Today’s quotable: Joe Mansueto
Friday, Oct 18, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Athletic…
The Fire is the third Chicago professional men’s team to announce it’s looking to build a new stadium, joining the Bears and the White Sox. The Bears have turned focus back to the Soldier Field site, while the White Sox plans remain up in the air. The Athletic reported Thursday that owner Jerry Reinsdorf was open to selling the team. One of the major barriers to those projects is that the teams are asking for public funds to build stadiums. The White Sox reportedly asked for more than $1 billion in public funds, according to the Chicago Tribune, while the Bears’ stadium project could cost taxpayers as much as $2.4 billion of the total $4.75 billion cost of the project, according to WTTW.
[Chicago Fire owner Joe Mansueto], the founder, CEO and chairman of Morningstar, with a reported net worth of $7.1 billion, said the team would privately finance a new stadium.
“My personal view is that stadiums are not a great investment,” Mansueto said. “They’re big, costly to maintain, sit empty most of the time. And so to the extent that they create value, most of that accrues to the sports team, not the municipality. So to me, it’s fair that the sports team should own it. Moreover, here in Illinois, in the City of Chicago, our finances are strained. Teachers want more money, law enforcement needs money, pension obligations. Our city and state don’t have the funds, to be candid, and so to me, we would privately finance it.”
The Athletic, based in New York, has lately had infinitely better coverage of Chicago sports team owners than any outlet in or near Chicago.
* Meanwhile…
- edge - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:19 am:
The Athletic has step-up its coverage after nbcsports folded.
- Juice - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:20 am:
It really is refreshing to see a team owner recognize that the bulk of the investment needs to come from private financing and actually thinking through how to make that work.
As part of the original renderings for Lincoln Yards, there was a soccer specific statement at the location, which the “neighbors” pitched a fit about (pun very much intended), so it was scrapped from the plan. Not sure if the current environment opens itself up to reopening that discussion, but it would make a lot of sense.
Really any of the three sites that were mentioned are great options (though Michael Reese would probably be the most difficult to get to via transit).
Also hopeful that the facility could be used by the Red Stars as well to make both teams more accessible to fans.
- DuPage Saint - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:23 am:
Mansueto is obviously not qualified to run a sports team. He will be blackballed by owners if all other professional teams. Truly a traitor to his class /S
- StarLineChicago - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:23 am:
Jerry not having CHSN available as a streaming app is indeed an oversight (and could just be chalked up to an ongoing inability to understand the modern media market) but putting the Bulls, Hawks, and Sox back over the air where anyone with an antenna can watch for free is actually a really good thing for fans.
- edge - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:24 am:
sorry, grammar, but somehow I feel that Wirtz got roped into the new chsn, which has no agreement to air games on cable tv nor stream games on platforms, by Jerry.
- TJ - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:26 am:
== I feel that Wirtz got roped into the new chsn ==
That may be the case, but who is the bigger fool…. the doofus that walks off a cliff on their own accord, or the dingus that needlessly follows the doofus?
- JoanP - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:36 am:
I may not be a sports fan, but I think I’m a Joe Mansueto fan, totally aside from the very cool library at the U of C that has his name on it.
- the647 - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:37 am:
The Bulls, Hawks and Sox channel is free in the Chicago area if you just spend $20-30 bucks on an antenna. It’s much cheaper than buying a cable package.
- Charles Edward Cheese - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:38 am:
Are there any rumblings of local Chicago / Illinois billionaire led groups with interest in the White Sox? Mansueto, maybe Lucas and Hobson, or Andy Berlin who’s already well engrained in Chicagos baseball fabric? If Reinsdorf is serious about a sale (though again this is probably just another one of his stuck-in-the-past ploys) local groups seem like fitting front runners.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:43 am:
Well, not trying to rip off the taxpayer is hardly a merit badge. It is something normal people accomplish every day.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:44 am:
===It is something normal people accomplish every day===
Perhaps, but it’s most definitely not normal behavior for a billionaire sports team owner.
- Gravitas - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:46 am:
In stark contrast to Jerry Reinsdorf seeking hand outs, the owners of the Chicago Cubs quietly rebuilt the team’s 110 year old stadium (for the most part construction during several recent off seasons with a few exceptions) without billing it to the taxpayers.
The ballpark has a new foundation, new steel, and more. Original bricks were cleaned and reused.
There is an interesting documentary available on YouTube about the reconstruction of Wrigley Field that originally aired on the Marquee channel.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:46 am:
“The Bulls, Hawks and Sox channel is free in the Chicago area if you just spend $20-30 bucks on an antenna.”
This is what I do now. Reinsdorf teams don’t deserve our money anyway. It’s appropriate that the Bulls have returned to what they were pre Jordan - an afterthought team that nobody thinks about when they think about the NBA. Small minded ownership begets these low rent, small minded operations.
Of course the Bulls still make money hand over fist regardless, which is why Michael will end up owning the Bulls and not the Sox. But they may as well not play the games. I don’t think Billy Donovan even cares, other than appreciating the chance to anchor his kid to the Reinsdorf nepotism machine.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:53 am:
===without billing it to the taxpayers===
Not for lack of trying.
- Andersonville Right Winger - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:54 am:
That’s great that Mansueto recgonizes public financing of sports stadiums is bad for taxpayers. However, the Chicago Fire still stink.
- Sox Fan - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 11:56 am:
===sorry, grammar, but somehow I feel that Wirtz got roped into the new chsn, which has no agreement to air games on cable tv nor stream games on platforms, by Jerry.===
The wirtz family are equally as bad as an ownership group as Reinsdorf. To suggest that anything that’s happened to that organization over the last ten years is the result of something other than their own incompetence is misguided.
- JS Mill - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 12:10 pm:
=[Chicago Fire owner Joe Mansueto]=
Can someone get this guy on the blower stat, and let him know the six are allegedly for sale?
- Homebody - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 12:23 pm:
While I appreciate a business owner actually not trying to fleece the people for handouts, I do find the choice of verbs in this sentence interesting.
“Teachers want more money, law enforcement needs money”
I admit I could be reading too much into it though.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 12:25 pm:
It is not Mr. Mansueto’s view, but the prevailing consensus among economists. The Bears and Sox do not seem to understand that the economic merits are really against them. No big time lobbyists, timing, budget concerns, ect. are going to change that.
- Beep booop - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 12:29 pm:
Very misleading tweet. The streaming service hasn’t even been officially announced (as far as I know) and you will certainly have to pay a subscription fee.
Not to mention that their games are hard to access locally since they got kinda shafted by Bally Sports. You can buy a specific antenna if you live in certain markets for I think $25-$55 and then access games for free though, which is a cool system but has a few loopholes that need closing.
I wouldn’t really trust @RTNBA as a source. Per Rich’s instruction one last week I googled before commenting and there’s really no information out there on a free streaming service for the Mavs.
- Bud Grant - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 12:31 pm:
Why not move the Fire into Soldiers Field.
- Juice - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 12:48 pm:
Bud Grant, the Fire currently play at Soldier Field.
They want out for a whole host of reasons.
- It's Just a Pill - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 12:59 pm:
Jerry has entered “Bill Wirtz” level cluelessness. All bad.
- Jerry - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 1:01 pm:
Owner Jo might be right. And its even worse for Taxpayer Citizens. They’ve lost trillions on the football and baseball clubs.
Maybe Jo should “invest” in a fast food franchise where you get to earn pennies on the dollar.
- Jerry - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 1:07 pm:
Bill Wirtz felt he owed it to “Season Reservation Holders” to not give away the product on TV, which at the time was only over the air television. Thats his purogative as a business owner. So no one saw the games until they still started On-TV and over the air pay channel that eventually becamse NBC sports chicago.
The Cubs grew their product especially when it was on the “Super Station”. The shots of Wrigley in the summer sold themselves.
- Google Is Your Friend - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 1:25 pm:
- Beep booop - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 12:29 pm:
Try Googling harder. Reported in the Dallas Morning News last month that the Mavericks are working to launch a streaming service and are working with the NBA to do so.
https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2024/09/06/how-to-watch-the-dallas-mavericks-this-season-tegna-wfaa/
FWIW, the Dallas Stars teamed up with Victory+ to stream games free to consumers similarly to the broadcast TV model (i.e. ad supported).
- Treefiddy - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 1:41 pm:
As a longtime Fire fan, it’s been great to see Mansueto taking the steps to lift the team from its nearly two decades of bad ownership, worse on-field results and untenable stadium situations. The stadium search announcement, paired with them hiring the former manager of the men’s national team, has me hopeful the Fire can be relevant again in Chicago and in the larger soccer conversation.
- Telly - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 2:51 pm:
== Truly a traitor to his class ==
Well played, @DuPage Saint. In other words, Mansueto is the FDR of sports owners.
As much as I appreciate him, it pains me to say the Fire have been a miserably poor franchise for years. I mean, not White Sox bad, but pretty bad nonetheless.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 3:06 pm:
- the Chicago Cubs quietly rebuilt -
You must not have been paying attention at the time, there was nothing quiet about it.
- Jerry - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 3:11 pm:
The new sports network should leave the games on over the air TV (advertiser supported). The streaming/cable product should be premium with no advertising and content and analysis where the ads would run.
For instance, hockey has 3 TV timeouts a period prior to overtime. Give viewers analysis and content in lieu of commercials for the paid product.
You’d get the best of both worlds (advertising and subscription dollars). Dollar Bill Wirtz missed the boat on this.
- Thomas Paine - Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 3:12 pm:
It’s an apples to bananas comparison.
Mansueto is worth $7 billion, Chicago Fire worth $500M, and he owns it all.
Reinsdorf is worth $2 billion, White Sox worth $2 billion, but Jerry owns only 19%. Bulls are worth $2.5B, Jerry owns 40%.
75% of Jerry’s wealth is tied up in the two teams. He cannot self-finance like Mansueto can.
So yes, Jerry will probably sell his $400M share in the Sox to someone that wants to move the team to Nashville.