SPRINGFIELD — Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf made his pitch for a new baseball stadium in Chicago’s South Loop to Illinois legislative leaders at the state Capitol on Tuesday, describing the meetings as “very cordial” even as some rank-and-file lawmakers expressed skepticism about the idea of providing public money for a ballpark.
Reinsdorf arrived at the Statehouse a little after 3 p.m. in a large van with an entourage that included the developer seeking to bring a ballpark to the vacant land known as “The 78” at Clark Street and Roosevelt Road. He was greeted by Chicago Democratic state Reps. Nicholas Smith and Kam Buckner, whose South Side district is not far from the site where the White Sox want to make their home.
The team is expected to ask for about $1 billion in public funding for the stadium, according to a report earlier this month in Crain’s Chicago Business. But public funding for privately-owned teams has garnered little enthusiasm from Gov. J.B. Pritzker and some of his allies in the legislature’s Democratic supermajority, and Reinsdorf’s visit came a day before Pritzker is set to present a budget that needs to address a projected shortfall of nearly $900 million.
“We haven’t asked for anything,” the 87-year-old Reinsdorf told reporters after leaving the office of Republican Senate leader John Curran of Downers Grove.
“At an appropriate time, everybody will speak up. Now is not the appropriate time,” he said. “We’re not going to give out any internal bulletins.”
Reinsdorf was equally noncommittal after an earlier meeting in House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s office.
“It was a very, very nice pleasant meeting,” Reinsdorf said when asked if Welch was receptive to his proposal. “I hope he liked what we had to say. Ask him.”
He said he didn’t know if any legislation would be filed during the spring session pertaining to his proposal. When asked about the specifics of his request to lawmakers, Reinsdorf replied, “Come on, that’s enough fellas.”
“I don’t mean to be evasive,” he said. “Everybody’s been very cordial.”
Welch’s office issued a statement thanking Reinsdorf for “coming down to discuss his vision in person” and saying “there are a lot of conversations that still need to be had.”
Republican state Rep. Bradley Stephens, whose district touches part of Chicago, was in a roughly 25-minute meeting with Reinsdorf and called the team’s proposal “an interesting development.”
“It’s all about the numbers and how it works,” said Stephens, who is also the mayor of Rosemont. “They want to use the hotel tax and continue using it.”
The developer, Related Midwest, earlier this month released drawings of a stadium that included a center field picnic lawn and a riverwalk with views of the downtown skyline, and offered ambitious but publicly unsubstantiated projections for its economic impact. The new field would generate a $9 billion investment, $4 billion in annual economic impact and $200 million in annual tax revenue, according to the developer. Funding sources were not identified.
The plans call for 5 million annual visitors — about triple what the Sox drew in attendance last year — plus 1,300 new housing units at the current Sox home near Bridgeport, and 1,000 affordable units. The plans also showed a soccer field in the Sox current park. Related Midwest doesn’t own the property around the park — the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority does — and the developer said the future of the site would be up to a lengthy community process.
In 1988, Reinsdorf scored big in Springfield when legislators approved a last-minute deal that led to the construction of Guaranteed Rate Field, where the team’s lease runs through 2029. The stadium was paid for using money raised through an increase in the Chicago hotel room tax, while the city and state also each kick in $5 million per year.
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The sports facilities authority still owes $50 million on the current Sox stadium, which opened in 1991, and $589 million on the 2002 renovation of Soldier Field. Those bonds are supposed to be repaid with a 2% city hotel tax and the city and state’s annual contributions. But those funds weren’t enough to cover the debt in the past two years, forcing the city to pay $36 million extra to cover the difference.
Stephens described Reinsdorf’s visit as a “courtesy” to discuss his proposal but said “there’s a long way to go here.”
“I’m a Sox fan,” Stephens said with a laugh. “I used to go to the games and I’d get in my car and I’d leave. It’s really an exciting development. It could make me stick around or go early. But, again, until it’s all in black and white and ‘this is how the funding works and how it really gets paid for,’ I can’t say if I’m going to be for it or against it just yet.”
Pritzker earlier this month said his administration plans to meet with developers about the project, though he was not scheduled to meet with Reinsdorf on Tuesday. Pritzker has praised the conceptual renderings of the stadium but has been lukewarm about major public funding for stadiums — a position he’s repeatedly taken in discussions of a new Chicago Bears stadium — as have some of his Democratic allies in the legislature.
Several lawmakers in Springfield on Tuesday appeared skeptical if not openly hostile to the idea of public funding for Reinsdorf’s stadium. State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Chicago Democrat, took to social media to express her disdain.
“Let me see if I have this straight: Billionaire businessman doesn’t like the last stadium we built for him & wants us to pay for a new one,” Cassidy wrote on “X.’ “Couldn’t even bother with the usual not quite a billion demand and just going full Dr. Evil. Not a penny, pal. #ReadTheRoomJerry”
State Rep. Will Davis, a Democrat from south suburban Homewood, said lawmakers are “a long way off” on any type of deal to secure public funds for a new stadium for the White Sox.
“I get Mr. Reinsdorf may be here talking to leadership. But leadership is going to have to have a serious conversation with rank-and-file members about something like that, particularly in a year when we’ve got a lot of pressing needs like school funding reform,” said Davis, who chairs the House Elementary and Secondary Education Appropriations
Committee. “I’d like to see dollars come there to help our young people before it goes to a stadium.”
Assistant House Majority Leader Jay Hoffman said Reinsdorf’s reported funding request could be “out of the ballpark” but said he expects to take part in discussions on a possible deal.
“I think the whole issue of public funding when you see what the value of these teams are right now is very, very difficult,” the Swansea Democrat said. “Using financing mechanisms that the state could possibly assist with for some cheaper debt would be something I think people would look at, but I think we’re ways away from that. We’re just truly in the discussion phase.”
Forbes last year estimated the White Sox’s value at slightly more than $2 billion.
In a statement that did not go into specifics of what the team is asking for, the White Sox said “we are mindful and respectful of the legislative process and wanted to travel to Springfield to meet personally with legislative leaders.”
“We’re excited to share our vision, and we appreciate their time and hospitality,” the organization said.
Related Midwest previously met with both Welch and Senate President Don Harmon, and Reinsdorf met with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson in January, according to both the White Sox and the mayor’s office.
A spokesperson for Related Midwest on Tuesday said the company appreciated getting time with lawmakers.
As he shuttled between meetings in Springfield, Reinsdorf was asked whether he was feeling positive about the chances for a new stadium for a team that finished in fourth place in the American League Central Division last year, with a 61-101 record.
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“I’m always positive about everything,” Reinsdorf said. “I’m even positive about the White Sox winning the division this year.”
Olander reported from Chicago.