Teddy bears could also be cuddly, however maintaining the Bears in Chicago can be poisonous for Mayor Brandon Johnson’s formidable agenda.
Last yr, the Bears group introduced it was taking a look at departing its longtime dwelling at Soldier Field. The group unveiled lofty plans to construct a state-of-the-art stadium and sprawling leisure complicated in northwest suburban Arlington Heights, aimed toward increasing its capability and including profitable moneymakers like eating places, retail house and sports activities betting.
Now Johnson seems to be making a last-ditch effort to maintain the NFL group in Chicago. Don’t do it.
The group has plunked down $197.2 million to buy the 326-acre Arlington International Racecourse website. Demolition of the positioning is underway. The city has authorised zoning adjustments and different initiatives to easy the way in which.
Recently, information broke that talks to solidify the transfer have change into slowed down, because the group’s efforts to win state support and scale back its potential tax burden are flailing. Other suburbs at the moment are flooding the zone with various affords. On June 2, Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren met with Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli to debate transferring the group to Illinois’ fourth largest metropolis, which is 28 miles west of Chicago.
The Bears are working their leverage.
A relocation to Arlington Heights “is no longer our singular focus,” Scott Hagel, the Bears senior vp of selling and communications, stated in an announcement. “It is our responsibility to listen to other municipalities in Chicagoland about potential locations that can deliver on this transformational opportunity for our fans, our club and the State of Illinois.”
It’s a dance, and it might be working.
Last week Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor took a spin, writing to Warren to argue that the Bears belong in her lakefront metropolis.
“Our city’s staff and I invite you and your leadership team to come to Waukegan to learn about the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity our city can offer the Bears,” Taylor wrote in a letter launched to the information media Tuesday.
Look for extra municipalities to waltz in. These avid suitors get free media consideration and a wide-open alternative to advertise their cities.
On June 7, Johnson had a extremely publicized assembly with Warren. They issued a joint assertion that learn partially: “Today we met and discussed our shared values and commitment to the City of Chicago, the importance of deep roots and the need for equitable community investment throughout the city. We are both committed to the idea that the city and its major civic institutions must grow and evolve together to meet the needs of the future. We look forward to continuing the dialogue around these shared values.”
There is nothing in that blah, blah, blah to recommend that Chicago has any hope of maintaining the group.
Johnson provided up a misty-eyed reminiscence of rising as much as the tune of the “Super Bowl Shuffle,” the 1985 championship theme track. “We want to make sure we can keep shuffling here in the city of Chicago with the Bears,” he informed the information media.
That’s a 38-year-old story.
I get it. Johnson should no less than seem to entertain “conversations,” as he put it, about maintaining our NFL group within the metropolis. But the group has made it clear it gained’t keep at Soldier Field. It won’t ever personal the Chicago Park District facility and can’t broaden it sufficient to reap the earnings it craves.
There has been discuss of different metropolis websites, however all would suck up tons of of tens of millions, if not billions, of funding {dollars} to tee up. The Bears would demand a raft of economic gimmes the town can’t afford.
Chicago misplaced the possibility to construct a state-of-the-art stadium 20 years in the past, however then-Mayor Richard M. Daley opted for the controversial $632 million refurbishing of Soldier Field. Chicago’s venue is the smallest soccer stadium within the NFL, my good friend Terry Bannon notes.
Now retired, Bannon is the last word Bears aficionado, having coated the group for the Daily Herald from 1978 to 1989 and reported and edited protection for the Tribune within the 2000s.
Twenty years in the past, “I thought, you know, like Daniel Burnham said, ‘Make no little plans,’ but they made a little plan instead of a big plan,” Bannon stated.
Johnson might have the itch to one-up his vanquished predecessor. When the Bears began trying round, Mayor Lori Lightfoot was hostile, then made a fantastical provide that might have value billions of {dollars}.
Mayor, don’t scratch that itch. You have a slew of different issues value fixing. A critical play for the Bears would siphon off the goodwill, political capital and onerous money you want for different priorities, like shoring up the town’s bedeviled pension funds, tackling price range shortfalls at Chicago Public Schools and the CTA, and particularly your bid to fund $800 million in “investments in people,” i.e., anti-violence applications, youth jobs, financial growth and psychological well being care.
The Bears can play their video games, however that is Chicago. No offense to our suburban neighbors, however we don’t must play with the little children.
As far as that rising crowd of suitors goes, “I can’t blame (the Bears organization) for answering the phone when somebody else calls,” Bannon stated. “But I really think that what they’re going to concentrate on is Arlington Heights, and using whatever leverage they have.”
Chicago Bears, skedaddle. Vamoose. Get outta right here.
Laura Washington is a political commentator and longtime Chicago journalist. Her columns seem within the Tribune every Monday. Write to her at [email protected].
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Source: www.bostonherald.com