11 minutes ago, DoUEvenShift said:

I can think of at least 1 more

For all of the talking, I would bet money he doesn't even live in Bridgeport.

34 minutes ago, CBJ03 said:

Are the Bridgeport residents the only ones that are upset with this proposal or are there more?

I haven't really heard of others being upset about this. The local media has been all over this because a bunch of people shouting at officials at a public hearing makes for a good news story, but I haven't seen any indications that people outside of that neighborhood are mad about this.

Quigley and Mendoza are running for mayor and say they'd block this. Other politicians (the current mayor, the Gov, the 2 Senators, at least one other mayoral candidate) have only said that Amtrak needs to be transparent and should work with the residents to address their concerns.

FWIW, many people commenting on YouTube and Facebook in reaction to this news story point out that this facility will be on an existing railyard. But that's a very unscientific read.

I don't know if others here have a better read on the general reaction to this.

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

Explain to me why long before Ishbia got into the picture, that it was Jerry who was first pushing for a stadium on this site?

Also, do you really not understand why a team that isn't dead last in MLB in overall revenues might actually be great for the future success of the franchise? The Cubs made an estimated $552 million last season. The Sox made $224m. Do you enjoy having a historically awful team? I know I don't. I would love to be able to do things like sign real free agents instead of D listers like Andrew Benitendi.

Your singular hatred of one person, for no good reason, blinds you to literally every single objective thought about the future of this franchise.

1) Jerry claimed the current location is not economically viable and wanted to move the team to the 78 closing in on 3 years ago (January 2024) - long before Ishbia entered the picture as a possible successor to him. His ask was ~$1B in taxpayer money for the ballpark.

2) Amtrak identified the Bridgeport railyard parcels as their desired location for a modernized maintenance yard several years ago - again, long before Ishbia entered the picture.

3) Ishbia was working on buying the Twins and not part of the Sox future ownership plans while the first two items were happening.

I mean, those are actual facts of what happened. The only thing that is opinion here is JR's assertion that the Sox cannot compete at the current site. That's open to debate, but the rest is just plain and simple facts of what has transpired. All the meltdowns, lashing out, manufactured motives, and laugh emojis can't change reality.

I suspect the singular, irrational hatred of Ishbia stems from the fact that he is the one guy who has the wealth to provide enough private investment to make this happen. Ishbia’s wealth enabling this to happen is probably true. If this were up to the Reinsdorfs, as rich as they are, they don't have the personal liquidity to make this happen, so the South Loop stadium would probably remain a pipe dream.

Almost all other new stadiums include hundreds of millions in public money to build the thing (including for the A's, Rays, and Royals). Here, Ishbia is suggesting that he'll privately finance the ballpark. I'd imaging that is welcome news to most fans and most taxpayers. Are residents suppose to be outraged because he'd also benefit from such an enormous private investment? What do residents of Nevada, Tampa, and KC think about a stadium being proposed in Chicago where the only public funding is for infrastructure?

Edited 21 minutes ago21 min by 77 Hitmen

14 minutes ago, 77 Hitmen said:

1) Jerry claimed the current location is not economically viable and wanted to move the team to the 78 closing in on 3 years ago (January 2024) - long before Ishbia entered the picture as a possible successor to him. His ask was ~$1B in taxpayer money for the ballpark.

2) Amtrak identified the Bridgeport railyard parcels as their desired location for a modernized maintenance yard several years ago - again, long before Ishbia entered the picture.

3) Ishbia was working on buying the Twins and not part of the Sox future ownership plans while the first two items were happening.

I mean, those are actual facts of what happened. The only thing that is opinion here is JR's assertion that the Sox cannot compete at the current site. That's open to debate, but the rest is just plain and simple facts of what has transpired. All the meltdowns, lashing out, manufactured motives, and laugh emojis can't change reality.

I suspect the singular, irrational hatred of Ishbia stems from the fact that he is the one guy who has the wealth to provide enough private investment to make this happen. Ishbia’s wealth enabling this to happen is probably true. If this were up to the Reinsdorfs, as rich as they are, they don't have the personal liquidity to make this happen, so the South Loop stadium would probably remain a pipe dream.

Almost all other new stadiums include hundreds of millions in public money to build the thing (including for the A's, Rays, and Royals). Here, Ishbia is suggesting that he'll privately finance the ballpark. I'd imaging that is welcome news to most fans and most taxpayers. Are residents suppose to be outraged because he'd also benefit from such an enormous private investment? What do residents of Nevada, Tampa, and KC think about a stadium being proposed in Chicago where the only public funding is for infrastructure?

I mean seriously, we have a dude saying I DO NOT WANT TAXPAYER MONEY, I GOT THIS, and somehow it is a bad thing. No more welfare queen billionaire hand outs sounds great to me.