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JR has never said that or implied that. Never forget, this all started with Related after they failed when trying to develop that property previously, even with TIF tax incentives. JR was virtually dragged into this by an over zealous developer. Of course he would build in Timbuktu with 2 Billion in public funding, but this whole thing was not his idea. At this point he would be wise to shut this nonsense down because it has been creating uncertainty out of thin air and depressing fans.

Related isn't scraping developing their land, they are just looking to develop it with other peoples' money as they have been doing for several years. They were pretty far down the road 5 years ago and something made them scrap that plan.

Don't lose hope. The 78 chatter has been a distraction created by the developer who stands to gain millions on that project, not the White Sox. Related already had TIF funding approval about 5 years ago for the 78 but did not proceed for some reason. Instead, they somehow came up with a revised plan to stuff a baseball stadium inside a high rise office park, ostensibly to secure more private/public funding and/or more tax breaks.

GRF is in great shape down to the blades of grass that Bossard manicures. No reason to move to a stadium without parking. There will be other alternatives in the future that will keep the White Sox in Chicago at a new stadium when that becomes necessary. The hype surrounding a simple rendering from a developer, the one Billion dollar ask, and the asinine talk on sports radio is a joke. Most of them have no idea what they are talking about. See you on Opening day at the park. I'm out on this thread.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

IMO ,JR and perhaps the ISFA would have more credibility if the Sox ownership group (or possible ISFA) acquired the 78 parcel to get Related the he11 out of there. The Sox could then develop their own plans and avoid some of the developer greed shown in the density of buildings and the site plan. If the Sox owns the whole parcel, now you are talking about something that could make more sense.

I think Sheets might have some trade value, perhaps as a throw in to a possible Baltimore trade, if that is at all possible at some point....since his father played for the O's. He is faster than I thought in RF and has a decent arm. He can also platoon at 1B and DH or pinch hit late in games when the only hope left lies with a HR to tie or win. Moose has a shot in ST though. It will be fun to watch all of the competition for getting on the roster.

Don't change the topic.

Maybe start selling gold painted White Sox cleats and other paraphernalia, or open a Go Fund Me site to help finance this albatross.

Wut? I have not mentioned you or attacked anyone personally., yet you come out of left field with a personal accusation, wishing me ill..over what? All I have done is to elevate the conversation with facts about the history of the subject land, the attempted and failed developments there, environmental, excavation and construction issues unique to that site, ingress/egress/parking issues, the nondescript design proposed and further, to be positive, the value of staying on 35th street for the South side fan base and the neighborhood where the Sox have been for over 100 years. You call that trolling? I also suggested some ideas for a new stadium across 35th Street. There are proponents for the developer of that site. A search on You Tube for 78 developments will reveal how that site has been pushed for years ending up in one failure after another. Not all posters who oppose 1 Billion dollars in State money to subsidize this plan are trolls either. The State is still burdened with paying pensions that it can no longer afford but cannot avoid because State law prohibits them from declaring Bankruptcy to restructure that debt. Governor Pritzker is against this so I doubt this is going anywhere unless he. the Mayor and other legislators change their mind. The Governor and Mayor are trying to be fiscally responsible. Nothing wrong with that....or with staying on 35th street. Let it go.

You always try to make things personal... Tony. Are you angry? You seem angry.

I am wondering what people like about the nondescript office park stadium proposed by Related. This thing is really smashed in between tall buildings without much vehicular or pedestrian ingress/egress or green areas shown on the site plan. And where are the bars? In various high rise buildings? There is a triple deck facing East that may be as high or higher than the 500 level at GRF. Elevators to get up to that level? A huge flat screen ( atop a second deck with lights on top?!) that obscures the view of downtown from many vantages. High/mid rises springing up around the park with cranes and new construction for a few years? I assume residents and commercial tenants and their customers will have parking of some sort or have some restrictions 80/365 days a year? Nothing faces the sanitary canal (aka bubbly creek) or the railroad bone yard beyond. The only road out that has been built looks like it is two lanes and may interfere with the latest plan. A 2 dimensional site plan (I believe this is of a former 78 plan) but in any case, surrounding could end up being any height. Note the elevation difference between the green area and where the man is standing. I wondered if that was what was looking at when I recently drove past there. It looked like a former dump/fill site (oh wait, it was). I know some people do not like the South side or Bridgeport and yearn for something all shiny and new, but this proposal is complete bulshit. It has been heavily promoted by a wealthy developer who sensed an opportunity to take advantage by leveraging the situation. Unfortunately JR is the wrong man to try to leverage on a real estate development deal. He has seen more attempts at grift with real estate proposals than any of us will ever know. Put the kibosh on this foolhardy plan and focus on the baseball side of the organization. Spring Training is here and I look forward to Opening Day without any more of this noise in the media. It has really become a distraction.

Daley was mayor when the process began in 2004. Here you go. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_bid_for_the_2016_Summer_Olympics Daley was against the City having to finance the games with tax dollars. The opposition to the plan was short sighted as it would have created a lot of jobs when Chicago needed them and revitalized areas that some people now complain about. Fox News political consistency? OK, they are a consistent source of bigotry and race baiting designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator and cannot be trusted as a reliable source of news.

One more thing. This hyped up 78 BS is very distracting to the White Sox and their fan base. Reinsdorf needs to sign an extension to keep the Sox on 35th Street so everyone can finally focus on baseball.

Tell me if you were against Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics (supported by Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, Mayor Daley and opposed by Fox News and the Republican Right) but are now all in on this 78 plan. Give me a break. GRF is not structurally unsound so building an office park with a stadium designed by a Developer (that has never designed a baseball stadium?) seems like a good idea to compete with the Cubs for downtown area residents? Uh no. Oh so let our fan base figure out a way to get to games from Frankfort, New Lenox, Homer Glen, Plainfield, Joliet etc. ... on trains and boats...what a great idea....especially when Southwest suburbanites are probably the largest segment of Sox nation that regularly attend games. My buddies and I have a season ticket package which includes the Opener with Cease pitching. Meanwhile, I am pretty sick about the Related 78 development hype which is all about scoring them a huge windfall on vacant property that no one has wanted to develop for decades. The Sox and most of their fans would be better off if the Sox eventually build on the site of the Original Comiskey and develop the South side of 35th street. My own fan input: It would be great to see renderings from sports stadium architects that incorporate historical design elements and, of course, fan input to build on the site of Old Comiskey. I would love to one up the Cubs by leaving the Left Field bleachers open to downtown and a new street behind the left field wall like Waveland with some commercial/residential rather than sticking a scoreboard there to block views. Instead perhaps a large screen in Center, maybe even a curved screen like a gaming monitor on steroids. Replace some of the ball/ strike/out info with colored circular LED bulbs that mimic the bulbs in the outfield in Fenway...part of a throwback design. Go back to an analog clock on top of the scoreboard and lose the twirly bird spinners which are not original design elements. Ivy? Yes, it is already in CF at GRF (and was something that Veeck was in favor of at Wrigley) so some green elements would be a good idea, especially to cover the large concrete wall along the train tracks. Have bars/restaurants on the South side of 35th with fenced in Patio areas in back of them, and yes, keep all of the rest of the South lots for parking. Tailgating can either be allowed in some lots or not allowed. That is not a deal breaker. Let Related come up with their next idea to pawn off the 78 on someone else. I'm with the City and the State on this. Don't look to the residents of IL to fund something that in many ways, makes no sense whatsoever and is not needed for years to come.

"Chicago" as used generically refers to a mega metropolitan area so it is always helpful to define terms. The City of Chicago experienced white flight beginning in the late 1960s. That hollowed out neighborhoods in many ways with aging dilapidated housing and public schools, and the closing of retail businesses and manufacturing companies which removed jobs and killed the tax base. The chances of reversing that and reinvesting seems to be as unlikely as Israel rebuilding Gaza for the Palestinians. It's not going to happen. For example, there is no desire by those living in the suburbs and beyond to invest in Chicago's inner city neighborhoods other than hiring more cops. Everything people talk about now divides people along partisan battle lines drawn by the media who in turn, profit from it. Remember how many opposed Chicago's bid for the Olympics, largely along partisan lines? Any new stadium proposal that requires public funding will likely face similar hurdles.

OK, so you don't hop on the first plan - building a ballpark with no character and no parking designed by a developer to maximize their profits on a garbage site. There is time to seek some better alternatives. "While I do find some of your comments off base, security is a growing concern, especially for a fanbase that looks for excuses not to go to games." Yes two shootings in Chinatown yesterday. Gun violence is kind of everywhere in the country right now, especially in urban areas so no getting away from that. A reasonably secure parking lot should be part of any new plan. My arguments, including the parking issue, are not "off base" or uncommon as one can see by reading numerous fan reactions on XTwitter when this was proposed. As with many developers, the site plan is overdeveloped with buildings and a lack of open space. Parking for surrounding buildings, especially on game days is not clear nor is vehicular ingress/egress. If the entire site was developed exclusively for the White Sox and included parking, that would be different, but apparently, that is not Related's intention. Meanwhile the ISFA is sitting on 72 acres + on 35th Street with ease of access to the Expressway and mass transit. The reasons for moving from the South side make no sense. Maybe the Bears would consider it.

Parking is important to many suburban Sox fans. It's really not worth the gamble of building this thing and risk losing a sizable number of fans who choose to drive for security, time requirements, convenience and safety for their families. The 78 site plan is a joke in many ways as is the nondescript design of the stadium itself. What is in that glass box bldg. with "Sox" on it ? Elevators to club boxes? Gratuitous exploding pinwheels? Ugh. I see a predominance of modern architectural elements like metal beams and rectangular glass that will no doubt be replicated in surrounding flat-roofed buildings. Virtually nothing about 78 is unique let alone special and the site sucks in so many ways. By contrast fans refer to "Beautiful Wrigley Field" because it has so many things about it that make it so. IMO, there is absolutely no compelling need to move from 35th Street. Renegotiate the Lease and when the time is right, replace it with a beautiful new stadium incorporating brick, wrought iron, arches, etc. on the grounds of the original Comiskey. The designs of the architect that designed both Comiskey and Wrigley contain a lot of clues that could be used to make a new park a memorable experience and one that does justice to the long history of the South Side White Sox, the original Comiskey Park, and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Naivete is something one is forced to confront once they realize they have been played.

Absurd. It's a baseball park, not an office building.

Literally no on-site parking for a South Loop location that has not been safe to walk especially at night.

Exactly. This is the second or third development proposed/hyped by Related for that site. GRF allows Sox fans to experience most of the park as long as they do not have 500 level seats, and most do not. It looks like there are 3-4 levels on one side and what looks like restaurants or private boxes in the outfield, No brick and ivy, palladian arches or any other classic baseball stadium architecture - that for an original mlb franchise that has been at another location for over 100 years. I suppose the design of cold steel and glass was necessitated to fit into surrounding building architecture - so OK, Mies van der Rohe on baseball steroids. Modernism / minimalism but I suspect that many baseball fans prefer more traditional parks. Would tourists rather go to that cold steel and glass place than Wrigley? No.. I hear the company that makes Windex likes it though.

Parking was an enormous issue. Private parking lots scattered down 35th St., Shields etc, with guys (open packing) waving to get people in and taking cash only. Other fans would park on surrounding streets causing many issues throughout the neighborhood. Tailgating has been a great and growing phenomenon since Comiskey opened. My guess is that the 78 concept will be rejected, at least in its current form (where the site appears to be overcrowded and over-developed with questionable vehicular access including for the surrounding business and residential (or whatever those objects are). I hope equal effort and exposure be given to another alternative, but not likely with Related pimping this plan and getting so much media coverage right now.

Virtually every good idea that is depicted in that conceptual 78 drawing can be bested by a new park at the site of the original Comiskey park. I have mentioned some of those. There are enormous practical and financial advantages of building across the street on 35th Street. As far as any plan that substantially diminishes the enormous parking lot capacity and the revenue generated from it, that would be a large gamble. Tailgating? Sox and Bear fans have loved tailgating for generations. Why pay a premium for drinks and beer inside the park or at a restaurant or bar prior to game ? It is a blast to meet up friends in the park lots, grill your own food and enjoy your own drinks. The 78 plan eliminates that entirely. Hanging at bars late night after weekday games is a Wrigleyville thing. The Sox fan base that attend night games is largely different. Many of us live in far West/SW even NW suburbs or NW Indiana, and bring our sons/daughters to games in cars. Most of us will never sacrifice security for our families to ride mass transit into the City. I don't care how much is spent on armed security and who pays for it. And if we arrive early we have to take everyone into a bar or restaurant ( adding to the cost of the outing) or wait in long lines at the gate? The depiction of this 78 plan is understandably devoid of detail, including scale/dimensions, parking, pedestrian and vehicular access routes and specificity regarding the use/scale of surrounding buildings. While GRF has many things that are lacking, it does have a few attributes that are often taken for granted and if replaced, should be considered in any new plan. One that I like is the ability of everyone to seek shelter from rain under the stands in wide corridors. Also, one can walk all around the stadium or hang out at a very large outfield concourse where there is a large food court and many rest rooms (although never enough men's rooms). Any development company can requisition impressive artistic renderings which are often out of scale and contain unrealistic details in an effort to woo banks, financiers, potential tenants, etc. to buy in. This would not be the first one that this Related development company and their predecessors have done over the last few decades. I'm not buying in. Having said that, I'm not entirely against Area 78 primarily because, as noted in this thread, many, mostly younger Sox fans would welcome it. Trust me....I get it.. out with the old, in with the new. I just think it is the wrong way to go, just like did when JR, Einhorn and Savarise approved a ridiculous looking new park covered with awful brown dryvit , a steep upper deck, powder blue seats, and white erector set metal truss work. I hated it. Based on my own professional and life experiences, and my history as a Sox fan, I am more inclined to stop and think about every possible alternative rather than jumping aboard any proposal let alone one made by an overly aggressive development company under artificial deadlines and veiled threats about moving team. Often patience yields some of life's best rewards. I can envision a great new Sox park on the site of the original Comiskey...one that incorporates the best ideas of the original Comiskey and Wrigley fields and avoids most of the mistakes caused by greed, oversight, and failure to incorporate good ideas by architects and the fan base. Instead what I see here is old rectangular shaped vacant lot with any number of inherent issues with a new stadium shoehorned in while maximizing the remaining space for mainly unRelated commercial development.