Sox looking at building in South Loop

[southsider2k5]

54 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

What is the public funding for that?

That's part of that $900m that some writers have been including in the stadium ask to come up with the $2 billion number.

[Lightly Folded]

1 minute ago, waltwilliams said:

The fact that 90s rappers wore Sox gear has nothing to do with whether or not tourists will go to see a Sox game. 

If you a tourist visiting Chicago and staying in the Loop or Downtown or in Pilsen give me one good reason why you wouldn’t venture over to a beautiful new ballpark surrounded by hip joints and restaurants with close proximity to the lake etc and don’t forget about the thriving Pilsen neighborhood and it fabulous Mexican Art and restaurant and music venues. Pilsen is basically kitty—cornered to the 78 on the southwest corner and is also a short hop skip and jump to Chinatown which is directly east of Pilsen and south of the the 78 and the UIC and Taylor St. and Greek Town which are directly North of Pilsen. You can’t get any more tourist attractive than that and it’s all walkable. Take a drive through these ares see the cohesiveness with each other including the 78 and see first hand what the area has to offer. I love these areas.

[Dick Allen]

Just now, Lightly Folded said:

If you a tourist visiting Chicago and staying in the Loop or Downtown or in Pilsen give me one good reason why you wouldn’t venture over to a beautiful new ballpark surrounded by hip joints and restaurants with close proximity to the lake etc and don’t forget about the thriving Pilsen neighborhood and it fabulous Mexican Art and restaurant and music venues. Pilsen is basically kitty—cornered to the 78 on the southwest corner and is also a short hop skip and jump to Chinatown which is directly east of Pilsen and south of the the 78 and the UIC and Taylor St. and Greek Town which are directly North of Pilsen. You can’t get any more tourist attractive than that and it’s all walkable. Take a drive through these ares see the cohesiveness with each other including the 78 and see first hand what the area has to offer. I love these areas.

Not many tourists stay in the Loop or Pilsen. Ever been in the Loop on a weekend? It's a ghost town.

[Lightly Folded]

2 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

Not many tourists stay in the Loop or Pilsen. Ever been in the Loop on a weekend? It's a ghost town.

So your saying Pilsen, Chinatown, Greek Town, and Taylor which basically rub shoulders with the 78 doesn’t make this a cool area along with all the joints in the south loop? That the point I’m making!

[Dick Allen]

Just now, Lightly Folded said:

So your saying Pilsen, Chinatown, Greek Town, and Taylor which basically rub shoulders with the 78 doesn’t make this a cool area along with all the joints in the south loop? That the point I’m making!

It's funny , GRF is a 2.5 miles away and that is like 1000 miles. These other areas aren't exactly across the street and on game days, Clark St. is going to be a mess.

[Dick Allen]

12 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

That's part of that $900m that some writers have been including in the stadium ask to come up with the $2 billion number.

JR said $4 billion, but what's a couple more billion.

 

Reinsdorf, who met with lawmakers during a visit to Springfield this week, says that the total cost of the first phase of the ballpark project in the South Loop could hit $4 billion, and that the Sox would seek public funding to complete the project, according to the interview.

[waltwilliams]

2 minutes ago, Lightly Folded said:

So your saying Pilsen, Chinatown, Greek Town, and Taylor which basically rub shoulders with the 78 doesn’t make this a cool area along with all the joints in the south loop? That the point I’m making!

Pilsen and Chinatown are just as close to current Sox Park as they are to the 78. That said, it's actually kind of touching that you are so enthusiastic about this botched proposal from JR. I'd be more excited too, if if weren't exclusively publicly financed. We've all been through this before with JR -- it's a shame he takes us for granted and considers us to be complete tools.

[Lightly Folded]

2 minutes ago, waltwilliams said:

Pilsen and Chinatown are just as close to current Sox Park as they are to the 78. That said, it's actually kind of touching that you are so enthusiastic about this botched proposal from JR. I'd be more excited too, if if weren't exclusively publicly financed. We've all been through this before with JR -- it's a shame he takes us for granted and considers us to be complete tools.

But the current park cannot anchor these areas like the 78 could and these areas are in fact closer to the 78. 

[Lightly Folded]

Just now, Lightly Folded said:

But the current park cannot anchor these areas like the 78 could and these areas are in fact closer to the 78. 

And I incorrectly said south loop where I actually meant the joints on and north of Roosevelt directly northeast of the 78

[The Grinder]

I remember back around when GRF opened, Jerry said something like " As soon as our fans see this fantastic park they will forget about the old one"

 

Right JR

[baseball_gal_aly]

I listened to Lawrence Holmes talk about this and idk what the complaints about his rant are. 

Nothing he said was wrong.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

58 minutes ago, Quin said:

You're talking like...stadium buster acts. The Taylor Swift and Beyonce Tours alone.

But this dude on the bears reddit already did the math, so I'm gonna go with him:

Outside of those events, an area around the Bears stadium is going to be dead if it's in Arlington Heights. No one is going to be a tourist in Arlington Heights. And if it's in Chicago, a football stadium takes up the entire plot.

Also lmao @ no one knows the Sox outside of Chicago. That's such a ridiculous notion that it barely worths refuting, other than the fact that it's the #3 best selling hat in baseball behind the Yankees and Dodgers. Yes, that mostly has to do with its connection to hip-hop fashion, but they have an actual brand.

Exactly! 

The exciting thing about owning the White Sox (becoming the next owner) is the Sox are a legit brand. They have a distinct identity, logo and place in culture.

This happening to the Sox, and let's be honest this is Jerry's last effort to maximize the sale value (he isn't seeing this through to 2030), could propel this team to being a premier level franchise under new ownership and a winning culture. They'd be an urban team in the heart of the most beautiful urban setting in the world. 

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

33 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

Not many tourists stay in the Loop or Pilsen. Ever been in the Loop on a weekend? It's a ghost town.

Once you get off michigan, it is, because there's nothing designed to draw tourists past there. It's all office buildings.

This could change part of that dynamic. 

[Lip Man 1]

1 hour ago, Lightly Folded said:

Been here for seven decades. The design for this proposed park indicates capacity of 35,000ish or so. They would sell out every game for a few  years to start and build fan support along the way. You want to keep the Sox the 2nd team then keep the at 35th st. There is NO reason why two MLB teams can’t be co-equals in a city like Chicago. The Sox have to come out of their backwater existence in Bridgeport and join the outside world via the 78.

How did building fan support work out with the new place when it opened?

Record setting numbers the first few years but then of course came the labor shut down driven in a significant part by JR and then you had the White Flag Trade in 97 again OK'd by JR.

Hard to build fan support when ownership keeps doing everything possible to dump on them for outdated principles. 

[wegner]

8 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Exactly! 

The exciting thing about owning the White Sox (becoming the next owner) is the Sox are a legit brand. They have a distinct identity, logo and place in culture.

This happening to the Sox, and let's be honest this is Jerry's last effort to maximize the sale value (he isn't seeing this through to 2030), could propel this team to being a premier level franchise under new ownership and a winning culture. They'd be an urban team in the heart of the most beautiful urban setting in the world. 

i'm getting a little too excited about this prospect, Ray. It really would be a game changer for this franchise.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

2 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

How did building fan support work out with the new place when it opened?

Record setting numbers the first few years but then of course came the labor shut down driven in a significant part by JR and then you had the White Flag Trade in 97 again OK'd by JR.

Hard to build fan support when ownership keeps doing everything possible to dump on them for outdated principles. 

Yeah, I bet 3 years after this stadium is finished, 97 year old Jerry will still be around doing those things. 

Do people not understand that Jerry won't be here for the new stadium... at least not for long.

[Lightly Folded]

21 minutes ago, waltwilliams said:

Pilsen and Chinatown are just as close to current Sox Park as they are to the 78. That said, it's actually kind of touching that you are so enthusiastic about this botched proposal from JR. I'd be more excited too, if if weren't exclusively publicly financed. We've all been through this before with JR -- it's a shame he takes us for granted and considers us to be complete tools.

Im not in favor of public financing for this or any new stadium including the Bears. I was simply responding to as poster who said IF a new Sox stadium was built at the 78 no tourists would go there. I was simply pointing out that these neighborhoods around the 78 are already tourist attractions. Most north siders and suburbanites know nothing of the south side let alone the areas I spoke of.

[southsider2k5]

34 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

JR said $4 billion, but what's a couple more billion.

 

Reinsdorf, who met with lawmakers during a visit to Springfield this week, says that the total cost of the first phase of the ballpark project in the South Loop could hit $4 billion, and that the Sox would seek public funding to complete the project, according to the interview.

4 billion is the full project, including the other buildings.

[Lip Man 1]

6 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Yeah, I bet 3 years after this stadium is finished, 97 year old Jerry will still be around doing those things. 

Do people not understand that Jerry won't be here for the new stadium... at least not for long.

Then forgive my ignorance but what then is the whole point of this stadium exercise?

Seriously if he's not going to be around why does he even give a damn?

What his family selling the team for two billion isn't enough to keep them in groceries?

Apparently not since JR, who you correctly say isn't going to be around, is trying to extort more money.

He can keep penny pinching the product, bitching about the way baseball is run and blame the fan base for issues he's caused, then go off to the great ballpark in the sky for the next few years.

Why go through the trouble?

And if he cared about the franchise in the first place he wouldn't have driven it into a shithole would he simply because his arrogance and ego won't let him admit he's screwed a lot up.  

Edited February 23 by Lip Man 1

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

3 minutes ago, wegner said:

i'm getting a little too excited about this prospect, Ray. It really would be a game changer for this franchise.

Only hesitancy is we Sox fans really don't get nice things often. Hard to imagine.

But there seems to be good movement and I don't see any other options out there so I'll be optimistic this gets done.

[southsider2k5]

Just now, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Only hesitancy is we Sox fans really don't get nice things often. Hard to imagine.

But there seems to be good movement and I don't see any other options out there so I'll be optimistic this gets done.

If some Sox fans are miserable,  everyone else has to be miserable too.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

3 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Then forgive my ignorance but what then is the whole point of this stadium exercise?

Seriously if he's not going to be around why does he even give a damn?

What his family selling the team for two billion isn't enough to keep them in groceries?

Apparently not since JR, who you correctly say isn't going to be around, is trying to extort more money.

He can keep penny pinching the product, bitching about the way baseball is run and blame the fan base for issues he's caused, then go off to the great ballpark in the sky for the next few years.

Why go through the trouble?

And if he cared about the franchise in the first place he wouldn't have driven it into a shithole would he simply because his arrogance and ego won't let him admit he's screwed a lot up.  

Because it makes his heirs more money and actually does leave the franchise in a better place than when he bought it... the one time the org benefits from Jerry trying to maximize profits.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

23 minutes ago, baseball_gal_aly said:

I listened to Lawrence Holmes talk about this and idk what the complaints about his rant are. 

Nothing he said was wrong.

Holmes, the champion of Bridgeport. Bridgeport doing great, it just has 20% the population density of the Loop. Bridgeport has also done literally nothing to support the sox. I know dick thinks that's 100% Jerry's job but I'd disagree.

Jerry Reinsdorf does NOT matter. If you're a white sox fan and care about the organization, this move is great. People fixating on Reinsdorf and his past are talking about irrelevant nonsense. The past happened, it's over with. This is about the future of the team, not Jerry's past shenanigans. This should be the one time every single Sox fan wants Jerry Reinsdord to win.

[Lip Man 1]

12 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Because it makes his heirs more money and actually does leave the franchise in a better place than when he bought it... the one time the org benefits from Jerry trying to maximize profits.

So two billion isn't enough for a family? OK then.

I think I'd be more willing to give the benefit of the doubt in a project like this under new ownership which doesn't have a historical track record of doing a number of things that make you shake your head and say, "What are they thinking?" and then blame the fan base for their incompetence.

But we'll see how this plays out, it will be fascinating to observe. One thing is clear, from early comments, JR does not have a patron with the clout of Jim Thompson around to carry the ball for him. I said at the start this is going to be a very hard sell to the politicos and the people. 

Time will tell. 

[Lip Man 1]

8 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Holmes, the champion of Bridgeport. Bridgeport doing great, it just has 20% the population density of the Loop. Bridgeport has also done literally nothing to support the sox. I know dick thinks that's 100% Jerry's job but I'd disagree.

Jerry Reinsdorf does NOT matter. If you're a white sox fan and care about the organization, this move is great. People fixating on Reinsdorf and his past are talking about irrelevant nonsense. The past happened, it's over with. This is about the future of the team, not Jerry's past shenanigans. This should be the one time every single Sox fan wants Jerry Reinsdord to win.

Forgive me for being skeptical that in the Autumn of his life JR has suddenly decided to become altruistic and want to do something to benefit Sox fans. There's always a chance that he genuinely does and if that's the case I applaud him.

But he simply can't think he can ask for handouts and not even offer to pay one thin dime out of his own deep pockets.