White Sox looking into building stadium in the South Loop

[wonky73]

Are the Chicago White Sox eyeing the South Loop for a new stadium?

 

[Diehardfan]

They should just buy Fifth Third Bank Ballpark in Kane County. Seats about 12,000....perfect for them. They might even get a sellout.

 

[ZOMBIE@CTESPN]

Dude who the hell would want their tax money given for a new sox stadium.

 

[Diehardfan]

Dude who the hell would want their tax money given for a new sox stadium.

Really. Let Reinsdorf go to Florida and they can take the mismanged Bulls along with them. The city let Reiny fuck them once, I'd be stunned if they are stupid enough to do it again.

 

[Ares]

I once attended a White Sox game for a company outing where we took the train from Lasalle to 35th street.

A chemical truck of some kind had crashed/turned over/spilled stuff and we had to detour around it.

It took like 15-20 minutes to trudge along this detour route with slow walking office people.

I remember thinking "I don't have any notion of why an MLB team remains here."

Wrigley has a whole little town/community built around it.

Soldier Field is currently party to a tourism section of Chicago, with the museums and Navy Pier nearby.

United Center has a decent service economy in the surrounding area as well as a residential base.

Guaranteed Rate Field has nothing but low income slums around it.

Why wouldn't you invest in development of the area or move the team somewhere warmer?

 

[Penny Traitor]

Guaranteed Rate Field has nothing but low income slums around it.

Bridgeport used to be a pretty decent neighborhood, but all the real good development ended up further south in Hyde Park or north of Chinatown.

When I was growing up it was United Center (then Chicago Stadium) that was a scary part of town. Now it's all fine dining and condos.

Wrigelyville used to be mostly dive bars and gutter punks. Then a bunch of gay people moved in and cleaned the place up, just in time for the Cubs to be sold off and the new owners turn the neighborhood into an amusement park for Cubs fans.

Solider Field was in the middle of a mud pit until the city redid the Museum Campus in the 90s.

The White Sox really did get screwed location wise when it came to development around the stadium, but that's kind of the tale of the south side of Chicago...I don't see how a new stadium does anything to change that in a city way more obsessed with the Cubs anyhow.

 

[Ares]

Bridgeport used to be a pretty decent neighborhood, but all the real good development ended up further south in Hyde Park or north of Chinatown.

When I was growing up it was United Center (then Chicago Stadium) that was a scary part of town. Now it's all fine dining and condos.

Wrigelyville used to be mostly dive bars and gutter punks. Then a bunch of gay people moved in and cleaned the place up, just in time for the Cubs to be sold off and the new owners turn the neighborhood into an amusement park for Cubs fans.

Solider Field was in the middle of a mud pit until the city redid the Museum Campus in the 90s.

The White Sox really did get screwed location wise when it came to development around the stadium, but that's kind of the tale of the south side of Chicago...I don't see how a new stadium does anything to change that in a city way more obsessed with the Cubs anyhow.

Same dump my entire life and they've never seriously tried to move to a better partner town/city nor improve the area in a meaningful way.

I mean my entire life the expected way you go to a White Sox game goes:

1. Car pool a bunch of people because parking is 40$
2. Drive 20-30 minutes to the park and walk to the park
3. Watch a shitty team lose while eating overpriced food and beer
4. Herd mob it back to the car in the dark and join the traffic flooding the tollway
5. Hope no one with a gun shows up while you're waiting to make a turn out.

You can also take the Rock Island line using the 35th street station, but its neither frequently running nor can you usually walk home from a Metra station.

And I'm sure some people take CTA to go to games, but honestly city of Chicago is not the White Sox fan base, the South suburbs is where the majority of their core fanbase lives.

 

[truthbedamned]

Same dump my entire life and they've never seriously tried to move to a better partner town/city nor improve the area in a meaningful way.

I mean my entire life the expected way you go to a White Sox game goes:

1. Car pool a bunch of people because parking is 40$
2. Drive 20-30 minutes to the park and walk to the park
3. Watch a shitty team lose while eating overpriced food and beer
4. Herd mob it back to the car in the dark and join the traffic flooding the tollway
5. Hope no one with a gun shows up while you're waiting to make a turn out.

You can also take the Rock Island line using the 35th street station, but its neither frequently running nor can you usually walk home from a Metra station.

And I'm sure some people take CTA to go to games, but honestly city of Chicago is not the White Sox fan base, the South suburbs is where the majority of their core fanbase lives.

Only time I ever went to a Sox game I was just praying the tires were still on the car when we got back.

 

[Penny Traitor]

honestly city of Chicago is not the White Sox fan base, the South suburbs is where the majority of their core fanbase lives.

This is a really good point. They would be better off heading out to Bridgeview to try and help save that massive sports dome they built out there. Would save Jerry a ton of money and not alienate his fan base.

Of course that means he will just move the team to Pensacola or whatever.

 

[Ares]

This is a really good point. They would be better off heading out to Bridgeview to try and help save that massive sports dome they built out there. Would save Jerry a ton of money and not alienate his fan base.

Of course that means he will just move the team to Pensacola or whatever.

I mean they invested in a Metra stop, how could they move?

 

[Diehardfan]

Only time I ever went to a Sox game I was just praying the tires were still on the car when we got back.

The area around the Chicago Stadium was every bit as bad if not worse....so it can be turned around. Good luck finding investors for a team whose drawing potential is nothing short of an embarrassment.

 

[truthbedamned]

The area around the Chicago Stadium was every bit as bad if not worse....so it can be turned around. Good luck finding investors for a team whose drawing potential is nothing short of an embarrassment.

I do recall the United Center also being extremely dangerous. Went to a BH game to see Roenick and made sure the doors were locked and windows up until we hit the Eisenhower.

 

[Penny Traitor]

I do recall the United Center also being extremely dangerous. Went to a BH game to see Roenick and made sure the doors were locked and windows up until we hit the Eisenhower.

I saw the Bulls play in like 1988. Just off Madison and I think Wood street, there was not one but two parked cars on fire.

Now you probably have one bedroom condos going for 1.8 million on that same street.

To this day I don't think Sox Park is as bad of a neighborhood as the Chicago Stadium was during the early Jordan years.

It's too bad they cleaned it up too much because I bet Bulls fans could appreciate being able to buy heroin in the parking lot to forget they are a Bulls fan for awhile.

 

[truthbedamned]

I saw the Bulls play in like 1988. Just off Madison and I think Wood street, there was not one but two parked cars on fire.

Now you probably have one bedroom condos going for 1.8 million on that same street.

To this day I don't think Sox Park is as bad of a neighborhood as the Chicago Stadium was during the early Jordan years.

It's too bad they cleaned it up too much because I bet Bulls fans could appreciate being able to buy heroin in the parking lot to forget they are a Bulls fan for awhile.

Good to hear that it is cleaned up? I can't remember the name of the tower behind . Just knew it was full of gangs.

 

[Diehardfan]

I saw the Bulls play in like 1988. Just off Madison and I think Wood street, there was not one but two parked cars on fire.

Now you probably have one bedroom condos going for 1.8 million on that same street.

To this day I don't think Sox Park is as bad of a neighborhood as the Chicago Stadium was during the early Jordan years.

It's too bad they cleaned it up too much because I bet Bulls fans could appreciate being able to buy heroin in the parking lot to forget they are a Bulls fan for awhile.

God forbid you get cheap and try parking in the street back then......you come back to this.