NEWSLETTER
First, the White Sox were “pondering” a move out of Chicago. Then, White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf not so secretly met with the Mayor of Nashville, the heavily-rumored destination for an MLB expansion team. And tonight, they’re reportedly considering the construction of a new White Sox stadium in a different part of Chicago.
New White Sox Stadium?
Fran Spielman, Tim Novak, and David Roeder have the scoop at The Chicago Sun Times:
The White Sox are negotiating with developer Related Midwest about the possibility of building a new ballpark on the South Loop parcel known as “the 78.”
Sources familiar with the talks, all of whom asked to remain anonymous, described the negotiations for a baseball-only stadium as “serious.”
As a reminder (and a warning to any big fans of Guaranteed Rate), the White Sox stadium lease comes up in six years, so this is probably all part of that coming dance. Of course, like we’ve seen with the Bears and Soldier Field, sometimes that dance starts to turn into something a little more real when push comes to shove. I think we’re still a long way away from any significant news or plans, but this is the foundation for those negotiations, leverage, and alternatives. It’s happening right now in real time.
Location of Potential New White Sox Stadium
In any case, the location known as “the 78” is on the corner of Roosevelt Road and Clark Street, you can see it here in relation to Guaranteed Rate Field (and Soldier Field) for reference:
According to The Sun Times, the property is currently owned by Related Midwest, but their company president, a White Sox spokesperson, and a senior adviser to Mayor Brandon Johnson all declined comment tonight (because, again, this is just the breadcrumbs of a much larger fight coming later). Plus, “The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which owns and financed Guaranteed Rate Field, has not yet been involved in the discussions….” And theyll have to get involved at some point, not only to talk about what the city will do with the current stadium if the Sox left, but also what and how a new stadium will be funded (likely publicly, if I had to guess).
Anyone Feel Strongly?
As a Cubs fan, I don’t really have any strong feelings about this. I don’t really care about the current Guaranteed Rate Field and I won’t really care about a new one. But I know we have some Sox fans on the site, so I’d love to get a perspective on how happy or sad you’d feel about a move. As for the location, I suppose it’s fair to say this is in a more centrally located part of the city? I guess? But I don’t think it’s necessarily more centrally located for White Sox fans in the city (it is further north, after all). Plus, it’s not like the Museum Campus and Soldier Field area is particularly easy to reach. The traffic gets horrendous over there.
Anyway, there’s your news for the night. Again, if this IS something you care about, I wouldn’t freak out just yet. These sort of proposed alternatives (in and out of the city) are straight out of the re-negotiations playbook. It happens every time and you never really know the motivation or intentions until we get closer to the move out date (though I suppose construction would have to begin well before then …).
