Bears Scrapping The Arlington Hts Stadium Plan

Mighty Joe Young

Mighty Joe Young

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DB012031 said:
Not soft selling you on anything. Both can be true though, they aren't mutually exclusive. The districts can be corrupt, no one is arguing that, but the Bears are also being shady dicks as well. If the property was only valued at $70-90M, then that's what they should have paid, not $197M.
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Of course. That's why I said there's no good guys here.

But I'm not going to paint the school district as in the right. Nor am I going to be told to pick sides in this thing. Not saying that's what you're doing but just that's what the Press is absolutely going to be trying to do.

Both sides want there to be outrage in favor of them to be used as political Leverage. I would caution everyone not to believe anything and just sit out and force both sides to handle their shit like grown ass people.
 
DrGonzo

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Never underestimate how much taxpayer money the city is offering the Bears behind the scenes out of the public eye.
 

CHIBEAR

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Mighty Joe Young said:
See what I just posted above.

If the Bears remain in Chicago, they will not have control over concessions or parking, which are HUGE revenue generators the Bears have not been able to benefit from since those go to the city.

That is the whole reason they want to leave Chicago in the first place.

The Bears can have all sorts of wonderful lakefront plans, but until I hear that the city is willing to give over control of the field, parking, and concessions to the Bears, I won't believe it - especially with "Friends of the Park" or whatever they call themselves not wanting to let go of any of that control.
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Of course, the city controlled the field, parking, and concessions considering they owned and invested the majority of the money in its renovation and upkeep.

If the Bears invest 2 billion dollars and partner with the city/state then of course they would have control of the concessions and parking on their own game days and control over the sponsor's ads at the stadium on game days as well. I don't get the expectation of a company controlling all of that in a property they are not invested in or own though.

As was argued previously around here when they first announced AH the only thing preventing the Bears from doing a lot of what they wanted was that they never really came to the table with any $$$$ before.

If done correctly it's a win-win for both sides because there is certainly enough revenue for both to reap the sort of profits they are looking for
 
remydat

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remydat said:
Dont think it is strange at all. Arlington Heights was bought before Warren and Warren alluded to the fact that the stadium wasnt as far along as he expected when he took over.

I think it is fairly obvious to me Warren isnt actually a fan of Arlington Heights hence why he has put that on pause. Based on his news conference it seems he would prefer a stadium in Chicago on the Lake but has to find a way for McCaskey and Philips to save face on the Arlington Heights deal.
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bamainatlanta said:
That’s just speculation. The guy is a bumbling fool.
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remydat said:
He was quite effusive about a downtown stadium and like Poles with Fields Arlington was Phillips choice not his. Think in the end, they will build downtown and either sell Arlington or build a practice complex with commerical development around it.

And yes that is speculation which is precisely what you are doing as well.
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https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1767129230435848205

#calledit Warren putting his stamp on franchise.

@bamainatlanta
 
remydat

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DB012031 said:
While our school districts have their issues, this isn't a fair depiction of what is happening with AH. We can have another debate on school districts later and my gut tells me you and I would probably agree on 90% of the issues, but that's not the case this time

It was shady as hell to buy that land at one price, knock down everything on it, then go and argue to the county assessor that now the land should be valued at $100M less than what they just paid for it. While perhaps a "smart" business move by the Bears, it was a dick move when the county depends on that property tax revenue to help support/pay for the schools.

If the land was really worth what the Bears are saying it is, then that is the price they should have paid for it, but they didn't. They paid like $100M more, therefore, like it or not, they should be paying the taxes on it.
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People buy land with stuff on it all the time and end up tearing stuff down which as a result reduces the value. Nothing shady about that at all.

There is no logical reason for the Bears to pay for a racetrack if there is no longer a racetrack. The value would increase once they build something new on it.

It is absurd to expect someone to pay taxes on assets that no longer exist.
 
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Mighty Joe Young

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CHIBEAR said:
Of course, the city controlled the field, parking, and concessions considering they owned and invested the majority of the money in its renovation and upkeep.

If the Bears invest 2 billion dollars and partner with the city/state then of course they would have control of the concessions and parking on their own game days and control over the sponsor's ads at the stadium on game days as well. I don't get the expectation of a company controlling all of that in a property they are not invested in or own though.

As was argued previously around here when they first announced AH the only thing preventing the Bears from doing a lot of what they wanted was that they never really came to the table with any $$$$ before.

If done correctly it's a win-win for both sides because there is certainly enough revenue for both to reap the sort of profits they are looking for
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I don't argue with the theory - the issue is I don't think the city could ever surrender control of those things - even if the mayor wanted to, there are way too many unions and hands in the pot that would interfere the way the 3 school districts are in Arlington Heights are.

On that note, they are lucky its only 3 entities to haggle with in Arlington Heights.
 
Bearcub13

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Bust said:
That is one butt fugly exterior of a NFL stadium, my gawd. The Bears took the shortcut route back in the day.

IF only they had the Rickett's mentality from the get go. Look at all the bullshit the Cubs had to go thru, yet they went ALL IN FROM DAY 1.
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Soldier Field is stunning from any direction. The Iconic facade shows where we came from, the modern stadium within shows where we are. The inside is a beautiful bit of artistry and engineering.
 

DB012031

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remydat said:
People buy land with stuff on it all the time and end up tearing stuff down which as a result reduces the value. Nothing shady about that at all.

There is no logical reason for the Bears to pay for a racetrack if there is no longer a racetrack. The value would increase once they build something new on it.

It is absurd to expect someone to pay taxes on assets that no longer exist.
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Ok, and that could be a fair point but (and I swear I don't mean this in a dick-headish sort of way) do you understand how commercial development happens, especially when it comes to sports stadiums? When it comes to personal property like building a new home, what you said is correct. But, when you or I build a new home, we don't get to go to the county and ask for a Tax Abatement....

The Bears will clear that land (As they did) and then go to the county to say "hey look, the land isn't that valuable anymore even though we paid almost $200M for it). Then, as soon as the county finally agrees to a new evaluation, the Bears will then go after a 25 year tax abatement to essentially lock in that BS land evaluation because they will then say "Oh look at all these new jobs we are creating and the economic impact we will have". Low and behold, the county will then probably argue back and forth and eventually give in close to the demands of the Bears and for the next 25 years that entire build out will only be worth "90M" on paper. Remember, sales tax doesn't go to the school district (only property taxes do) and that's the Bears bargaining chip to grease the county officials.

This is how so many stadiums and corporate buildings are built out (New Royals Stadium in KC, Sofi, Reliant Stadium for sports; the old McDonalds Corporate Center in Oakbrook, all the new AWS data centers in Iowa and Missouri, etc). The school districts suffer with lack of funds because they get property tax breaks. The County still gets theirs's through sales tax, but again, I am not aware of any county where sales tax proceeds go to the schools. Now they will argue, if you build it they will come, meaning that more residential neighborhoods will follow, but history shows that is rarely the case.
 
Dstone5553

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I am not in the know at all living out West but it's hard for me to believe the Bears want to build the stadium in Chi and are giving up on their plans for AH, that this is just for show in the service of putting pressure on AH to get that deal done.

How much of a loss would it be to sell that place now or in the next few years with how much they overpaid for it?
 
Bearcub13

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Canth said:
What was stupid was that they insisted they had to keep the columns to maintain the monument status or something...which they lost anyway because they hadn't actually done their full due diligence to wonder how all that stuff worked.

I cannot remember, but I think there was a recent proposal that suggested that they could keep the columns but in a park like manner? Maybe I am completely misremembering that. Either way, they need a clean sheet design, new stadium.
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So, the City of Chicago has a rich history and Soldier Field is part of it. I fully applauded the City and the Bears for buidling a stadium that shows some of the city's history as well as their new stadium (as of 2006 anyway). Going out to the burbs, scraping off any signs of the past from 100 acres and building an antiseptic stadium with no soul is easy, any low rate franchise can do that. But the Bears and the City of Chicago are quite capable of doing the remarkable.
 
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Starion said:
Isn't the city still financially underwater on the funding for Soldier Field's UFO rebuild!? 😐
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Cook county taxpayers are on the hook for it through 2033
 

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It doesn’t sound like the team ownership has their minds made up on anything. It doesn’t seem like there is a plan and they aren’t sure what to do.
 
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