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Reinsdorf now says new Sox development would require $2 billion in subsidies (Updated)

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* White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf sat down with Greg Hinz and talked over lunch. From the article…

• Said financing the stadium would require not only $1.1 billion in subsidies from an existing tax on Chicago hotel rooms but also up to $900 million in infrastructure work that already has been authorized but not funded by a tax-increment financing district that covers The 78 property. Such a move, however, will require legislative and possibly City Council approval.

• Indicated he’s on a fast track, hoping to begin preliminary construction work later this year and play in the new stadium by the 2028 season.

• Conceded that the Sox and the Bears may be competing for the same public-revenue source, the hotel tax, to pay for new Chicago arenas, but said the two family-owned teams are trying to work out a mutually beneficial deal. One thing that’s off the table: sharing a stadium. “It doesn’t work,” Reinsdorf said. “You end up having a stadium that is no good for football or baseball.”

• Said he’s unsure what will happen to Guaranteed Rate and adjoining parking lots if the Sox move downtown. Constructing hundreds of new housing units and retail space is one possibility, and converting the stadium itself into a smaller home for the Chicago Fire soccer team is another possibility, he said.

* Reinsdorf also told Greg that the project would generate tax revenue of $200 million a year - except he also wants to capture all the sales taxes generated. From an earlier Crain’s article…

Reinsdorf is also seeking to create a tax-overlay district surrounding the proposed stadium that would capture the state’s portion of sales taxes generated in the area — estimated at roughly $400 million over an undisclosed period — to be set aside to subsidize the stadium and back the new bonds.

…Adding… Good point in comments…

By the way, how much of that $200mm in tax revenue is offset by the closing of Comiskey?

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:01 pm

Comments

Good grief. This is concrete proof he wants to bug out for Nashville.

Comment by Colin O'Scopy Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:04 pm
Nashville on my mind.

I truly believe Reinsdorf hates his fanbase.

Once the White Sox become the Nashville Nimrods knock down Sox Park and put up highrise market rate housing. Bridgeport needs the density and the trains are right there.

Comment by HR Pufnstuf Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:08 pm
What doesn’t he understand about “no”? The “N” or or “O”?

Comment by Huh? Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:10 pm
JB ain’t Jim Thompson, Sox fandom is, I sense, ready to say goodbye before caving to another blackmail, and there are no readymade locations to move to save maybe Montreal (Nashville is getting an expansion team). That said, even if the move threat was real and I wasn’t fed up with him (and his admitted “the goal is 2nd place”), this is indefensible. I think he just wants a talking point when he sells the team to another city’s ownership group given all the gruff he’s talked about how hurt he was when the Dodgers moved (or maybe it was the Giants).

Comment by lake county democrat Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:11 pm
How many private businesses deserve $2 billion in state support? If you need that much help, you’re doing it wrong.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:11 pm
You fooled us once. It’s not going to work again.
Enjoy your retirement in Nashville, Jerry. Or sell the team.

Comment by Keyrock Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:13 pm
While my attitude towards Jerry is “Don’t let the door hit you … .” Nashville has grown so rapidly it has LA-worthy traffic. Unlike the Titans, the “Nimrods” games would be held during the work week. Good luck with that, Jerry!

Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:17 pm
Outrageous. Study after study shows subsidizing billionaire private business owners stadiums is not in the public interest.

Comment by Lunchbox Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:17 pm
“Did I say two billion? I meant four billion.”

Comment by Colin O'Scopy Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:20 pm
Say it ain’t so Jerry.

Comment by Bigtwich Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:24 pm
===bug out for Nashville===

A new franchise in Nashville would net MLB billions of dollars in fees. The only way he could go there is if Nashville is otherwise snubbed.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:26 pm
S e l l t h e t e a m

Comment by Macon Bakin Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:26 pm
===Or sell the team. ===

Reinsdorf has been a master at avoiding unnecessary taxation. Selling the team (which I’d love to see) would cost him a fortune because he bought it for next to nothing.

After he passes, his children could sell it and pay far lower taxes.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:28 pm
So he now wants $2 Billion in Gubbamint Socialist Entitlements?

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Comment by Jerry Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:30 pm
Ah, yes. He wants sales tax increment financing. He’s going to STIF us.

By the way, how much of that $200mm in tax revenue is offset by the closing of Comiskey?

Comment by Save Ferris Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:31 pm
Reinsdorf the Welfare King is running the Oakland A’s playbook to perfection

Don’t spend on a competitive team, don’t upgrade current park - act shocked when fans stop showing, then cry when government won’t subsidize you.

Comment by Wowie Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:37 pm
No way. Go ahead and move. Im a lifelong fan but his hubris is way over the top. He’s on the fast track before any preliminary approvals even. Get lost.

Comment by low level Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:43 pm
If he really really believes he could get a billion dollars let alone two billion he is living in his own little fantasy world and he should not be trusted with sharp objects or allowed to drive

Comment by DuPage Saint Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:49 pm
I’ll admit to being a bit sad because the 78 seems like an ideal location for something like a stadium. Bit hemmed in by rail tracks, relatively close to multiple transit options, scenic right on the river.

But no. Just no. Bye.

Comment by Nick Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 2:55 pm
- After he passes, his children could sell it and pay far lower taxes. -

Easy Rich, some people might think you’re suggesting something.

Comment by Excitable Boy Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 3:02 pm
Did he at least pay for lunch?

Comment by NIU Grad Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 3:10 pm
== Ah, yes. He wants sales tax increment financing. He’s going to STIF us.==

Right? He wants the usual TIF but added into the mix wants tbe relatively new STIF on top of the hotel tax revenue. Corporate welfare Reinsdorf out for public funds.

Comment by low level Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 3:24 pm
If the Sox move, what’s to stop the Brewers from moving a bit south? Chicago has a stadium, a ready made fanbase, and is close enough for current Brewers fans to make the trip to games. The Brewers are also historically a better run organzation than the Sox.

Careful what you wish for, Jerry.

Comment by Former Downstater Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 3:25 pm
===what’s to stop the Brewers from moving a bit south?===

lol

They’re getting a newly revamped ballpark, courtesy of $500 million from Wisconsin taxpayers https://www.forbes.com/sites/timnewcomb/2023/11/16/wisconsin-backs-brewers-with-500-million-for-stadium-upgrades/?sh=2b6be571d7fa

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 3:27 pm
I like Jerry personally but he’s way off base on this request. Maybe if the Sox put together a better product on the field his proposal would have been better received.

Comment by Stones Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 3:28 pm
=A new franchise in Nashville would net MLB billions of dollars in fees. The only way he could go there is if Nashville is otherwise snubbed.=

I saw that in comments yesterday. Where can I verify that independently (not that I doubt you? I was unaware, as I often am, that the MLB ownership is paid by the owners of a new franchise.

Press reports noted Jerry Reinsdorf was seen leaving the Mayor’s office a few months ago. Did he ever comment on that?

Comment by Colin O’Scopy Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 3:32 pm
=Maybe if the Sox put together a better product on the field his proposal would have been better received.=

The Cubs product has been better. They got nothing. Because taxpayers have no appetite for this. If Jerry wants this to happen he’ll have to do it the same way the Rickett’s did, pay for it yourself.

Comment by Pundent Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 3:33 pm
Life long Sox fan here and I still say not one single penny. Go ahead and move the team. The MLB will have another franchise in here over night.

=By the way, how much of that $200mm in tax revenue is offset by the closing of Comiskey?=

That’s the thing right, they share all of these numbers like jobs and tax revenue, but it is really a zero sum game except for short term construction jobs. EVerything else is supplanting.

Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 3:48 pm
Milwaukee has a huge emotional investment in the Brewers. The same cannot be said for the White Sox. The comparison is apples to oranges.

Some of the attachment to the Brewers is a by product of the loss of Milwaukee Braves to Atlanta. When the Braves moved to Wisconsin, the team shattered attendance records, captured two pennants and on World Series title. The Braves never had a losing season in Milwaukee, but when the ownership changed, the group led by Bill Bartholomay of Chicago made plans to move to Atlanta where the television revenues would be considerable and the team would have a fan base in throughout the South as no other MLB franchises were in the region. The new owners did the usual complaining about the stadium and threatened to move. A court order held up the move to Atlanta until the stadium lease expired after 1965.

The city was traumatized by losing the ball club.

Milwaukee was desperate to have an MLB team and even flirted with the White Sox to move north. The Sox played eleven “home” games at County Stadium in 1969 and attendance was higher on average than in Chicago.

When the Sox stayed put, Milwaukee grabbed the bankrupt Seattle Pilots as a replacement team in 1970.

Milwaukee will cater to the Brewers because the residents do not want to lose another team to a bigger market city.

The principal owner of the Brewers also has a piece of the AHL hockey team, the Milwaukee Admirals.

Comment by Gravitas Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 3:54 pm
===The MLB will have another franchise in here over night.===

Cubs might have something to say about that.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 3:56 pm
If the Sox had swept the ‘23 World Series, then Jerry might have some goodwill. But not $2 billion worth.

And–I don’t know if you saw this–they did not exactly compete for the Series last year.

Comment by Benjamin Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 3:57 pm
Supposedly, the Cubs ownership insisted that the White Sox would have to be located in the stockyards district when the new team opened up for business in 1900. The Cubs were on the West side at that time.

A year later, the Sox and American League pronounced that they were major league.

Comment by Gravitas Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 4:04 pm
This just gets more and more a*****e (I’m guessing that word is a filter trigger). A new stadium just rearranges (at best) existing revenue from new Comiskey, existing hotels, and existing nightlife areas and maybe a few concerts swiped from Soldier or Wrigley.

Even if they see the somewhat provable “shiny new ballpark” attendance bump that’s a 2-3 year thing at most and could probably be exceeded by the “sign some decent free agents and start winning” effect. This whole pitch is silliness.

Comment by ChicagoBars Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 4:14 pm
=I saw that in comments yesterday. Where can I verify that independently=

https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/04/27/rob-manfred-mlb-expansion-fee-over-2-billion

Comment by Pundent Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 4:19 pm
Welp, after reading Rich and Gravitas’s comments, I see now my suggestion was as dumb as Jerry Reinsdorf asking for $2 billion in taxpayer dollars.

Comment by Former Downstater Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 4:33 pm
Former Downstater…. You’re good. By many zeroes. Chicago could handle two teams, but it will be interesting to see what happens in the Bay Area if/when the As move. Possibly a precedent …

Comment by Vote Quimby Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 5:10 pm
== I was unaware, as I often am, that the MLB ownership is paid by the owners of a new franchise. ==

Yes, the expansion fee has historically been paid to existing owners. Fay Vincent claimed that the expansion of the MLB in 1993 came about primarily so MLB owners could use the expansion fees to pay off their settlements for colluding against players in free agency (a conspiracy in which Reinsdorf was a wholehearted participant, even leader):

“Look, each owner had a $10 million bill [as part of the collusion settlement with the players] and there were about 26 clubs before expansion and 30 at the moment, then $280 million, let’s say $10 million a club – they didn’t have the money. So they did what most would business do, they sold stock, they sold interest in the clubs, in the expansion clubs. In my day two of them - Miami and Denver. And that money, which was vital, paid off their collusion debt.”

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20071010222310/http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1173&Itemid=81

Comment by granville Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 5:14 pm
===The MLB will have another franchise in here over night.=== Would the American League want to vacate the third largest TV/media market in the nation for Nashville? How does that make sense?

Comment by John Etheredge Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 5:34 pm
Reinsdorf is just confused. He thinks he owns a nuclear power plant.

Comment by don the legend Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 5:37 pm
Nope. No way. Jerry, don’t let the door hit your rear on the way out. Argh

Comment by Tired teacher Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 5:44 pm
It would be cosmic if somehow Jerry moves the team and the Rays, unable to get *their* new stadium built, move into Guaranteed Rate.

Comment by lake county democrat Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 6:38 pm
Stan Grossman : We’re not a bank, Jerry.

Comment by Tony DeKalb Thursday, Feb 22, 24 @ 8:15 pm