77 Hitmen

Yeah, our team's stadium has a super-generic name (Rate Field) and has a logo that mimics the team's fortunes over the last decade and a half. I'm not going to sweat them having a CME patch on their sleeves.

If I'm not mistaken, it's been reported that the most any professional sports team pays in property taxes is $9M for SoFi Stadium. It's crazy to think the Bears would agree to pay $200M in property taxes for an Arlington Park stadium when all other teams are paying a fraction of that. One question for IL lawmakers is how much tax money would they get from that property if the Bears do indeed move to NW Indiana and the land gets developed into a bunch of townhomes and strip malls? I would think the bigger deal to lawmakers is the $850M tab for infrastructure costs for building the stadium. That's a huge amount.

Am I correct that the Baltimore Orioles became the Yankees and the Milwaukee Brewers became the St. Louis Browns? After that early shuffling, AL and NL teams stayed static for half a century until the NL Braves move to Milwaukee in 1952 and the first AL team to move was the Browns who became the Baltimore Orioles (taking their name from that long-departed team) after the 1953 season. This ushered in 2 decades of numerous MLB franchise relocations.

A new Rays stadium is estimated to cost $2.3B. https://www.tampabay.com/news/tampa/2026/01/27/tampa-rays-stadium-economic-impact-study/

I think a big issue that cabal needs to address is local TV revenues. Many, mostly smaller market teams, have seen their RSNs go belly up and as a result a huge source of revenue dried up. On the other hand, teams with massive, national fan bases like the Dodgers, Cubs, and Yankees can still make good money off of TV revenue. This has made the competitive balance issue worse. This wasn't nearly as much of an issue 10 or 15 years ago when the RSN gravy train was doing just fine. I want to say that the Cardinals had a $1B RSN deal a while back. Those days are long gone.

Agreed. I'm sure we'll never know the real numbers.

Yeah, while I don't doubt the Sox are near the bottom of such a ratio list, the overall list doesn't pass the smell test. Aside from a few outliers like the Cubs and Royals, it's almost all big market teams near the top and small market teams near the bottom. Are owners like Reinsdorf and Nutting (Pirates) a big part of the problem? Absolutely YES. But now we're arguing that even good, competitive small market teams like the Guardians and Brewers are the problem because they're not outspending teams like the Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees. Logic tells me that it's extremely unlikely that all the owners willing to spend to win just happen to be in major markets and almost every single small market owner, even those of winning franchises, are all cheap bastards and the sole cause of MLB's competitive balance. I just don't buy it and whataboutisms about the Pirates and White Sox doesn't change that.

I don't disagree with that. But they need to stop saying it's a "taxpayer-funded stadium". The stadium itself is being privately financed. The Bears are putting a lot more private money toward the stadium than other teams like the Titans, Chiefs, and Commanders are. Sure, there's still a ton of public money going into infrastructure and there's a legitimate argument as to whether that's a good use of tax payer money and they'll have to answer to the voters whatever decision they make. But when politicians go around to the media saying they're not going to give the Bears a "taxpayer-funded stadium", it seems to me that some elected officials are trying to turn public opinion against it.

Berman is such a jackass. Ha! I forgot that David Wells was the pitcher for that at-bat. Two ex-White Sox involved in that play!

This has been a long-standing problem with ESPN. I mean, they actually had an announcer for the Sox-Boston ALDS series actively rooting for the other team! Ohhhh noooo!!!! Everybody's safe!!! The Sox being forgotten and ignored over the last 10 or so years has been self-inflicted, but the way ESPN constantly disregards the team pre-dates the current franchise problems.

Illinois lawmakers appear to be more willing to consider legislation for a Bears stadium in Arlington Heights. https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2026/01/24/bears-illinois-arlington-heights-indiana-stadium-pritzker-rich-miller Whether this is motion or actual movement remains to be seen. But some previously recalcitrant Chicago legislators do appear to be considering an Arlington Heights plan to prevent the team from crossing the border. Looks like the Indiana proposal got their attention. That's what leverage does, folks. This doesn't mean a deal on the Bears stadium is a certainty, but at least some officials appear to be moving past the "we just want to give the Bears the middle finger so that we can tell everyone we told the rich owners to go screw themselves" stage. This doesn't mean I think IL officials should give the Bears everything they want, but at least stop telling them to go to hell and we'll think about it in 2027....maybe....if the state solves all societal issues by then.

Ego/pride. As long as he's healthy, he doesn't want to give up being the guy in charge. It's probably why Ishbia doesn't get controlling option to buy the team until Jerry's 98 years old.

Nah, just sell to Ishbia now and let him build a new stadium at the 78. There's a ton of potential for this franchise that's being wasted under Jerry Reinsdorf.

Time for a new team song:

I'm sure Ishbia knows this. It's probably why he dropped his Twins bid when the chance to buy the Sox came up.

If the goal is to get satisfaction out of telling the Bears to "kiss our ass" and they move to Indiana and build their privately-funded stadium across the state line, Illinois will still owe $500M on the Soldier Field renovations. Do I think the Bears should make some concessions? Yes. But if all the state wants to do is tell the McCaskeys to kiss their asses because they're billionaires, that's a sure fire way to get a stadium built in Hammond. At least Pritzker is sounding like he's open to negotiations. All the previous talk about IL not even considering a Bears stadium deal for at least another year, if not longer (until IL solves all crime, poverty, and fills all potholes) is a good way to drive businesses out of state. That doesn't mean I agree with giving everything the Bears want, but it sounds like some state officials aren't even interested in negotiating. They just want to be able to tell people they told the Bears to go to hell.

I should have switched the choices for the 3rd item around so that your answer was the name of a Swedish pop band.

It does not necessarily mean that. In this case, however, I think both happen to be true. If not "small", at the very least, it's a shrinking fanbase. The incoming owner is going to have to figure out something to change the trajectory of this team's market share. Sure, winning absolutely MUST be part of that, but unless they can rattle off a bunch of pennants in quick succession, they'll still be struggling to make themselves relevant in a city were the Cubs are as dominant as ever.

Did your interest level go back up?

Yeah, things worked about great for Jason!

I'd much rather argue about the following than Matt Shaw's right wing politics: Schriffen vs. Benetti The 78 vs. Rate Field vs. suburban stadium site Ishbia vs. JR Getz vs. Hahn/KW I say options B, A, A, and neither.

The Bears have been trying to get out of Soldier Field for almost as long as they've played there. They moved there in '71 and in 1975, Halas was seriously considering a new stadium at Arlington Park. Of course, they stopped looking to move when the 2002 renovations were done, but that didn't even last 20 years before grumblings about leaving the place surfaced again. The whole "Bears weather" being a huge home field advantage thing is pretty much an urban legend.

I believe he said it was the loudest he's ever heard a game at Soldier Field. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but he did NOT say it was the loudest he's ever heard a football game. He said this was the 31st time he's done a game at Soldier Field and this was the loudest he's ever heard the place.

Follow up: Above is a quote from a Sun-Times article from around the time Ishbia met with the Pope. https://chicago.suntimes.com/pope-leo-xiv/2025/11/19/justin-ishbia-pope-white-sox-stadium