Is “The 78” Dead? Or even more alive? Fire announce plans for SSS

[PaleAleSox]

9 minutes ago, The Beast said:

Those who live in Illinois in the thread, will a move to Hammond or Gary increase the time it takes to go to a Bears game? Would it bother you if they played in Indiana? Would you be concerned about the loss of tax revenue?

I assume a lot of people in the south burbs would love them to move to Hammond. I'm in the west burbs so it would be a pain for me but I don't attend games. Not a huge fan of watching football in person. So much better on TV.

[Bob Sacamano]

14 minutes ago, The Beast said:

Those who live in Illinois in the thread, will a move to Hammond or Gary increase the time it takes to go to a Bears game? Would it bother you if they played in Indiana? Would you be concerned about the loss of tax revenue?

For me? I feel like it might be better.

[Green Line]

55 minutes ago, tray said:

The question for Mr. Ishbia and the other Sox investors is whether the so-called "78" neighborhood  in the so-called "South Loop", makes any sense considering many factors including the risk in moving away from the WSox historic home into a depressed, isolated dead zone.

Lmao youre calling the south loop a despressed dead zone vs their current location, sandwiched between a super highway, rail yard, public housing and seas of parking lots.  I cant think of anything more depressing than their current location.  Maybe if they moved to O block..

[The Beast]

17 minutes ago, PaleAleSox said:

I assume a lot of people in the south burbs would love them to move to Hammond. I'm in the west burbs so it would be a pain for me but I don't attend games. Not a huge fan of watching football in person. So much better on TV.

 

13 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

For me? I feel like it might be better.

What should the Illinois General Assembly and Governor offer them?

[KennyPowers]

51 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

The White Sox have one of the smallest fanbases in MLB after 125 years in so-called "Bridgeport", which is more depressed and isolated than the South Loop.  I am not sure why you 100% ignore the current condition of the fanbase in relation to where the park is now.

Low attendance does not mean small fanbase.

[southsider2k5]

2 minutes ago, KennyPowers said:

Low attendance does not mean small fanbase.

At best, an extreme bandwagon fanbase.

[77 Hitmen]

On 1/3/2026 at 6:45 PM, WhiteSox2023 said:

I lose interest in this thread when @tray doesn’t post.

Did your interest level go back up?

[77 Hitmen]

56 minutes ago, KennyPowers said:

Low attendance does not mean small fanbase.

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.  

[KennyPowers]

20 minutes ago, 77 Hitmen said:

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.  

The fanbase is fine.

https://bolavip.com/en/mlb/Top-25-MLB-teams-with-most-fans-20200528-0001.html

https://capitolcitynow.com/news/248842-white-sox-are-big-winners-on-illinois-roads/

A ballpark at the 78 changes the trajectory.

Ishbia knows this franchise is a sleeping giant.

[Lip Man 1]

Gov. JB Pritzker and legislative leaders in Springfield have signaled a willingness to chip in on infrastructure, but they’ve urged the team to identify a mechanism to pay off more than half a billion dollars still owed on Soldier Field’s 2003 renovation as a condition to getting any legislative help.

“Building a stadium is, from my perspective, about doing what’s best for the taxpayers,” Pritzker said Tuesday. “This is a private business. We help private businesses all the time in the state, and I want to help if it’s with infrastructure, as we do with other private businesses — that’s absolutely a way we could do that. But as I’ve said, and the Bears have heard this, that we’re not going to build a stadium for the Chicago Bears.”

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears-stadium/2026/01/13/bears-survey-season-ticket-holders-northwest-indiana-stadium-arlington-heights

[WBWSF]

39 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Gov. JB Pritzker and legislative leaders in Springfield have signaled a willingness to chip in on infrastructure, but they’ve urged the team to identify a mechanism to pay off more than half a billion dollars still owed on Soldier Field’s 2003 renovation as a condition to getting any legislative help.

“Building a stadium is, from my perspective, about doing what’s best for the taxpayers,” Pritzker said Tuesday. “This is a private business. We help private businesses all the time in the state, and I want to help if it’s with infrastructure, as we do with other private businesses — that’s absolutely a way we could do that. But as I’ve said, and the Bears have heard this, that we’re not going to build a stadium for the Chicago Bears.”

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears-stadium/2026/01/13/bears-survey-season-ticket-holders-northwest-indiana-stadium-arlington-heights

The Bears are not asking the State of Illinois to build them a stadium. The Bears are going to build and pay for the stadium. They want money for the infrastructure.

[Lip Man 1]

11 minutes ago, WBWSF said:

The Bears are not asking the State of Illinois to build them a stadium. The Bears are going to build and pay for the stadium. They want money for the infrastructure.

The Bears may be asking for conditions which haven't been made public yet to which the politicians are refusing to allow. 

[ptatc]

1 hour ago, Lip Man 1 said:

The Bears may be asking for conditions which haven't been made public yet to which the politicians are refusing to allow. 

We know the politicians are delaying the project for the Bears.

[Lip Man 1]

1 hour ago, ptatc said:

We know the politicians are delaying the project for the Bears.

As well they should in my opinion until the Bears come up with the money to pay for the first renovation of Soldier Field. 

To my knowledge they haven't even offered anything to help pay some of the debt down.

[ptatc]

8 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

As well they should in my opinion until the Bears come up with the money to pay for the first renovation of Soldier Field. 

To my knowledge they haven't even offered anything to help pay some of the debt down.

Interesting that you think the state should be able to totally change the original agged upon deal for the stadium.

 

[Lip Man 1]

48 minutes ago, ptatc said:

Interesting that you think the state should be able to totally change the original agged upon deal for the stadium.

 

Different set of circumstances with tax payers up in arms, the country in (pick an adjective that applies) and politicians no longer willing to stick their necks out rightly or wrongly to support billionaire owners, at least in Illinois.  

Just my opinion but the Bears, like JR (with his desire for a new stadium) if they would make an offer to help in this debt they'd probably get political will to start gravitating to their side.

One of two things I think will happen.

Politicians will cave or politicians and citizens will tell the Bears to in essence 'kiss their ass' and feel free to move to Indiana, Timbuktu, Sydney, Moscow, Greenland or Mars.  

[nrockway]

On 1/12/2026 at 7:30 PM, Green Line said:

Lmao youre calling the south loop a despressed dead zone vs their current location, sandwiched between a super highway, rail yard, public housing and seas of parking lots.  I cant think of anything more depressing than their current location.  Maybe if they moved to O block..

what year do you think this is? 1992? this area is boug as f***.

[The Beast]

14 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Gov. JB Pritzker and legislative leaders in Springfield have signaled a willingness to chip in on infrastructure, but they’ve urged the team to identify a mechanism to pay off more than half a billion dollars still owed on Soldier Field’s 2003 renovation as a condition to getting any legislative help.

“Building a stadium is, from my perspective, about doing what’s best for the taxpayers,” Pritzker said Tuesday. “This is a private business. We help private businesses all the time in the state, and I want to help if it’s with infrastructure, as we do with other private businesses — that’s absolutely a way we could do that. But as I’ve said, and the Bears have heard this, that we’re not going to build a stadium for the Chicago Bears.”

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears-stadium/2026/01/13/bears-survey-season-ticket-holders-northwest-indiana-stadium-arlington-heights

Do the Bears, the state or do taxpayers owe that money on the Soldier Field renovations?

[77 Hitmen]

10 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Different set of circumstances with tax payers up in arms, the country in (pick an adjective that applies) and politicians no longer willing to stick their necks out rightly or wrongly to support billionaire owners, at least in Illinois.  

Just my opinion but the Bears, like JR (with his desire for a new stadium) if they would make an offer to help in this debt they'd probably get political will to start gravitating to their side.

One of two things I think will happen.

Politicians will cave or politicians and citizens will tell the Bears to in essence 'kiss their ass' and feel free to move to Indiana, Timbuktu, Sydney, Moscow, Greenland or Mars.  

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.

Edited 4 hours ago by 77 Hitmen

[77 Hitmen]

On 1/12/2026 at 9:00 PM, KennyPowers said:

The fanbase is fine.

https://bolavip.com/en/mlb/Top-25-MLB-teams-with-most-fans-20200528-0001.html

https://capitolcitynow.com/news/248842-white-sox-are-big-winners-on-illinois-roads/

A ballpark at the 78 changes the trajectory.

Ishbia knows this franchise is a sleeping giant.

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

[Green Line]

11 hours ago, nrockway said:

what year do you think this is? 1992? this area is boug as f***.

What????

[ThirdGen]

Here is my understanding of the situation:

The Bears and Illinois had an agreement for the renovation/rebuild of Soldier Field. The Bears paid their portion on the agreement. Illinois issued bonds to cover their portion. Hotel tax revenue was to be used to pay down the bonds.

Those bonds were backloaded. What the state has been doing with the hotel tax revenue, rather than paying down the bonds is the issue. I am not a fan of government funding of stadiums. However, I don't believe the Bears should be responsible for the state's lousy handling of the financing either.

The state would need to pay or refinance those bonds regardless of where the Bears play in the future. Moving doesn't change this at all, so why should the Bears be responsible?

 

[Lip Man 1]

2 hours ago, 77 Hitmen said:

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.

Don't underestimate this, especially with today's chaotic political climate. These people want to get reelected first and foremost and I'm guessing most voters are more concerned with issues impacting them in the here and now as opposed to helping the Bears get a new stadium. 

[Harry Chappas]

2 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Don't underestimate this, especially with today's chaotic political climate. These people want to get reelected first and foremost and I'm guessing most voters are more concerned with issues impacting them in the here and now as opposed to helping the Bears get a new stadium. 

It's all optics.  The state of Illinois is going to blow $1B somewhere whether it's on the Bears or some other poor business/governmental waste/decision.

The fact the state is now asking the Bears to pay for the bonds is completely ridiculous and boarderline insane. 

 

[southsider2k5]

9 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

It's all optics.  The state of Illinois is going to blow $1B somewhere whether it's on the Bears or some other poor business/governmental waste/decision.

The fact the state is now asking the Bears to pay for the bonds is completely ridiculous and boarderline insane. 

 

I think this gets lost in translation, but states and municipalities throw money at companies all of the time in the name of Economic Growth.  Billions upon billions of dollars.  Hell companies were lining up to throw $50 billion in tax incentives and infrastructure at a Trillion Dollar company in Amazon.  It wouldn't be a weird or abnormal thing for the Bears to negotiate a package like this, even in Illinois or Chicago.