77 Hitmen

MLB Pipeline's Jonathan Mayo talks about the options for the Sox #1 pick.

Today is the last day of the IL legislature spring session. It looks like the megaprojects bill, even a scaled down one, has little chance of passing. In an interesting turn of events, lawmakers are scrambling to put together some sort of "stadium authority" to make the Bears stadium publicly owned and exempt from property taxes. Whaaaatttt???? New stadium authority proposal reshapes Bears debateLawmakers are racing to craft an alternative after Senate leaders signal the team's favored tax-break proposal lacks support.from the article: "It’s unclear what would happen to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which owns the Chicago White Sox home at Rate Field and issued the bonds to renovate Soldier Field, owned by the Chicago Park District. The ISFA’s bonds are backed by $5 million payments from both the state and Chicago and a 2% tax on hotel stays in Chicago." and: "It’s unclear how that would play out and whether public tax dollars would be involved in subsidizing a stadium, something Gov. JB Pritzker has previously said was a non-starter when the Bears and Chicago rolled out a plan to have ISFA back $900 million in bonds for a $3.2 billion stadium on the lakefront."

We might have to wait until as late as 2034 to find out.

Providing for infrastructure improvements around the Museum Campus and Solider Field to address the terrible traffic there could be one way to get Chicago lawmakers on board to pass this. I guess we'll see in the next 2 days. Crazier things have happened. Mayor Johnson IMO has been a lousy mayor, but I'll give him credit for doing a great job in derailing action on this bill with his comments that the Bears were in talks with the city to stay in Chicago. I think the suggestion that there were such talks with the team in the last few months to stay in Chicago are total bullshit, but mission accomplished. But if this fails, I think the ultimate blame falls on George McCaskey and Kevin Warren. Where has McCaskey been during this entire effort? Why isn't he out there making the case for why this would be good for Illinois? If this fails, good luck George on that new dome that IN taxpayers will build for you on slag heaps. Even if they get this passed, there's still the matter of infrastructure funding to address. Weren't the Bears supposed to have submitted a traffic study? What's the status of that?

Those May pennants fly forever. Atlanta is absolutely a true big market team in MLB. Their territory is basically the entire deep South outside of Florida and, like the Cubs, they built a massive national following in the 80s and 90s thanks to having their games broadcast nationwide on a superstation. Even without those factors weighing heavily in their favor, Atlanta is the #6 metro area by population. Oh, and of course the Braves are making money hand over fist with The Battery stadium district. It is no wonder other teams, including the Sox, are very serious about developing their own stadium districts.

Lawmakers are considering narrowing the "megaprojects" bill to focus on the Bears to help get it across the finish line. Note that Jerry Reinsdorf and his quest for a new Sox stadium do come up in the article as he quietly met with legislature leaders last week. Bears stadium talks hit new twist in Springfield endgameIllinois lawmakers are considering narrowing a sweeping megaproject bill to focus on keeping the Bears in Illinois as broader negotiations begin to fracture.Two years after rolling into the state Capitol sporting a leather jacket while cameras followed his every move, Reinsdorf quietly met with the lead negotiators of the megaproject bill last week, including Cunningham and State Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, who has been a point man on the legislation in the House. The Sox owner is still hopeful of building a new ballpark in the South Loop at The 78 megadevelopment, where Chicago Fire FC has broken ground on its own stadium. Buckner described the talks as a “refresher” on Reinsdorf’s plans for The 78 that never gained traction because they relied on huge public subsidies from the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. While he said the meeting with Reinsdorf was friendly without delving into specifics, the position against using ISFA-backed bonds for stadium construction hasn’t changed, Buckner told Crain’s last week. “We’ve talked about how the state is inclined to move away from the old model of direct stadium subsidies, where I think we’ve made that very clear in our interactions with the Bears, I think that’s a fair conclusion for folks to come to, but I think that conversation is really more of a listening conversation,” he said.

I'll be a senior citizen by then 😮. Similar to what someone in the Sox Machine article comments said, I'd love the idea of hopping on an express train in the Naperville area and then getting off the train either right at the next stadium or at worst a 20 minute walk from Union Station. I could see myself in retirement attending a lot of weekday matinee games that way. Weeknights and Saturday nights, too. That would sure beat driving on I-88/294/55 to get to the current park since the traffic is often lousy on some stretches of that commute. Fun fact: the BNSF now runs 10:30pm express trains on Saturday and Sunday nights to Downers Grove and all stops beyond that. 5:30pm expresses too (which could come in handy for Sat and Sun day games).

Sox Machine has a pretty good and detailed look at Ishbia's plans for a new ballpark on the Amtrak yard and the steps that need to happen to make it a reality. Justin Ishbia's path toward building a new White Sox ball...Justin Ishbia found an unlikely partner to free up space in building a new stadium for the Chicago White Sox, but 11th Ward Alderman Nicole Lee doesn't want to lose a baseball team for a rail yard.I'll also note that the author of this article says this in the comments section (BNSF owns the Metra yard that is just to the west of the Amtrak site). "Part of the presentation by Amtrak last month made an off-hand mention that Ishbia and Canal Edge were speaking with BNSF. I haven't unearthed any intel how those conversations went. If anything changes on that front, I'll report back."

Fixed it for ya.

Chicago has one of the most extensive, robust public transit systems in the US. The L and Metra systems are probably 2nd only to NYC's subway and commuter rail systems. The idea that the Sox fan base is an island within a metro area full of mass transit commuters who are too afraid or stubborn to take the train stretches credulity.....especially at a location that is walking distance to the Red, Orange, and Green lines and, at worst, a short shuttle bus ride away to Union Station and LaSalle St stations. Plus, as you said, there WILL be parking if they move there for people who drive. The Fire is already planning to have at least 2000 parking spots available. I'll also note that Gen Z is driving less than previous generations. In 2034, which apparently might be the timeframe for any new Sox stadium in the South Loop, the oldest Gen Z will be closing in on age 40 (a scary thought!). Which generations' driving habits will be a factor in planning any new ballpark? Boomers, who will be age 70-88 in 2034? Or Gen Z and Gen Alpha? https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2024/05/17/gen-z-less-likely-get-drivers-license/73678202007/

The Sox were a .500 ballclub in 2022 and were coming off back to back playoff appearances, including a 93-win, division title season the year before ........and still were only 19th in MLB in attendance. Not my opinion, it's the actual numbers. 2022 Major League Baseball Attendance & Team Age | Baseba...

Since 1995, they've only been above 15th in MLB attendance once - when they were reign WS champs in 2006. 2008: 89 wins, division champs, 3 years removed from '05, much of the '05 core still around.....16th in attendance. 2010: 88 wins....17th in attendance. 2012: 85 wins....24th in attendance. 2022: 81 wins and coming off the first back-to-back playoff appearances in team history....19th in attendance. I wasn't counting 2021 because all teams had attendance caps due to Covid. But even then: 93 wins, made the playoffs the year before.....14th in attendance. This one-person narrative that Sox fans will only show up to games with a stadium right off the expressway and surrounded by surface lots is, once again, fiction.

And don't forget that in 1986 he wanted to move the team to Addison, which last I heard is not on the south side or the south suburbs. He's never wanted to stay in Bridgeport. They only ended up there for New Comiskey because that was the city's take-it-or-leave-it offer for land for a taxpayer-funded stadium.

PCA's team has now dropped 7 straight.

Brownfield redevelopment has been a major initiative both at the local and federal level for at least 30 years. It's a great way to promote urban re-development. Land that used to be heavy industry (and had much worse toxic pollution than rail yards) are often redeveloped through brownfield initiatives. https://www.cookcountyil.gov/service/brownfield-redevelopment https://www.epa.gov/brownfields It also sounds like Amtrak already has wanted to move their maintenance yard about a mile further south to the current Union Pacific yard for system modernization purposes. The idea that Ishbia is the one who is "moving" them to a new site for his own nefarious purposes (as if he has some sort of eminent domain power over the federally-owned Amtrak) is just another piece of absurd fan fiction.

Jerry and Eddie thought moving the Sox to Tropicana Field would be a gold mine. Look at how well that turned out for the Rays despite the fact that they often field a very competitive team. But they got IL taxpayers to give them New Comiskey and then they went on to botch the design of the stadium in their quest to focus mostly on potential corporate clients. Now, he wants taxpayers to build him another stadium while Ishbia seems to be quietly working to privately finance one. Time and again, JR has proven that he's greedy and tone deaf. There's certainly a lot to unpack in the post you quoted. Ironic that someone is lecturing us to "Google Bubbly Creek" when they apparently are clueless to where it is. Okay, here's what Google says about the infamous "Bubbly Creek." It's nowhere close to the 78. Also, if the waterway at the 78 is so toxic that it's unsafe to fall into, why does the Park District list Ping Tom Park as one of its fishing areas? I suppose the river is safe downtown, where they've had Swim the River events, requires a hazmat suit once you go south of Roosevelt, and then is safe enough to fish out of south of 16th St? Urban RiversBubbly Creek — Urban Rivers

LOL. Some Cubs fans are such snowflakes. I love how when Cubs fans get on the other players, they're showing that they're the most passionate fanbase EVER. When a Sox fan heckles a Cubbie hero with "you suck", they've crossed the line and should be banned from attending games. Hey, how about this - do a Jerry Seinfeld and allow PCA to go to where this woman works and heckle her! Will that make Cubs fans happy? His revenge starts at 4:00 in the video.

Wow, for those who don't have a Facebook account, that was a pretty good take down of PCA. .....with Kaplan trying to blame his poor image on Sox fans.🤡

If the Pope isn't available, have her throw out the first pitch at the new stadium in the South Loop 🤪

The 2024 draft might turn out to be a good one if Hagen Smith and Bonemer eventually find success in the majors along with SA. I like seeing later round picks succeed. Antonacci was 5th round. Davis Martin was 14th round (2018). More successes like these can sure give the franchise some much-needed depth.

The Sox broadcast drew much higher ratings for the Crosstown Series this week than the Cubs. This was thanks to CHSN being simulate on over-the-air WCIU whereas Marquee's broadcast was only available if you subscribe to that network or pay for the higher cable tier that includes it. Chicago Sun-TimesChicago Sports Network takes to the air to beat Marquee i...In the streaming era, viewers still tune to broadcast TV. And it’s not about having an antenna. A vast majority of those who watched on WCIU did so through a pay-TV service, where the channel is part

I've taken a light rail/subway to a night game at DC, NY (Citi Field), SF, and SD with my family. Also did the same in Boston and Seattle w/out kids. At no time did I ever feel that we were not safe and the trains were packed with other fans. It's just nonsense to think that the most of the Sox fan base will be too scared to take the Metra to a Sox night game if they move to the South Loop. If the Bulls and Hawks have determined they don't need all that parking when they play in the dead of winter and 3 miles from downtown because more and more fans are taking transit or rideshare, why is this going to be so problematic for the Sox, who play in warm weather months and are looking at a site just at the edge of downtown? And finally, parking will still exist at the UC, McDonald's Park, and if the Sox move to the South Loop for fans who drive to games because not everyone is going to take mass transit or a rideshare to the game.

I had wondered the same thing. The Amtrak land is only ~500 ft. wide and looking at some other ballparks, I'd guess that they could squeeze in a ballpark w/ a MINIMUM 600 ft. width, but that leaves them at least 100 ft. short. A Green Monster-type set up would totally wall off the ballpark from the river and that's not acceptable IMO. But @kba pointed out that part of Target Field is actually built over some train tracks (see image below). So, something like this could work on the Amtrak site by building over the active Metra tracks. This must be what Ishbia's team is envisioning because otherwise a ballpark wouldn't fit there.

It doesn't "eliminate" the parking around the UC. According to AI: Replacement Structures: Developers—led by the United Center Joint Venture—are actively shifting away from sprawling surface lots to denser parking facilities to preserve parking availability. A permit for the tower crane on the initial West Garage was issued in May, solidifying the first wave of parking infrastructure. Capacity and Usage: Developers noted in zoning and city commission meetings that current surface parking lots only hit about 50% to 52% average usage. The planned garages will accommodate the required parking needs for the United Center while making room for the first phase of apartments, hotels, and over 25 acres of green space. Parking usage has changed since the United Center and New Comiskey were built over 30 years ago.

Bears stadium deal is being slowed down in Springfield by hopes from Chicago lawmakers that the team will reconsider a Chicago site. I find this statement hard to believe: Democratic state Sen. Bill Cunningham of Chicago said in an interview that he and some legislative colleagues learned a few weeks ago that the Bears had expressed a willingness to revisit a lakefront stadium with Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office, before the mayor’s team told Chicago-based lawmakers about that conversation. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/20/key-lawmaker-says-suburban-bears-stadium-deal-is-dragging-due-to-hopes-team-will-reconsider-chicago-site/