Gov Pritzker: Bears new stadium is “non-starter” for state

[msadows]

The major thing that I took out of the press conference was just how bad a public speaker kevin warren seemed to be.

It was the last thing I expected since he's been the head of the vikings and Big10 for a while, but listening to him speak sounded like he was ready to shit his pants.

 

[msadows]

They cant afford Arlington Heights as it is going to cost more and have little to no public funding.

They can, if they were an actual business and not a mom and pop shop.

Have a few taylor swift concerts at Bears North in Arlington. Open a casino and hotel for year round revenue.

This is too much work for liverspot warren and ginny

"billionaires" in this country have been opening new business ventures nonstop based on their invested values. Shit our former president and his family did this for decades. The bears just aren't ran like a business.

 

[Myk]

New NFL rules preclude teams from selling public shares line the Packers did. I’d think you could form some sort of foundation to create a 501b benefit Corp and do it that way but if NFL lawyers havent found that loophole yet maybe not.

The current workaround are PSLs which…of course vanish immediately after the last home game at Soldier Field and can be re-sold. They’ll easily make $100m selling PSLs at a new stadium. I’ve seen estimates as high as $500m.

It’s a $6.1bn franchise. They don’t “need” taxpayer money, they want it. That’s why billionaires are billionaires. They are selfish pricks that will step all over anyone to further enrich themselves. Part of the reason they pivoted from Arlington is because the village and school districts wouldn’t give them an outlandish exception on property tax rates and the property valuation.

It doesn’t matter honestly. A new stadium on the Lakefront is not happening. This is all a ploy to force AHs hands in the negotiation or get some ridiculously favorable deal to renew the lease terms at SF. My money is that the team will still end up in AH.

And the way the US works is you give a little to enough politicians they give you a lot of tax payer money.

Help poor people, OMG, socialism. Requiring public shares for tax payer money, OMG socialism.
But give millions to billionaires, that's A-OK.

 

[msadows]

And the way the US works is you give a little to enough politicians they give you a lot of tax payer money.

Help poor people, OMG, socialism. Requiring public shares for tax payer money, OMG socialism.
But give millions to billionaires, that's A-OK.

Help ukraine and you support socialism also.

We just need money to fund the abuse and killing of 14 month old puppies. Thats the true american dream.

 

[remydat]

They can, if they were an actual business and not a mom and pop shop.

Have a few taylor swift concerts at Bears North in Arlington. Open a casino and hotel for year round revenue.

This is too much work for liverspot warren and ginny

"billionaires" in this country have been opening new business ventures nonstop based on their invested values. Shit our former president and his family did this for decades. The bears just aren't ran like a business.

You can use money for a future concert to pay to build the stadium. If the Chicago stadium costs 5 billion then AH with the additional commercial, retail and residential add ons is like around 7 billion.

Let's assume McCaskey's can put up 2 billion. That still leaves them 5 billion short. Lets say the NFL kicks in 1 billion and PSLs are at the high of 500m. That still leaves them 3.5 billion sort. At a 6 billion valuation they would need to sell 60% of the team to get the other 3.5 billion. McCaskeys dont have many assets outside of the team to pledge as collateral and think NFL prevemts the team itself being pledged.

They only own 80% of Bears and someone has to own at least 30% so they cant sell 60% by themselves unless they selling to someone that will be majority owner.

So unless someone is willing to overpay at say a valuation of like 7-8 billion, I am not sure they can get the financing they need.

 

[Probie2429]

This is just how the graft is in IL. Pritzger is basically saying the cut for the right people needs to be bigger or it’s a non-starter.

 

[modo]

I don’t think they “donated” enough to Priztker’s campaign.

 

[PrideisBears]

I think the new stadium should be in Gary, Indiana

 

[alswank87]

And the way the US works is you give a little to enough politicians they give you a lot of tax payer money.

Help poor people, OMG, socialism. Requiring public shares for tax payer money, OMG socialism.
But give millions to billionaires, that's A-OK.

Politicians will only propose social programs if they can funnel the money to themselves and their pet projects. If they ever get programs to help something like the homeless, they will make sure the problem gets worse so the program gets more funding and their pay can go up while they hire their friends. This wouldn’t be a problem if the Federal Reserve didn’t have the power to print money out of thin air.

 

[Canth]

The thing that is still a huge open question mark even for AH is the infrastructure upgrades required. That is going to be a huge number and if I remember right, there was a report that the Bears never even started to have that discussion with AH about what that would cost - only that the Bears expected the public/AH to take care of those infrastructure expenses.

I think it's safe to say that they are still years away from any real start on breaking ground on the stadium wherever is ends up being.

 

[HSBOB]

Say what you want about JB,but his record so far has been one of fiscal responsibility. He inherited a state that went four years w/o a budget and delivered four consecutive balanced budgets that addressed state pension contributions and increased the state's rainy day fund.....these are facts. I'm sure all politicians pander to their constituents but Pritzker has run mostly self-funded campaigns and has the ability to continue doing so.

The Bears said they'd contribute 2B to this 4.6B ill-fated lake front project,and JB just said the remaining 2.6B ain't commin' from Il tax payers........good for JB!

 

[Rustysurf83]

I think the new stadium should be in Gary, Indiana

The Bears next play to try and play hardball to extort the taxpayers will absolutely be a threat to move the team to Northwest Indiana. The NFL would never allow it but they’ll threaten it anyways.

 

[bamainatlanta]

Isn’t Gary kind of a crappy area?

 

[pdxbearsfan]

Illinois gov.: Bears' stadium plan a 'nonstarter'

The Chicago Bears' proposal to fund a new lakefront stadium remains a "nonstarter," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's office said after top aides met with team officials Wednesday.

www.espn.co.uk

I thought the Bears laid out their plans last week like it was a done deal? So the team announced a new stadium but never had approval from the state?

Very Bears like don't you think? No way the state approves this. It's back to the suburbs.

 

[pdxbearsfan]

So Arlington it is?

Yes it is.

 

[pdxbearsfan]

It is. This is a ploy to twist AHs arm in negotiations. Building an entire privately owned entertainment complex is far more profitable in the long term and makes the franchise value skyrocket if they decide to sell when Virginia dies. They’ll have zero issue getting significant investors to fund AH so it doesn’t matter to them where the money comes from private or public. This is just a tactic to get a few numbers knocked off the property taxes for AH.

I honestly think it's always been about your last sentence.

 

[pdxbearsfan]

Isn’t Gary kind of a crappy area?

Saying its crappy is being nice, shithole is more like it.

 

[Forty-six]

It's been all theater up to this point. Each party involved has just put out their first proposal, which is never what you're actually willing to pay or do.

The city of AH's first proposal tried to extract as much money from taxes as possible.

So the Bears' counter with a proposal to build a new stadium on the lakefront. They're not exactly serious if they didn't sit down with Pritzker first and hold talks with him about their plans.

JB's first proposal is being fiscally responsible and protecting the taxpayer, which makes him sound great.

I expect the next round of negotiations to see all groups involved move off of their first proposal and meet somewhere in the middle. This will be a long, very slow process, unfortunately.

Will the new stadium be built before the decade is up? I say no.

 

[Rustysurf83]

Isn’t Gary kind of a crappy area?

Gary is a fucking dumpster fire so part of the Bears “proposal” will be some community “reinvigoration” bullshit. They are going to Arlington. Just need to save a few more tax dollars for the billionaire family because that’s what billionaires do.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

Illinois gov.: Bears' stadium plan a 'nonstarter'

The Chicago Bears' proposal to fund a new lakefront stadium remains a "nonstarter," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's office said after top aides met with team officials Wednesday.

www.espn.co.uk

I thought the Bears laid out their plans last week like it was a done deal? So the team announced a new stadium but never had approval from the state?

I've been telling people, all of this is merely Leverage. And they just got their Bluff called.

I'm not going to believe the Bears are going to have any sort of property in downtown Chicago until someone can confirm that the Bears will 100% own their own field, they're on parking, and their own concessions.

Be smart about it - anyone who has lived in or around Chicago for any length of time knows that the powers that currently control Soldier Field will never give up that level of control and will insist on having it so long as the Bears have any sort of property downtown.

The entire point of Arlington Heights is that even though they also have their own level of politics with smaller players wanting their cut, it's not at the level of Chicago and the Bears would be able to own their own property entirely there...