NEWSLETTER
While it still feels highly unlikely that the Chicago White Sox would take actual steps geared toward a move as their stadium lease comes up in six years, it’s not like it hasn’t happened before. And obviously there were recent reports that the White Sox would consider a move – with Nashville name-checked – if it came to that.
So, then, the fact that White Sox owner and chairman Jerry Reinsdorf met with the Mayor of Nashville this week is going to raise some eyebrows:
I won’t rule out the possibility that the meeting was entirely political, or related to another of Reinsdorf’s business activities, and had absolutely nothing to do with the Chicago White Sox. But because of the previous reporting, and because we know Nashville is a top suitor for an MLB franchise, the dots will be connected.
I’m sure there will be much more reported on this topic in the coming hours/days, but I’ll fall back on what I wrote back in August when the possibility of a White Sox move out of Chicago was first floated together with the possibility of an eventual sale:
While I don’t really believe that 87-year-old Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf wants to actually engage in the decade-long process of relocating the team, which has been in Chicago since 1900, I do think the possibility of a sale is notable. In the event Reinsdorf finally does contemplate selling the franchise, then you could see that sale taking place in concert with a new stadium plan. Either a refurbishment of Guaranteed Rate, which is publicly-owned, or the development of a new stadium on the south side of Chicago. A move to the suburbs is plausible – the Bears are likely to do it! – but a move to a new city outside of Illinois seems like a stretch.
Also of note here is that the White Sox’s lease runs only through 2029, which is not all that far off in terms of stadium development discussions. So if the White Sox are going to try to leverage these threats and extract some public money (either for a renovation, a new nearby stadium, or a new stadium in the suburbs), realistically, they have only a few years to do it.
Which, in turn, brings it back to the possibility of a sale, which I’m sure would be music to the ears of all White Sox fans. There are winks dropped throughout the report about the possibility of Reinsdorf selling, which seems like something of a line being cast out there in case any buyers want to start sniffing around. That’s not new, mind you – rumors to that end have circulated for a year.
