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Pritzker calls some of Bears proposals ‘probably non-starters,’ refuses to divert state dollars intended for other purposes (Updated)

Thursday, Apr 25, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Gov. Pritzker was asked today about the financial aspect of the Bears’ stadium plan…

Oh, it is more than what they put forward. I think all of you are starting to report on that. I mean, they want infrastructure dollars on top of what they’re asking for in funding.

They’re asking to keep all of the revenue from other events that might take place at the stadium. You know, if there’s a Beyoncé concert, they want all of that revenue too, and everything else that might happen there. So yeah, I mean, there are aspects of this that are, you know, probably non-starters.

Having said that, you know, always open to a conversation but as I’ve said, the priorities of the people of Illinois are not building stadiums, right?

It’s really about for example, birth equity and building birth centers for people in Black and Brown communities, just as one example. But we have important things we need to invest in for the future of the state and again, stadiums in my mind don’t rank up in the top tier of those.

[Asked about state revenues for other purposes being used for the stadium]

You’re saying dollars that would come into the state of Illinois for other purposes and kind of making sure that those go to this? No. I mean, the truth is that if we have dollars coming in to support parks, for example, in Chicago or in the state of Illinois, it strikes me that it wasn’t contemplated that those dollars would go to a ballpark [chuckles], but rather parks for children and families and neighborhoods and making sure that the city of Chicago has beautiful places for people to go and enjoy themselves without having to spend hundreds of dollars on tickets and and other things.

[Asked about whether it would be preferable to use revenues rather than borrowing]

You mean if like manna from Heaven, a check arrived and it said ‘Give this to the Chicago Bears’ would I want to do that, is that your…?

[If there happened to be one of those funds, would that be preferable to borrowing money]

I’m unaware. If you know of one of those funds, yeah, let me know. I’m unaware of one.

Please pardon all transcription errors.

…Adding… Pritzker also had this to say when first asked about the Bears plan this afternoon…

Well, I have a few words I’d like to say like, for example, what about women’s sports? Very little has been talked about the Red Stars, for example, who asked to be heard on this subject. In addition to that, as you know, the White Sox have asked for support for a stadium for them, but the proposal that was put forward, didn’t include them and takes all the money that’s available and more just for the Bears. So, I think the proposal, again, I’m skeptical of the proposal that was put forward and and I’m even more skeptical of the ability to get enough votes for it in the General Assembly.

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Today’s quotables

Thursday, Apr 25, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* House Speaker Chris Welch yesterday when asked about the Chicago Bears stadium plan…

Welch: Let me say this. I’m going to say to you publicly what I said to Kevin Warren privately last week: If we were to put this issue on the board for a vote right now, it would fail and it would fail miserably. There is no environment for something like this today.

Now in Springfield, environments change. Will that environment change within the next 30 days? I think that’s highly unlikely. You know, I think there’s a whole lot of Chicago Bears fans in the General Assembly, but our priorities are pretty clear. And we, starting next week, have one month to pass another balanced budget to, continue the positive outlook that Moody’s talked about yesterday with regard to our financial health. And I can tell you, that’s something that we have front and center as a top priority for us right now. Taking care of working families across this state is the top priority for us right now.

Q: [Does he envision any scenario where this could happen?]

Welch: Again, environments do change in Springfield. I mean, peoples’ minds can be convinced, there’s gonna be a lot of conversations. But as the governor noted, there’s three teams in Chicago. You have the Bears, the White Sox and the Chicago Red Stars, the women’s soccer team. They’re all wanting a share of this pot. And I think you have to seriously have those conversations as well. You know, in sports, equity is very important. Equity is at the center of everything we do in the House. And so I don’t think anyone can be left out of that conversation. And so, I think what’s happening today is really the kickoff, no pun intended, of some conversations to be had.

Discuss.

…Adding… Mayor Brandon Johnson talked to NBC Sports Chicago after yesterday’s presser…

How does Johnson respond to the lack of alignment between the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois?

“Well, I run the city of Chicago,” Johnson said. “I mean, that’s my responsibility to people in Chicago voted for me to run the city. And what the city has made very clear is that the public use and the public benefits to transform the lakefront. That has always been my goal. It’s not about just keeping the bears in the city of Chicago, which we have a commitment from the Bears to remain in Chicago, but it’s also about the transformation that exists there.

“Now, as far as the next steps, of course, to engage the speaker of the House, the Senate president to engage the governor, to engage the people of Chicago as a whole. That is also part of the process. But we needed to make sure that the Bears organization and my administration were on the same page. And when it comes to investing in this moment, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, we’re talking about $3.5 billion of income in our workers.”

Full video is here.

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