The political winds are starting to blow against the prospect of a new tax-subsidized domed stadium west of McCormick Place for the Chicago Bears.
The big project was rattled several times this week-first when officials insisted the Bears must pay a third of the cost, and later when key politicians said an anti-tax mood among state legislators may prevent the project from getting funded this spring.
Ironically, the first blow was delivered by John Schmidt, board chairman of the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority and one of the project`s biggest boosters.
Schmidt declared that the Bears will have to pay at least $10 million a year in rent to play in a new dome, almost triple what the team pays the Chicago Park District to play its 10-game schedule in Soldier Field.
Schmidt, who for several weeks has been negotiating privately with Bears President Michael McCaskey, said the team must cover one-third the cost of building the dome, which could run as high as $300 million.
That means the Bears would have to ante up from $7 million to $8 million a year in debt service on construction bonds, Schmidt said, plus another $2 million to cover their share of operating expenses.
Though he would not characterize his terms as an ultimatum, Schmidt`s going public with the figures is a sure sign that the so-called McDome project is beginning to drift onto the political shoals.
The McCormick Place board had hoped to obtain state funding from the Illinois General Assembly during the spring session that ends June 30.
However, an out-of-balance 1991 state budget and a post-primary election outbreak of tax-bashing politics has some legislators warning that now is not the time to push for another tax-subsidized stadium.
”It`s going to be an awfully tough sell,” said State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), chairman of the House Revenue Committee. ”The fall session may be a more realistic possibility.”
A similar thought was expressed by Mayor Richard Daley Tuesday, who said the lawmakers might not go for the project even if the Bears meet Schmidt`s terms.
”There is a real estate tax revolt going on,” said Daley, adding that legislators may not be convinced that a domed stadium financed by public funds is worth the political risk, even with increased Bears participation.
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The Bears` McCaskey was on a business trip to New York and could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But if, as some suspect, he balks at Schmidt`s price, project backers would have a face-saving reason to put the whole thing off for six months to a year.
By then, the reasoning goes, Springfield`s anti-tax fever may have run its course.
McCaskey hasn`t divulged his ”best offer” rent payment, but prior to the beginning of negotiations last winter he indicated that the ”new standard” is the deal the legislature gave the Chicago White Sox three years ago.
The Sox will keep all ticket, parking and concession revenues and play rent-free in any year attendance falls below 1.2 million. A recent evaluation of the deal by the state`s auditor general said that it is more likely, under probable attendance levels, that the Sox will pay about $3 million a year in rent.
The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which will pay the lion`s share of the $150 million cost, hopes to open the stadium next April.
Schmidt`s $10 million-a-year tab is sure to make McCaskey think twice about leaving Soldier Field, where his team`s lease runs until 1999.
McCaskey has called his Soldier Field lease ”the worst in professional football,” requiring the team to pay the Chicago Park District 12 percent of gate receipts, 20 percent of skybox revenues, and a $1-a-ticket surcharge. The district also keeps all parking and concession revenues.
In all, the Bears pay about $3.8 million in rent and forgo another $1 million in parking and concessions. The team recently doubled the number of skyboxes at Soldier Field, to 120, improving its revenue picture somewhat.
That boost, plus a big anticipated increase in television revenues, may encourage McCaskey to play a waiting game-either until next year, or until the end of the decade, when the lease runs out. Then he could do what the owners of the White Sox did: Threaten to leave for the suburbs or beyond unless he gets a bargain stadium.
Another reason for waiting is that officials no longer think they need a special federal exemption, obtained by U.S. Rep. Daniel Rostenkowski (D-Chicago), which would allow $100 million of the stadium bonds to be issued as low-interest tax exempts.
The exemption expires at year`s end, but the authority will argue that the dome-which is being pitched more as a convention assembly hall than a stadium-is a legitimate public enterprise and no less eligible for tax-exempt funding than a police station or a school.
Schmidt denied any ulterior motive in going public with his lease terms, and he insisted the Bears would still be better off playing under a new dome. ”It`s not like the Bears are going to make less money,” Schmidt said.
”They could be significantly better off with us.”
Besides a larger seating capacity, 74,000 instead of 66,000, Schmidt said the Bears would profit from the 240 skyboxes and 6,000 club seats being designed into the facility.
Schmidt warned, however, that the Bears must make up their minds by
”early June” if the McCormick Authority is to press its case in Springfield during the spring session.
By then, Schmidt said, the authority will be in a position to present legislators with a menu of new taxes that could be used to raise the public`s share of the cost. That menu will likely contain a meal tax on downtown restaurants, a hotel tax, and perhaps even the addition of sports betting to the state lottery.
However, those proceeds and more may be needed to push ahead with the other-just as expensive-half of the McDome project, a new exhibition hall to double the size of McCormick Place.
Schmidt said his authority will push ahead with that part of the project no matter what happens to the dome`s stadium component. Both Gov. James Thompson and Mayor Daley have insisted that the new hall will get the nod over the dome if funds aren`t forthcoming for both.
Both would be located west of Lake Shore Drive and south of Cermak Road, a short walk from the existing McCormick Place.
Legislators will get their first formal opportunity to grill Schmidt on the project at 9 a.m. Monday, when a House select committee on McCormick expansion meets in the 16th floor hearing room of the State of Illinois Center.
One way to raise more funds for a dome would be for Chicago to get a second team to help pay the rent, Daley said during a taping of the WMAQ radio show, ”The Reporters” to be broadcast at 9 a.m. Sunday.
”A lot of people have approached me,” Daley said about the possibility of bringing a second professional football team to Chicago, but he wouldn`t reveal any specifics.