Bears make offer to buy Arlington Racecourse

[dll2000]

I strongly suspect they are probably stuck per agreements associated with recent renovations and all free govt. money they got with that along with that to increase their profitability   

It is the deal that puts Ted Phillips in such high esteem with family and why he won't be fired anytime soon.   Made them 100 millions more in revenue at little upfront cost comparatively.

But it was short term thinking and wasn't the overall cherry deal they believe.

1) They don't have total control over that stadium or the revenue it can potentially generate 365 days a year.   The park district does.   

2) It is not in an ideal location.

3) It is not as big as it could be.

4) It has no roof and is subject to weather - which is a huge negative for a sporting venue in upper midwest especially right by a great lake.

If I owned the Bears I would have moved to Vegas or failing that the Burbs ages ago.   It would vastly multiply the worth and value of the franchise over time.

On a side note - I am in real estate business and there is a definite exodus from city (Chicago) and to a lessor extent the state of IL happening at moment due to a variety of factors.

Maybe it will stop or reverse course, but that is what is happening.  Not being talked about in news anywhere much.

 

 

 

 

[dll2000]

People are moving out of city to burbs and out of state to South. 

 Biggest one I see is Tennessee which seems to be booming though that is slowing a bit as their real estate prices are skyrocketing due to so much demand of recent years.

 

 

[Heinz D.]

8 hours ago, dll2000 said:

I strongly suspect they are probably stuck per agreements associated with recent renovations and all free govt. money they got with that along with that to increase their profitability   

I...don't know. I forget what the terms of the initial Soldier Field renovation put on the franchise. But geez...that was some time ago. I mean, like twenty years, right?

Not only that, but other franchises seem to get out from under their stadium restrictions, all the time. I'd be surprised if those currently imposed on the Bears are far worse than the usual stuff weighing down a franchise. 

Let's hope it happens. The Bears deserve a real stadium. Chicago deserves a Super Bowl. 

[HuskieBear]

for the record, the vikings new, beautiful, state of the art stadium that has a roof and has already hosted a super bowl, and is in play for tons of other events, was built for 1.1B. Mercedes dome in ATL, with a retractable roof, was 1.6. The raiders new stadium was 1.9.

hoge and jahns said we have a lease until 2033 - i believe it would make sense for the team to buy the land now, start campaigning to raise funds for the next 6-7 years, then 2-3 to build a stadium and complex (ala LA and wrigley) and be ready to move in when the soldier field lease is up

[dll2000]

1 hour ago, HuskieBear said:

for the record, the vikings new, beautiful, state of the art stadium that has a roof and has already hosted a super bowl, and is in play for tons of other events, was built for 1.1B. Mercedes dome in ATL, with a retractable roof, was 1.6. The raiders new stadium was 1.9.

hoge and jahns said we have a lease until 2033 - i believe it would make sense for the team to buy the land now, start campaigning to raise funds for the next 6-7 years, then 2-3 to build a stadium and complex (ala LA and wrigley) and be ready to move in when the soldier field lease is up

Raiders had bad luck being not a rich group and then having Covid hit in their first year.

But in long run Raiders are going to make bank out there.    Away games in LV will be a Fall/Winter destination and being a season pass holder will be a license to print money and sell on secondary market - which will inspire Raiders to keep jacking their license prices.

No one else is set up like them to take 10s of 1000s of out of town visitors and easily put them up at relatively cheap rates.   

LV away game for Bears alone will be a 75% Chicago crowd guaranteed.

 

[malagabears]

More smoke, bumping thread.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/mayor-of-city-in-illinois-says-bears-are-seriously-considering-a-move-out-of-soldier-field-and-to-his-town/

A Bears executive didn't deny that the team was mulling a possible move when asked about it by Crain's Chicago Business last week. The race track in Arlington Heights is about 30 miles away from Soldier Field, so Bears fans in Chicago would still be within easy traveling distance of a potential new stadium.

Even if the Bears want to move though, it's not going to be so easy. As Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently pointed out, the team has a lease at Solider Field for at least the next 13 seasons.  

"I've seen a couple of reports [of a possible move] but a couple of data points that I think you should be aware of are the Bears have a lease with Soldier Field until 2033 and the NFL doesn't let any teams break their leases," Lightfoot said.

 

Despite the fact that there's a lease in place, Hayes isn't discounting a possible move before 2033. 

"I know there's contracts involved and lease agreements," Hayes said. "But a good attorney will tell you, you can always get out of those. There might be a significant price involved, but I would think if they wanted to make it happen, they could make it happen."

It seems the Bears are hoping to get some renovations done at Solider Field and it's possible they want the city to help pay for the project. Lightfoot admitted to talking to the Bears in recent weeks, but didn't specify whether the team asked the city to help with anything. 

[HuskieBear]

lightfoot talks out her ***. as i said above, while there is a lease for 13, that doesn't prevent the team from buying the land and then spending that time fully developing it, and if it finishes early, then renting or leasing the stadium out themselves until 2033 comes. 

[G08]

It's pathetic how small our stadium is -- SMALLEST IN THE NFL -- you fix that and I'd be fine with them staying there forever.

[Madmike90]

36 minutes ago, G08 said:

It's pathetic how small our stadium is -- SMALLEST IN THE NFL -- you fix that and I'd be fine with them staying there forever.

From a purely economical stand point playing in the 2nd biggest sports market in the US but having the smallest stadium just doesn't make sense...the up front cost of constructing a new stadium and even buying your way out of any lease at Solider Field would be far outweighed by the sponsorship rights you could sell for the new stadium and with the increase in gate income...at some point this is coming...just a question of when.

[Superman(DH23)]

So many things to unpack.  The Bears are definitely preparing for a move after their lease with the CPD expires.  They can build their own stadium, create 365 days of revenue.  Start hosting SBs, FFs, it puts the Olympics back on the table.  Most of all bc they wont have the stigma of playing at "historic soldier field", they can sell the naming rights, which is a revenue stream that they have been missing for quite some time.  A new stadium would take the Bears from like the 6th most valuable franchise to possibly even the most valuable.  Yes they would probably have to put out some cash, we're talking about a likely $2B+ project, but it would likely pay for itself in 5 years.  You can do any kind of surface you want if it's got a retractable roof, even GBs awesome hybrid Field (we also have it at Kinnick) Pace, if he intends to take over as team president next year, which I think is very likely, should really push for this, the same way he pushed to bring HH into the 21st century.  They cant expand any further at SF, and its reached the point of putting a fresh coat of paint on a condemned house everytime they renovate and they know that.  The CPD needs to see what's happening here as well and let the Bears go w/o a fight.  Tear down the UFO, take SF back to it's original state, and turn it into a museum.  Hell work out a deal w/ the Bears to build a HOF there.  It's not a viable NFL stadium any longer.

[Heinz D.]

Final, utter confirmation that someone in the Bears organization is a lurker here! 😁

Whoever you are...keep coming back!

We will never do you wrong! 

[soulman]

4 hours ago, HuskieBear said:

lightfoot talks out her ***. as i said above, while there is a lease for 13, that doesn't prevent the team from buying the land and then spending that time fully developing it, and if it finishes early, then renting or leasing the stadium out themselves until 2033 comes. 

You're covering the same ground I was about to.  Great minds think alike.....LOL.

Forbes just placed the value of the Bears franchise at $3.53 bil, up 44% over the past 5 years.  Dallas is at $5.71 mil much of the difference due to that Taj Mahal of a stadium they own.  So the Bears have the wealth to explore buying the property and with the cooperation of local and state govt. add the needed infrastructure and begin to develop the property commercially while soliciting plans from various architects for a new stadium.  That whole process could take several years to complete.

IIRC the NFL made a loan to the Bears when SF was refurbished the terms of which required the Bears to repay that loan immediately if they vacated SF before a certain number of years had passed.  A term of 20 years comes to mind.  If that's the case those restrictions would be within a year or two of expiring with 10 years left on the lease.  The Bears also share SF with the MSL Chicago Fire and any number of other event the CPD chooses to lease the stadium for throughout the year during the NFL offseason.

I can't help but thinking that if Justin Fields proves to be that generational franchise QB the Bears have long sought the Bears will wish they had a larger stadium so I don't see this as being just a "wet dream".  Living in Denver as I do I obviously have no dog in the hunt but should they decide to go forward I would not recommend Mile High as it's model.  Too much seating far above the field.  It's seats 80K but only about 75% of the seating is anywhere I would spend money on to see a game.  Copy Lambeau Field instead.

[soulman]

5 hours ago, G08 said:

It's pathetic how small our stadium is -- SMALLEST IN THE NFL -- you fix that and I'd be fine with them staying there forever.

The problem with SF is I don't believe there is a way to "fix it" relative to adding much in the way of seating capacity.  It's design really left few if any options for doing that.  Even if they could add a couple thousand more seats they'd still have the smallest stadium by far.

Edited May 7, 2021 by soulman

[beardown3231]

I've been going to 5+ Bears games a year for 2 decades. Who gives a damn where they play? They could play on Jupiter if they win consistently and no one would care. Get off of the highway near Lake Shore and turn right when you get into Chinatown. Bam, you're by McCormick Place. I park a few blocks from the stadium for free and I walk. By the time I'm in the stadium I've warmed up and the cold means nothing. Yeah, I wish it held 75k fans too but whatever. I wouldn't necessarily care if they move to the suburbs but I'd really prefer the stadium still be outdoors. I'm not sure why so many people care if the stadium hosts Final 4's, Super Bowls, etc. What good does that do us as Bears fans?

Edited May 8, 2021 by beardown3231

[JAF-N72EX]

3 hours ago, beardown3231 said:

I'm not sure why so many people care if the stadium hosts Final 4's, Super Bowls, etc. What good does that do us as Bears fans?

More seats = more league revenue.  More league revenue = more cap space.

It's actually a pretty simple concept. Never mind how much it means from an economy standpoint.

Even that aside, a chance to host and win a SB in the same year like TB did would be awesome.