haven't thought that far ahead, they have Chicago Bears tunnel vision and the media fans the fire.   of course the Bears would still be the Chicago Bears much like many other teams that have their stadiums in the suburbs.  Somehow these fans do not get that idea and the mayor played into those fears.   

They would never be called the Arlington Heights Bears (for example), the NFL wouldn't allow it.  Arlington Heights is a courthouse, some car dealers, a beautiful but vacant horse racing facility and a big bedroom community.  

Edited June 18, 2021 by jethro_tull

[Punching Bag]

On 6/18/2021 at 8:20 AM, Arkady Renko said:

Didn't they recently completely remodel Soldier Field?

 

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/chicago-football/a-history-of-the-bears-ties-to-soldier-field-plans-to-potentially-move-to-suburbs/2535223/

Quote

2000-2002:

Finally, after years of wrangling, a deal was struck between the Bears, the Chicago Park District, the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois to undertake a massive $587 million renovation of Soldier Field.

The renovation started as soon as the Bears were eliminated in the postseason by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2002, and the team moved its home games to the University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium for a season while the work was done. They reopened the stadium in 2003 to mixed reviews.  

 

There were some minor renovations since then including statues and scoreboards.

[Solomon Grundy]

On 6/17/2021 at 7:47 PM, YoloinOhio said:

 

Not a Lightfoot fan. Bears response should be "while our focus will be on football, yours should be on gun violence"... then drop the mic

[Solomon Grundy]

20 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

What would they call them? Illinois Bears? 

Strictly "Da Bears"

[ExiledInIllinois]

The Bears were founded in Decatur... The Staleys... Have historical ties to UofI in Champaign-Urbana... Move them to Peoria or back to Decatur.

😆🤣

11 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Not a Lightfoot fan. Bears response should be "while our focus will be on football, yours should be on gun violence"... then drop the mic

NYC: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/06/19/us/man-shot-near-kids-bronx/index.html

 

They have worse problems. 

[maddenboy]

20 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

What would they call them? Illinois Bears? 

The Chicago Bears of Anaheim Arlington Heights of Chicago, at United Airlines Field. 

 

Kinda like the San Diego Chargers of Los Angeles, at Los Angeles Rams Field.

 

Edited June 19, 2021 by maddenboy

[BreezeMafia]

Awesome!

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

On 6/18/2021 at 7:20 AM, Arkady Renko said:

Didn't they recently completely remodel Soldier Field?

Yea into a giant toilet seat

[YoloinOhio]

Guess it’s really happening

 

 

I was at soldier field for the preseason game vs the bills and it definitely was old. The row numbers were all faded away, etc. But it was really cool. 

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

On 6/17/2021 at 7:47 PM, YoloinOhio said:

 

Solider Field. Unbelievable.

[Big Turk]

Didn't they just build a new field not too long ago?

[PromoTheRobot]

On 6/18/2021 at 9:30 AM, dpberr said:

IMO, she and the state of Illinois are lucky the Bears aren't considering leaving the state.  Nobody wants to live in Chicago or Illinois.  

 

 

Nobody, except for 5 million or so people.

 

Also Soldier Field was not renovated. They built a completely new stadium but left the old columns outside up.

Edited September 29, 2021 by PromoTheRobot

[Motorin']

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Nobody, except for 5 million or so people.

 

Also Soldier Field was not renovated. They built a completely new stadium but left the old columns outside up.

 

9.5 million in Chicago the metro area... And a damn hot real estate market. 

[corta765]

On 6/18/2021 at 6:35 PM, YoloinOhio said:

What would they call them? Illinois Bears? 

 

Chicago Bears, the 49ers play like 40 miles away from San Fran and the Pats don't play close to Boston although their NE. Heck the Bills don't play downtown. It's pretty common nowadays that teams use the city name for the region even if they are not in that city.

[nucci]

On 6/18/2021 at 6:35 PM, YoloinOhio said:

What would they call them? Illinois Bears? 

as soon as we change to the New York Bills

[May Day 10]

Chicago is an awesome city. 

[thenorthremembers]

On 6/17/2021 at 9:06 PM, Don Otreply said:

Frankly it’s good to hear a Mayor anywhere in America tell a football team owner to shove it, needs to happen way more often to all corporate entities. 

 

 

Except the Mayor of a City anywhere in America has considerably less power than a football team owner.   Like it or not the billionaire usually comes out on top of the situation.   So the Mayor can say all they want, but mainly its just noise.

[maddenboy]

They only agreed on a Purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA). 

 

Basically, the bears locked up the property so they can explore things like Enviro, zoning (shouldnt be a problem), infrastructure, market research, seismic studies, etc.  The PSA will typically include a ton of out-clauses, for which the Bears will have paid in advance, and might also include liquidated damages for when the Bears back out.

 

Its basically an exclusive option to purchase.

 

-To the point, I wonder how rich the Bears ownership is and can they credibly bluff that they are gonna build a 2-3 billion dollar project.

-Or, I wonder if this new PSA for the new site will entice a super rich person (Bezos?) to buy the team.

[YoloinOhio]

Florio is surmising that Chicago could get a second team and put them in soldier field 

 

 

[Royale with Cheese]

Chicago Jaguars.

[Heitz]

Just what we need down the road, 32 teams in 16 cities...  🤣

 

 

[maddenboy]

4 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Florio is surmising that Chicago could get a second team and put them in soldier field 

 

 

yeah, but who would want to buy or move a team.  Into the relative dump that is soldier field?

 

This news about the bears does not mean the bears would stay at soldier field and some new team would come to their town and build a brand new stadium.

 

Also, kinda like the San Diego Charges of Los Angeles, it would be hard to convince fans to support a 2nd team. 

[Arkady Renko]

32 minutes ago, maddenboy said:

yeah, but who would want to buy or move a team.  Into the relative dump that is soldier field?

 

This news about the bears does not mean the bears would stay at soldier field and some new team would come to their town and build a brand new stadium.

 

Also, kinda like the San Diego Charges of Los Angeles, it would be hard to convince fans to support a 2nd team. 

 

"NFL Sources" love creating new potential relocation spots.  

[May Day 10]

The return of the Chicago Cardinals would be excellent

[YoloinOhio]

5 minutes ago, Arkady Renko said:

 

"NFL Sources" love creating new potential relocation spots.  

Especially florio 

[LeGOATski]

I feel like the league is going to be adding two new expansion teams soon, anyway...

[dollars 2 donuts]

15 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

The return of the Chicago Cardinals would be excellent

 

 

I always lament how old I am, right or wrong talking about things I think I know.

 

Well, you're never too old to be surprised, or rather too young to not know what you thought was true.

 

I knew the Cards were in Chicago, first.  However, I had no idea that they spent more time in Chicago (1920 - 1959) than they did in St. Louis (1960 - 1987).  I thought they were just in Chi-Town for a few years before making there "long term" home in St. Louis.

 

Hmm...the more you know, I guess.

 

 

EDIT:  On a more sour note if the Bills left Buffalo after 64 years (2023) it would not be the longest tenure before moving in pro sports.  That would still belong to the Brooklyn Dodgers at 73 years (1884 - 1957).

 

Too much information?

Edited September 29, 2021 by dollars 2 donuts

[Beast]

Why would the Bears allow a second team? 

[corta765]

13 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

I feel like the league is going to be adding two new expansion teams soon, anyway...

 

The NFL really would need to add more like four more teams to balance it better so the schedule doesn't implode.

I have thought for a while the NFL would move back to two divisions a conference and that way they could add two teams per conference.

 

My guess:

Austin (Growing insanely fast and could def support it just a matter if owners in HOU/DAL would let it happen) NFC East

London (NFL really wants a team there) AFC East

St Louis (if you haven't been paying attention to the lawsuit it actually may be cheaper for St Louis to get a new team that the NFL payout, it is wild) AFC West

Mexico City (NFL would gain a second international team that fits time zone better) NFC West 

[nucci]

Logistics would be difficult for London and guessing players wouldn't want to live that far from home

[The 9 Isles]

Bears buy property in Arlington Heights

 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/09/29/bears-announce-purchase-of-property-in-arlington-heights/

Edited September 29, 2021 by The 9 Isles

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:

Florio is surmising that Chicago could get a second team and put them in soldier field 

 

 

Rams.  They've been everywhere else. 😁

[Don Otreply]

1 hour ago, thenorthremembers said:

Except the Mayor of a City anywhere in America has considerably less power than a football team owner.   Like it or not the billionaire usually comes out on top of the situation.   So the Mayor can say all they want, but mainly its just noise.

That is only because most mayors and local politicians have no backbone, if these billionaires team owners were told to, in effect, go piss up a rope, and spend your own money if you want a new stadium, they would be singing a different tune, but local municipalities by and large have no backbone when it comes to confronting corporations.
 

The only way a local politician should advocate for public funds is if that municipality receives stock in the team, yes partial ownership, if Polancranz or who ever it is, had a pair that’s what he would insist on. Oh, and screw NFL league policy of no more local ownership, play hardball, that is what ALL municipalities should be doing.   If they did they would ALL have the upper hand. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

3 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

That is only because most mayors and local politicians have no backbone, if these billionaires team owners were told to, in effect, go piss up a rope, and spend your own money if you want a new stadium, they would be singing a different tune, but local municipalities by and large have no backbone when it comes to confronting corporations.
 

The only way a local politician should advocate for public funds is if that municipality receives stock in the team, yes partial ownership, if Polancranz or who ever it is, had a pair that’s what he would insist on. Oh, and screw NFL league policy of no more local ownership, play hardball, that is what ALL municipalities should be doing.   If they did they would ALL have the upper hand. 

I read this and got "blah blah blah ALL municipalities should be doing."

*
SOCIALIST!!!

*
😁 I tend to agree, but multimillionaires gotta eat too, ya' know.

[thenorthremembers]

5 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

That is only because most mayors and local politicians have no backbone, if these billionaires team owners were told to, in effect, go piss up a rope, and spend your own money if you want a new stadium, they would be singing a different tune, but local municipalities by and large have no backbone when it comes to confronting corporations.
 

The only way a local politician should advocate for public funds is if that municipality receives stock in the team, yes partial ownership, if Polancranz or who ever it is, had a pair that’s what he would insist on. Oh, and screw NFL league policy of no more local ownership, play hardball, that is what ALL municipalities should be doing.   If they did they would ALL have the upper hand. 

They don't tell them to piss on a rope because long term having a multi billion dollar business in your city is worth more than the tax payer investment in funding part of the stadium.    Tax breaks, and federal funding is part of the game of having successful business in your city.  

[Don Otreply]

2 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

They don't tell them to piss on a rope because long term having a multi billion dollar business in your city is worth more than the tax payer investment in funding part of the stadium.    Tax breaks, and federal funding is part of the game of having successful business in your city.  

Only if it is a good business deal for the municipalities / taxpayers, which it has yet to shown to be a good deal for the locality, anywhere.  One can spin it in many ways, but the local municipalities are hog tied with the current way of doing business with the NFL, and that can’t be argued otherwise. 

[Don Otreply]

12 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

I read this and got "blah blah blah ALL municipalities should be doing."

*
SOCIALIST!!!

*
😁 I tend to agree, but multimillionaires gotta eat too, ya' know.

Just advocating for a win win, presently it is never a win win for municipalities when dealing with the NFL. 
 

Oh, by the way, every time an American flushes their toilet, sends their child to school, calls the police or fire department, drives on a road, etc etc, they take part in the American style of socialism, like it or not, it is so. 

[Arkady Renko]

22 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

That is only because most mayors and local politicians have no backbone, if these billionaires team owners were told to, in effect, go piss up a rope, and spend your own money if you want a new stadium, they would be singing a different tune, but local municipalities by and large have no backbone when it comes to confronting corporations.
 

The only way a local politician should advocate for public funds is if that municipality receives stock in the team, yes partial ownership, if Polancranz or who ever it is, had a pair that’s what he would insist on. Oh, and screw NFL league policy of no more local ownership, play hardball, that is what ALL municipalities should be doing.   If they did they would ALL have the upper hand. 

 

I also wish that no state or municipality gave funding for these new stadiums.  But if all of that was banned, I don't know that the end result is the Bills staying in Buffalo.  LA got two teams with private-funded stadiums.  I expect there would be significant movement to bigger markets.

 

[Hsker4life]

Mayor from the top rope, but the Bears rolled out of the way before she could connect. Now they’re about to pin her for the 3 count.
 

 

[Don Otreply]

4 minutes ago, Arkady Renko said:

 

I also wish that no state or municipality gave funding for these new stadiums.  But if all of that was banned, I don't know that the end result is the Bills staying in Buffalo.  LA got two teams with private-funded stadiums.  I expect there would be significant movement to bigger markets.

 

I would like to see a more equitable business arrangement between municipalities and the NFL, if the corporation wants public money they should give up stock in their business for it in the value of the public financial commitment. That way the municipalities can have control over their financial commitment.