9 hours ago, tray said:

What stadium proposal? Building the stadium in back of the soccer stadium and walking over the RR bridge to get there? Beyond impractical and probably unrealistic. Anyway, Ishbia is just fishing for ideas to maximize his profits, all while he doesn't currently own a controlling share of the White Sox and , as far as I know, has not closed on the Contract for the Amtrak yard. Who knows, maybe he will buck out like he did with his ownership interest in the Twins. It depends on what deal might enrich him the most...or not.

I choose to focus on the here and now - the very likable and exciting 2026 White Sox which he has nothing to do with.

Anyway, White Sox aren't going anywhere for a long time. Relax, strap it down, and watch baseball.

Can you save some Copeum for the rest 9f us?

What Does 'Copium' Mean, And Why Is Everyone Saying 'Cope' Online?

knowyourmeme.com › editorials › guides

2022年6月13日 · The "Copium" meme is often used to insult someone else, suggesting that they are responding with deluded expectations.

Had to look that one up...

Ishbia has already had an impact on this year's team. First, it is fairly well known that he has purchased a substantial amount of the team (albeit non controlling shares). He definitely owns more of the team on a straight equity basis versus Reinsdorf. This is to say that his investment in the Sox is solid whereas he never invested a dime in the Twins. Second, I have no proof but the fact that the Sox signed Murakami and the fact that Ishbia told a fan that Murakami would never leave "not on my watch" suggests some tangential involvement with the team. I can't imagine that Reinsdorf and Ishbia do not have some sort of relationship / dialogue. Third, I believe that one only need look at how the Ishbias are running the Suns (as already pointed out in this thread) to understand what is coming for the Sox. They may not win but they sure try. The only difference between the Suns and the Sox will be the inversion of how much each brother owns with Justin owning more than Matt in the Sox.

All that said, the Sox look to have built a decent foundation ahead of whenever it is that Ishbia takes over and that is a good thing for us now AND later so I don't know how anyone can be complaining.

As for a new stadium, let the forces above us that we cannot control sort that out but I have high hopes that the final outcome will be a good one for our beloved franchise. It sure looks like it will be in and around the sites discussed ad nauseum in this thread.

5 minutes ago, Realfan said:

Ishbia has already had an impact on this year's team. First, it is fairly well known that he has purchased a substantial amount of the team (albeit non controlling shares). He definitely owns more of the team on a straight equity basis versus Reinsdorf. This is to say that his investment in the Sox is solid whereas he never invested a dime in the Twins. Second, I have no proof but the fact that the Sox signed Murakami and the fact that Ishbia told a fan that Murakami would never leave "not on my watch" suggests some tangential involvement with the team. I can't imagine that Reinsdorf and Ishbia do not have some sort of relationship / dialogue. Third, I believe that one only need look at how the Ishbias are running the Suns (as already pointed out in this thread) to understand what is coming for the Sox. They may not win but they sure try. The only difference between the Suns and the Sox will be the inversion of how much each brother owns with Justin owning more than Matt in the Sox.

All that said, the Sox look to have built a decent foundation ahead of whenever it is that Ishbia takes over and that is a good thing for us now AND later so I don't know how anyone can be complaining.

As for a new stadium, let the forces above us that we cannot control sort that out but I have high hopes that the final outcome will be a good one for our beloved franchise. It sure looks like it will be in and around the sites discussed ad nauseum in this thread.

Even if the coping mechanism is that Ishbia didn't directly pay for Murakami, I promise you that Ish putting down the cash paying off the nine figure debt that Jerry rang up through his historic mismanagement of the White Sox freed up operational cash to pay the man. If the Sox were depending full on Jerry, the man never signs here. Full Stop.

4 hours ago, BRayne said:

Hello everyone, long time lurker, first time poster. Have we noted the fact that the Amtrak yard would put the stadium across the border from the 3rd Ward of Alderwoman Dowell, who said she would oppose a second sports facility on the 78.

Anyway as to the development of these sites: "Make no small plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood"

It's Chicago. With the system that the local alderman have final approval over projects in their district, they all say now until they whip out their laundry list of demands and knock some items off of it. It's Chicago politics. If the Sox are willing to finance a part there, it WILL happen.

The spring session for the IL legislature has ended without any action for a new Bears stadium. So, what happens now? Do the Bears ink a deal with Indiana soon? I guess we'll find out if they were bluffing about Hammond all along. I doubt they were, but I also think that they would very much prefer to build on the Arlington site.

One option is to call a special session, which has been done before on other issues, to get a stadium authority deal passed, but I don't know if that is even being considered at this time.

Edited Monday at 03:41 PM1 day by 77 Hitmen

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears-stadium/2026/05/31/bears-stadium-bill-springfield-arlington-heights-hammond-indiana

8 hours ago, BRayne said:

Hello everyone, long time lurker, first time poster. Have we noted the fact that the Amtrak yard would put the stadium across the border from the 3rd Ward of Alderwoman Dowell, who said she would oppose a second sports facility on the 78.

Anyway as to the development of these sites: "Make no small plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood"

Welcome aboard!

Yeah, the Amtrak site is in a different ward and would avoid her threat (whether real or not) to block a Sox stadium there.

Edited Monday at 06:24 PM1 day by 77 Hitmen

1 minute ago, 77 Hitmen said:

Welcome aboard!

we're filling up

Interesting discussion with political reporter Paris Schutz on Mully & Haugh. He points out how the Bears really screwed up this entire process. First, by privately meeting with the city while state reps were trying to get this bill done - which derailed any momentum this legislation had - and also by the fact that McCaskey and Warren were nowhere to be seen in Springfield while this legislation was being debated.

I thought Warren was hired by the McCaskeys specifically for his skill in getting a stadium deal done. IMO, he's done an incredibly lousy job over the past 3-4 years on the stadium front. McCaskey is so incompetent that it makes we wonder if he could run a frozen banana stand if he weren't a nepo baby.

Edited Monday at 07:04 PM1 day by 77 Hitmen

I heard that if the Bears go to Indiana, they couldn't start building the stadium for at least 2 years. The stadium site has environment issues and it would take at least 2 years to clean it up.

15 hours ago, tray said:

I choose to focus on the here and now - the very likable and exciting 2026 White Sox which he has nothing to do with.

You have 115 posts in this thread and most of them are you just whining about the 78 location. Please PLEASE focus on the here and now.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears-stadium/2026/06/01/pritzker-bears-indiana-illinois-stadium-bill

“The reality is that I wasn’t willing to give up billions of dollars of taxpayer money in order to give it to a billionaire-owned family, or team, and believe very much that the incentives that we provide for businesses are to be similar to the incentives we provide to this type of business,” Pritzker said at his Capitol office hour, after a marathon overnight conclusion to the session.

“As much of an emotional connection as many of us have to the Bears, and to keeping them in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois, [the] No. 1 principle is we’re not going to foist this on the taxpayers of the state of Illinois,” Pritzker said.

“The question, I don’t think, is how this came together last night, but that we did anything,” Harmon said. “There was an enormous undercurrent in our caucus to not do anything. People were worried about their neighbors being thrown off of food stamps. … 
There was no appetite at all to provide public dollars to a $10 billion sports franchise, as much as we love the Bears.”

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2026/06/01/bears-stadium-arlington-heights-hammond-sprinfield-house-senate-bill-kevin-warren-george-mccaskey-nfl

Edited Monday at 08:35 PM1 day by Lip Man 1

Its just a sad situation all around. I'm not going to pretend that Hammond isn't part of the Chicagoland area or swear off the Bears forever out of spite, but it shouldn't have had to come to this. They shouldn't be leaving Chicago, period, with the myriad of potential sites, and that in my opinion is the biggest failure of them all.

2 hours ago, 77 Hitmen said:

Interesting discussion with political reporter Paris Schutz on Mully & Haugh. He points out how the Bears really screwed up this entire process. First, by privately meeting with the city while state reps were trying to get this bill done - which derailed any momentum this legislation had - and also by the fact that McCaskey and Warren were nowhere to be seen in Springfield while this legislation was being debated.

I thought Warren was hired by the McCaskeys specifically for his skill in getting a stadium deal done. IMO, he's done an incredibly lousy job over the past 3-4 years on the stadium front. McCaskey is so incompetent that it makes we wonder if he could run a frozen banana stand if he weren't a nepo baby.

Warren was a buffoon as commissioner of the B1G. Anyone I know involved in the inner workings of the B1G were happy to see him go.

Warren came into this thing thinking the Bears was some unassailable force and all he had to do was ask for what he wanted. He was hired for this specific reason and when everything was happening last night in Springfield he wasn’t even there.

Not giving away tax dollars to billionaires and huge corporations sounds great until giant corporations start moving across state lines for a better business climate. Tesla and Space X aren't in Texas for the great weather. Amazon was courted by multiple states. But in those cases we are talking thousands of full time jobs with salaries that get spent in the local economy.

Now pivoting that to stadiums and I just don't see the economic drivers on the same scale. Eventually we will be watching AI created athletes while wearing VR headsets and "home team" won't matter.

4 hours ago, Rowand44 said:

You have 115 posts in this thread and most of them are you just whining about the 78 location. Please PLEASE focus on the here and now.

You probably should have reviewed the content of my posts before erroneously characterizing them. The here and now is the 2026 White Sox. That was my point.

I see that 77Hitmen endorsed your post . How many posts does he have on this thread? He lives somewhere near Naperville and would prefer taking the train into the loop rather than driving to 35th Street. OK. I live in the far SW suburbs. ...would never consider taking a train downtown for night games and enjoy parking outside the stadium and tailgating.

I have questioned the viability of the 78 site. My opinions have always been well reasoned yet seldom countered with a similar degree of thoughtfulness and thoroughness. Moreover, I suggested a site that is a short distance from the 78 (on the NE corner of 18th and Canal ) which I feel would be a good alternative.

I thought the 78 site might have made sense back when Phillip Bess suggested it (1987) along with Armor Park but when I look at the proposed site plan (below) , the dimensions just seem impractical. Too narrow IMO.

Edited yesterday at 03:52 AM1 day by tray

5 hours ago, JTB said:

Warren was a buffoon as commissioner of the B1G. Anyone I know involved in the inner workings of the B1G were happy to see him go.

So he was a perfect Bears front office hire!!!

One of Notre Dame Professor Phillip Bess' ideas was to relocate Claes Oldenberg’s Bat Column to a terrace outside the park.

As a Chicagoan who has driven by that bat dozens of times and liked the design but found it's placement awkward, I love his idea to repurpose it right next wherever a new Stadium is built. IMO, Ishbia's team would be wise to consult Professor Bess' previous works and writings on ballpark design.

Edited yesterday at 06:44 AM1 day by tray

3 hours ago, tray said:

One of Notre Dame Professor Phillip Bess' ideas was to relocate Claes Oldenberg’s Bat Column to a terrace outside the park.

As a Chicagoan who has driven by that bat dozens of times and liked the design but found it's placement awkward, I love his idea to repurpose it right next wherever a new Stadium is built. IMO, Ishbia's team would be wise to consult Professor Bess' previous works and writings on ballpark design.

They would have e to move the Millenium Bean next to the stadium to have any impact...or open up an off shoot/pop-up exhibit of the Art Institute next to the stadium during the summer months.

I will take Justin Ishbia over George McCaskey and his brain trust in any business dealings.

2 hours ago, Falstaff said:

I will take Justin Ishbia over George McCaskey and his brain trust in any business dealings.

It appears that much of Ishbia's PE investments have been focused on nursing homes - leveraged acquisitions primarily designed to enrich PE firms.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&hs=4H0p&sca_esv=a28a64b1bac8ec5b&q=Nursing+homes+and+private+equity&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjD2em-9eiUAxV_4skDHbl2IrQQ1QJ6BAg_EAE&biw=1237&bih=556&dpr=2.07

https://www.elderneglect.com/the-growing-danger-of-private-equity-in-nursing-homes/

Nursing homes can drain family wealth, abuse Medicare and often provide shameful levels of care.

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by tray

4 minutes ago, tray said:

It appears that much of Ishbia's PE investments have been focused on nursing homes - leveraged acquisitions primarily designed to enrich PE firms.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&hs=4H0p&sca_esv=a28a64b1bac8ec5b&q=Nursing+homes+and+private+equity&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjD2em-9eiUAxV_4skDHbl2IrQQ1QJ6BAg_EAE&biw=1237&bih=556&dpr=2.07

https://www.elderneglect.com/the-growing-danger-of-private-equity-in-nursing-homes/

Nursing homes can drain family wealth, abuse Medicare and often provide shameful levels of care.

And Jerry is the King of Chicago gentrification. Why are we pretending that he got to be a billionaire in a not exploitive way, when the evidence is right there in front of us all?

2 hours ago, Falstaff said:

I will take Justin Ishbia over George McCaskey and his brain trust in any business dealings.

I would settle for a billionaire that isn't a paper billionaire and has some liquid assets they are willing to invest into the team. The Sox have never had someone whose primary source of wealth wasn't owning a professional franchise.