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Pritzker Says ‘Nothing Has Changed’ About His Views on Stadium Public Funding While Urging Teams to Coordinate Efforts
A rendering of the proposed new stadium for the Chicago Bears on a redesigned Museum Campus. (Credit: Chicago Bears)
They don’t play in the same league, but the Chicago Bears, White Sox, Red Stars and possibly the Fire are all in competition for state tax dollars.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday that “nothing has changed” from his previous stance that public funding for sports stadiums is not something he, or the public, has much of an appetite for. But he did signal the teams’ bids for state help building new football, baseball and soccer stadiums, respectively, would be better off if they all got on a level playing field.
It’s not that he’s insisting they have to make a unified pitch, Pritzker said.
“But I do think they need to recognize that, you know, we have a limited opportunity to help people build stadiums,” Pritzker said, in response to a reporter’s question following an unrelated event. “To come at us in a serial fashion, one after another after another, makes it a little bit hard. If they at least have figured out amongst themselves what they’re going to ask for that is within the capability of the city and the state, that’s helpful.”
Chicago hotels pay a 2% tax on gross receipts — known as the Illinois Sports Facilities Hotel Tax — that goes to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the state agency that owns Guaranteed Rate Field (which the Sox pay rent to use) and issued bonds to pay for the 2003 renovations of Soldier Field.
Pritzker suggested that the agency and the hotel tax could be the “limited opportunity” the teams can draw on for public assistance.
Should it become the backer of new projects, a new law would likely be needed to extend the agency’s bonding authority.
The governor’s remarks came as a coalition of organizations Wednesday renounced the Bears’ idea of building a new stadium on the lakefront.
“As great as it would be to have a domed stadium, Chicago should not a put a ‘sold’ sign on our lakefront,” said Gin Kilgore, the interim director of Friends of the Parks. “We hope to show there’s growing support of the Chicago Bears and our elected officials to slow down the process, open up the process and include a transparent process.”
Read More: Friends of the Parks Announces Coalition to Push Back Against New Bears Lakefront Stadium
While Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is on board with the Bears’ plans for a new Chicago stadium, other state officials share Pritzker’s skepticism around the use of public assistance for that and other stadium projects.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch said he attended a Monday event hosted by developer Related Midwest to win lawmakers’ support for building a new Sox stadium at The 78 site in the South Loop — but that even a sell from greats like Bo Jackson and Harold Baines didn’t change his thinking that it’s a project that should be privately funded.
Contact Amanda Vinicky: @AmandaVinicky | [email protected]