77 Hitmen

Environmental work to begin this week at the 78 in preparation for construction of the new Fire stadium, which is expected to start this spring. https://abc7chicago.com/post/environmental-work-78-site-future-home-chicago-fire-soccer-stadium-south-loop-begin-week/18607090/

LOL - yeah, and the taxpayers are paying $850M for stadium itself in upstate NY. I can live with waiting a couple more years since the Bears are privately funding a new stadium if one is built in Arlington Heights.

The value would certainly skyrocket, especially if the Bears would own that AH stadium instead of just being a tenant. Same is true of the White Sox, which is why JR wanted the state to build him a new Sox stadium and traveled down to Springfield a couple of years ago to (unsuccessfully) win support from lawmakers. The franchise value would increase big time and that would further enrich the Reinsdorf family when it comes time to sell the team. While Ishbia is still paying a lot for this franchise, it would be much more if the ISFA were building a publicly funded new stadium for them.

The first public hearing on the Bears property tax legislation is scheduled for this week. https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/bears-stadium-property-tax-legislation-hearing-illinois-general-assembly/

Article in today's Trib about Cholowsky. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/13/chicago-white-sox-roch-cholowsky-ucla/ This is what his UCLA coach says about him: “He’s an exceptional clubhouse guy,” Savage said. “His makeup, his leadership, his body of work in terms of his work ethic in the weight room, drills, practice, meetings … it’s all about winning with him. “Whenever you have your best player as one of the best workers, that’s giving the right message day in and day out and makes life much easier.”

His offense after coming up last year was encouraging. But I've followed the Sox long enough to temper my excitement until I see how much he can sustain his success. I'm voting 19 or fewer. If he has 19+ HRs by Memorial Day, I'll be thrilled to be wrong about this.

People under age 45 might not really appreciate how Wrigley wasn't always so widely adored and worshipped. That changed in the 1980s with every Cubs game being broadcast nationwide to just about anyone who had cable TV and with Harry Caray as their drunken cheerleader. At least for many years after that, people could say Wrigley was an overrated dump and the Cubs were perpetual losers. That changed when the Ricketts bought the team and poured hundreds of millions into renovating Wrigley and creating Gallagher Way to go with the night life that already existed in that neighborhood. This has made the difference between Wrigley and the "there's nothing wrong with it" Sox Park surrounded by acres of parking lots even more glaring. Plus, the Cubs are no longer perpetual losers who were a laughingstock on the field. This all happened as JR took the Sox franchise into a downward spiral over the last 15 years. It is what it is. Like you said, Wrigley's reputation isn't going anywhere. The Cubs might have their ups and down on the field in the coming years, but I don't see them being perpetual basement dwellers anytime in the foreseeable future. If the Sox want to start drawing more than just legacy fans while going up against the competition from the North Side Bad Guys, they'll really need to make some major changes on and off the field.

Is there anything new in these renderings that haven't already been released? Seems like I've seen these before. When are the Fire planning to break ground on the stadium?

Suburban lawmakers hold a packed rally to push for a Bears stadium in Arlington Heights: https://www.nbcchicago.com/video/news/local/suburban-leaders-urge-lawmakers-to-make-arlington-heights-bears-stadium-happen/3891682/ https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/11/arlington-heights-indiana-chicago-bears-stadium/

Yeah, I thought maybe something eventful happened with 7 pages of posts after only one day of training camp. Nah, it's just endless arguments about past Sox failures.

Fox 32 discussion on the Bears stadium situation. Some interesting points brought up here: - The Indiana site would be in Hammond, by Wolf Lake on what is now a public golf course - Don't know much about the Portage site, but they think it's a pie in the sky proposal. - Not a lot of buildable space near the Hammond site for a stadium district development.

Not gonna happen with the Cardinals, but I wonder if this funding source could help get a new Sox stadium built.

Valid points, though I'd argue that the current stadium has fundamental flaws (and no, I'm not talking about which way it's facing) that can't really be fixed by renovations. But yes, they could build a new stadium across the street and get the design totally right....and it still won't help enough because they'd still be at a location that people just aren't interested in going to for other things before and after the game. There's no good or easy answers for this franchise to grow the fan base after years of neglect under the current ownership. The Ishbias have their work cut out for them.

....and if there's one franchise that really needs to do something to significantly move the needle, it's the White Sox. After years of losing market share to the Cubs under JR's incompetence, it's going to take more than just making it to the first round of the playoffs on a regular basis to really change the dynamics in Chicago.

That's how I feel about it. I've obviously been pretty vocal in this thread in favor of a new ballpark at the 78, but it would be sad for them to leave 35th & Shields. I've had a lot of good memories at the current park bringing my kids there as they were growing up and it would be hard to say goodbye to that. I used to be a huge advocate for the current park - blaming the poor image it has outside of the Sox fan base on Cubs fans and other "haters". But over time, I decided to stop deluding myself into thinking the bad press it gets is because the world is against the White Sox. Going to several other ballparks in other cities also helped open my eyes to how much more character they and their surroundings had and how generic and isolated from its surroundings Rate Field is. Maybe they can do something to develop an entertainment district at the current location. We'll see, I have my doubts that such a thing could get enough visitors year round to Bridgeport to be a success, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong about that. Building a new ballpark at the site of Old Comiskey would be one way to erase all the inherent design flaws of the current stadium that can't be fixed by more renovations, but they'd still have to address the lack of other things to do around the area. That's just the economic reality today - expecting to draw a lot of fans to a ballpark who just want to drive there, see the game, and drive back home is rarely successful anymore.

Agreed that I wouldn't trust JR on the design of any new stadium given how badly he screwed up pre-renovations New Comiskey. But if the Sox build a new stadium, it'll be primarily funded by the Ishbias. They're not going to let Jerry dictate the ballpark design when they'd be the ones sinking something like $1B to get the place built.

Since 1995, after the new stadium bounce wore off, the White Sox have ranked higher than 15th in MLB attendance only ONCE - that was 2006 when they were reigning WS champs. One season in three decades.....that's it. Even when they were playing well, they were always in the bottom half of the league. They were actually in the bottom third of the league 19 times over this period. Here are the numbers and they don't lie: https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/mlb_attendance/ The romanticized idea that they draw well at their current location if only they'd field a good team is total fan fiction. History has shown that fielding a competitive team gets them to around 15th to 17th in attendance and only winning a World Series gets them into the top 10. Having a stadium right off the expressway and with tons of surface parking lots isn't helping attendance despite the personal anecdotes about how great it is for individual fans. Other than rebuilding this organization, which is priority #1, the new owners are going to have to do something about the stadium situation going forward. There is no doubt in my mind that the incoming owners are well aware of this.

Topic back on track. .......you're welcome.

I'd say more on this, but it would probably (and rightfully) get this thread locked. Let's get back on track and argue about private equity firms, the uninhabitable dead zone known as the 78, and the virtues of the current Sox home - "There's Nothing Wrong With It" Field. Probably should have a separate thread for the Bears stadium saga, but this seems to have become a catch-all for all stadium proposals.

Interesting discussion with Laurence Holmes on WGN TV with Tahman Bradley about the Bears stadium IL vs. IN saga: https://wgntv.com/video/104-3-the-scores-laurence-holmes-talks-bears-potential-move-to-indiana-the-point/11496735/ A few takeaways if you don't want to watch the 10 minute video: - Bears stadium deal with IL was a lot closer to being done than Bears were leading people to believe - IL officials surprised by the timing of Warren's letter given the progress they've made - Warren/Bears didn't have a good understanding of city/county/state politics officials and that hurt their progress. They have a better understanding now. - Holmes thinks a deal for AH will get done, but the chances of them moving to Indiana are not zero.

Issue: Bears could choose Indiana over Illinois for their new stadium. Response: ThE TeAcHeRs UnIoNs ArE to BlAmE!!!!!! ThEy CoNtRoL IL ElEcTiOns!!!!!!!

If the Bears are running into this much resistance even with them offering to pay for the entire stadium, what does this mean for any chance of the Sox getting a stadium built at the 78....or even on the site of Old Comiskey? Certainly Ishbia will have to privately finance the entire cost of any new stadium. That might not be out of the question given his and his brother's deep pockets. But will state officials balk at any property tax relief or infrastructure spending for the Sox like they're doing with the Bears? Some of the Bears situation might be due to state reps from Chicago who want to kill the Arlington Heights project because the Bears will be leaving the city limits. Also, the debt on Soldier Field is immensely larger than the one on Rate Field. But the Bears are wayyyy more popular than the White Sox, so I don't expect anyone going out of their way to help the Sox get a stadium built.

I think the pressure has shifted and is now on IL officials to get a deal done or at least to demonstrate that the Bears' request is completely unreasonable. The highest any stadium pays in taxes as far as I know is SoFi stadium. If IL is holding out to stick the Bears with a $100M property tax bill, they'll end up with nothing. They aren't going to get $100M in taxes on that property when they carve it up to build a bunch of Costcos, car washes, apartment complexes, etc. It's an election year and there will be a lot of egg on people's faces - including the Governor - if the Bears sign a deal to move to Indiana after they offered to pay $2B for the stadium itself here. The Hoosier State will have a field day saying it's another example of people fleeing IL's high taxes....and that's why IN politicians from both sides of the aisle are eager to pass this quickly.