77 Hitmen

What is new is that this is the first time Ishbia has publicly commented on his intention to get a new stadium built and his commitment to keep the team in Chicago. I know we can say "well, duh! that's been so obvious for months", but as far as I know this is the first time he's said anything at all about the team and the stadium situation. The only other instance I'm aware of in which Ishbia said anything to the media was his generic press release after news broke about the eventual sale of the franchise to him. I find this story exciting because it's an affirmation from the future owner of the team of what we've expected for months to be in the works. And yeah, there's no doubt a lot of work going on behind the scenes. Not only do you not come in cold on a $2B franchise purchase, but even for a billionaire, I don't imagine it's as simple as writing a $1B check for a new stadium as if you were putting down payment on a new house.

Oh, and Ishbia is says this in the Sun-Times article: “I have zero to do with the organization today. I’m a passive owner. And by the way, I don’t want to use the word ‘owner.’ 
I use the word ‘steward.’ For me, Jerry today is the chairman, and he is the steward of the franchise. And one day, I’ll have a good fortune of being the steward,” Ishbia said, adding that “anything that has to do with business or baseball operations is solely, 100% in Jerry’s court.”

The Sun-Times has a story on this now: https://chicago.suntimes.com/pope-leo-xiv/2025/11/19/justin-ishbia-pope-white-sox-stadium “I’m 48, right? And so whether a new stadium occurs in four years or 34 years, I don’t know, but I’m going to be involved in a stadium at some point with the White Sox. “I just asked him to bless the new stadium,” Ishbia told the Sun-Times. “I don’t know when it’s going to occur, I can’t say an exact date, but, it will at some point.
I asked him to bless the stadium and bless the individuals and people who’ll be working on that stadium and the fans who will come to that stadium. The 34 years part is a head scratcher. I don't imagine his plan it to wait until he's 82 to build a new stadium.

Very interesting news after months of silence. As long as Ishbia wasn't at the Vatican to ask the Pope for a miracle to get a new stadium built! 😉

What's over are the days of a significant number of people who only want to drive to a game, see the game, and drive right back home. That doesn't mean nobody does this anymore or nobody will do it in the future, but the trend against this is obvious and teams in all major sports are moving away from stadiums surrounded by nothing but parking lots. It looks like even the Brewers are exploring options to turn part of the parking lots at American Family Field into some sort of "stadium village". https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2025/11/12/see-brewers-options-to-develop-land-around-their-stadium/

The Rays have new ownership and will (most likely) be getting a new stadium (w/ entertainment district) soon. They might also be outspending the Sox in a few years...though perhaps not before 2029, which is when they plan to have their new stadium completed.

I think a seat at the kids' table would be a step up for the Sox. Our seat is out in back, near the dumpster.

What are the $ amounts for the deal? I've only read that they've agreed to a 5-year contract.

It'll be interesting to see what happens after this lease is up in 2029. I won't even get into the new stadium question because we have another thread for that. But, I suppose they'd be negotiating with Ishbia, not Reinsdorf, for the next lease if they stay at Rate Field.

I looked up what the Braves pay in rent at Truist Park and it's $6.1M per year. How much talent does that get you on a MLB roster? https://www.thecentersquare.com/georgia/article_db606e60-9e5e-11ec-97b6-a37e2dd445ca.html# If I'm reading this article correctly, the Brewers have paid $20M in rent total over 20 years. https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2023/12/05/governor-signs-brewers-subsidy-agreement-at-american-family-field/ Some teams, as you said, own their stadiums. While I agree that Reinsdorf has ruined the White Sox franchise, people need to drop the myth that the Rate Field sweetheart lease is giving him a huge financial advantage over other teams.

Getting a lot of revenue from parking lots was a great plan.....in 1991. 3+ decades later, other teams have found there are more profitable ways to use the land around their stadiums. I know people like to cite Jerry's sweetheart lease as *proof* that the Sox are making money hand over fist. I don't disagree it's a great deal for JR, but how much does it give the Sox a leg up on other MLB teams? I suspect it's not enough to offset their lack of money coming in from other sources.

When the Fire open their new stadium on the 78 in 2028, it'll be under MLS's new season schedule. The season will run from mid-July to playoffs in May with a winter break from mid-December to early or mid-February. https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/46943880/mls-switching-schedule-align-world-soccer https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6806105/2025/11/13/mls-calendar-change-2027-schedule/

I can probably count the number of teams who bring in less money than the White Sox on one hand. Poor attendance, poor TV ratings, poor RSN situation, no additional revenue streams around the ballpark except for parking fees. I'm not sure where the Sox stand as far as corporate sponsorship goes, but I'd expect them to be pretty low on the list among MLB teams.

That's true.....my mistake. I still have my doubts that these 3 players would be enough to take a team from 102 losses to a division title. Perhaps it's more likely in the AL Central than in other divisions, but the Sox still have too many holes and lack enough organizational depth to become division champs next year even if they signed those players. TBH, other than Tucker, I wouldn't want them to sign players over age 30 to high-priced contracts right now - especially given JR's budgets - as there's a good chance they'll be washed up by the time the Sox can field a team around them that can make a deep playoff run.

In theory, yes something like that could be arranged. But this is Jerry Reinsdorf. If I'm not mistaken, he has explicitly said that he's not ready to give up control of the White Sox. Even if he had a change of heart on this, with the strong possibility of a labor stoppage at the end of next season, it doesn't seem like good timing for Ishbia to assume control of this franchise now as much as I'd like JR to relinquish control asap. It seems odd that the team sale arrangement doesn't even give Reinsdorf the option to sell the team until 2029. Why not have that option available now even if he has no intention of exercising it? Of course, the significance of 2029 is that is when the stadium lease expires.

This team lost 102 games this year. They are not one player away from a division title.

It's the White Sox way!

Jerry should sell the team now, not in 2029, so that this statement isn't total fantasy.

This will be the Spurs' third stadium since they moved into the Alamodome in 1993. It looks like they want a downtown stadium with an entertainment district. I don't know about SA/Austin, but I could see MLB putting the 2 expansion franchise in Salt Lake City AND Portland. I believe they have said they want 1 team in the east and one in the west, but Utah and Oregon are committing $900M and $800M in public funding for a new baseball stadium. Unless Nashville (or any other city in the east) is going to cough up a similar amount of money for a stadium, I don't think MLB is treating them as a shoe-in for a team by any means.

Where is this from?

It'll be very interesting to see what happens as we approach 2029 with both the stadium lease expiring and the window for selling to Ishbia opens. Something has to change. For those who say "just win!" - how is that working out for the Brewers, Phillies, Mets, Padres and other teams who are trying to win? The Sox will at least always be ahead of the Marlins in attendance. The Rays and A's might see a huge boost as they move into new, state-of-the art stadiums. With the Rogers Centre being in the spotlight the last few weeks during the playoffs, it's interesting to see how much they've improved the place. There's some good YouTube videos about their massive renovations. I don't think it'll be ranked down around the same level as Rate Field in MLB stadium surveys anymore.

Probably not likely. But it would be the ultimate Jerry move - a final middle finger to the fans. Ishbia's intentions are a total mystery since he hasn't said a single word publicly about his plans for the Sox. After spending over $1B in public money on a new Titans stadium, I don't know if they've going to spend another $1B on a MLB stadium. But they might be willing to spend some public money toward a stadium. Here in Chicago, I'm not sure they'd even spend on infrastructure for a new stadium. There's definitely an enthusiasm problem for keeping the Sox here. Heck, even some die-hard Sox fans seem to be ready to show the team the door out of state!

The White Sox never signed Kimbrel. They acquired him for Nick Madrigal and he only played for us for 2 months appearing in 24 games for the South Siders. Dunn might be the closest to a top free agent that the Sox have signed, but he was nowhere near the same quality player as Tori Hunter, Manny Machado, or Bryce Harper. I can think of a lot of free agents over the years who were bigger difference makers than Adam Dunn. I wouldn't exactly call Grandal a marquee free agent. Maybe in White Sox World, a 4-year/$73M contract to a 31-year old catcher is considered an exorbitant, franchise centerpiece contract since he was the team's biggest contract ever at the time. Everyone else except the A's have handed out contracts over $100M. It was a good signing at the time, but I wouldn't exactly consider Grandal a franchise player. Robertson - again in White Sox World, that's a monster contract - $46M. A very good relief pitcher and great acquistion, yes. But a one-time all-star. For teams who are actually serious about winning signing someone like Robertson would just be one important piece to the puzzle. But for us, he's the one of the few shining examples of how Uncle Jerry really does spend on free agents.

This is the way Jerry has run the Sox for at least the last 20 years now - a lot of smoke and mirrors and never seriously investing in scouting/player development and/or landing marquee free agents.

It was also in all likelihood a "middle finger to the rest of the owners" free agent signing because JR was unhappy with what they settled for to end the strike. Also note that the Sox included a perfect opt-out clause that would allow Belle to declare free agency after only 2 seasons here. In the end, the Sox only paid Belle $20M total, not the $55M he was signed for.