Jerry Reinsdorf had a meeting with Nashville mayor Freddie O’Connell

[67YAZ]

Mayor Johnson indicates a willingness to develop a package for the White Sox and/or Bears. This is clearly timed with Jerry arriving in Springfield to give the Sox more leverage.

This is the first I’ve seen of a possible subsidy breakdown - bonds from the Illinois Sports Facility authority of course, but also a repurposing of the 2% hotel tax implemented for Soldier Field renovations, a scheme that allows the team to retain sales tax collected in the stadium, and a new TIF. That last one is a head scratcher since the Mayor announced a plan to end TIFs earlier today.

Also of note in this article - there’s $50m in outstanding bond debt on Guaranteed Rate Park and $589m on Soldier Field. Yes, more than half a billion left to go on the Soldier Field financing. Utterly insane.

 

[67YAZ]

In an interview with Crains yesterday, Jerry clarified - it’s $1b for the stadium and another $900m for the infrastructure upgrades around the park. Well, in that case…

And he says that if he doesn’t get it, after Jerry’s death his son will be forced to sell the team to investors who will move the Sox out of Chicago.

Noting that he’s about to turn 88, Reinsdorf said that “when I’m gone,” his son Michael Reinsdorf, president of the Chicago Bulls, which the family also owns, “will have an obligation to do what’s best” for other investors in the Sox. “That likely means putting the team up for sale. . . .The team will be worth more out of town.”