CHICAGO — Local politicians and state legislators continued to pushback on the idea of using public funds to build new sports stadiums in Chicago Thursday, shooting down a new idea from the Chicago Bears and White Sox on where public funding could come from, according to a report in Crain's Chicago Business.
Crain's Justin Laurence reported mayor Brandon Johnson's administration is holding discussions with the Bears and White Sox over the course of the next week as the two professional sports franchises try to arrange a financial deal that would allow them both to build new stadiums within city limits.
Among items discussed, Laurence wrote the parties involved talked about using the city's amusement tax as an additional lever of public revenue.
Currently, the funds generated through the city's amusement tax — Which come from a 9% tax on ticket sales at sporting and other entertainment events and services across the city — Go to general services and other amenities Chicagoans expect from their city government.
The new idea, proposed by the White Sox, would help supplement costs to build any new stadiums from ticket sales at each of the two teams' currently existing and potential new stadiums.
That's on top of the possibility of extending the already set 2% hotel revenue tax still being used to help pay for renovations to Soldier Field and the construction of Guaranteed Rate Field.
"The city was very cool to that idea and told [the Bears and White Sox] to keep thinking and we're not going to work on that one," Laurence told WGN News Friday evening. "That's kind of a non-starter.
"[The Bears and White Sox] are certainly getting closer to coming up with a deal that we can all evaluate … But that doesn't mean state and city legislators are going to sign on."
While ideas are spit-balled back-and-forth between front offices and Johnson's administration, the clock continues to tick on getting a deal done, which Bears and Sox ownership would like to happen sooner rather than later.
The Illinois State General Assembly convenes through May 24 and in any scenario where a deal for a new stadium in Chicago is officially proposed, the deal would need to be put to a vote and approved by the state general assembly.
At best, city and state politicians have been lukewarm to any proposals involving public dollars funding the construction of private sports stadiums, and according to Laurence, are unlikely to be cooperative with a timeline that gets a deal done by the end of the May legislative session.
The next time the state general assembly convenes wouldn't be until 2025, according to the legislative calendar on the state government's website.
Ultimately, Laurence told WGN News there are no clear cut ways the Bears and White Sox can generate significant funding through public tax dollars, meaning that the gap would need to be made up in private investments.
The Bears have committed more than $2 billion in private investments to a new domed stadium on the lakefront, but stadium architecture expert Mark Ganis told WGN News back in March that it would take $2.5-3 billion in private funding to build the stadium, and that doesn't include the additional $1 billion the city would need to fork over for infrastructure work to make the stadium site more accessible, according to Laurence's reporting.
The White Sox and team owner/chairman Jerry Reinsdorf have yet to put forward any private capital toward a new stadium.
To read Laurence's latest update on the Bears and White Sox's discussions with city and state leaders on putting forth a proposal for new stadiums in Chicago, visit Crain's Chicago Business online.