Will the McCaskeys sell the Bears?

[minnesotacubsfan]

I've secured an onsite CA role for the construction of the new Bears stadium, IF they build it and IF a certain firm wins the bid.

 

- I'm mostly joking, but if it did happen and the pieces fell together, I will be there.

[Outshined_One]

Am I right in assuming that they would only consider doing this if they had the stadium at least partially publicly financed? I would love to see the Ricketts family flip their horsefeathers if the Bears got public money for their stadium 20 years after the public paid for the Soldier Field renovations while PTR couldn't get a dime to fix up Wrigley.

 

Best guess is the McCaskeys made a deal with the NFL, where the NFL agreed to pony up a significant chunk of the financing for the new stadium which will be paid off either in the long haul or as part of any sale of the team. The State of Illinois is not in any financial position to assist with this move and the best the Bears are likely going to get from Arlington Heights and Cook County is real estate tax relief. It's possible there's a major lender behind the scenes on this since most of the McCaskeys' wealth is tied up in the Bears, but I don't see how the NFL would allow the Bears to be plunged into that kind of debt to a third party unless that person is going to purchase the team.

[WrigleyField 22]

Am I right in assuming that they would only consider doing this if they had the stadium at least partially publicly financed? I would love to see the Ricketts family flip their horsefeathers if the Bears got public money for their stadium 20 years after the public paid for the Soldier Field renovations while PTR couldn't get a dime to fix up Wrigley.

 

Best guess is the McCaskeys made a deal with the NFL, where the NFL agreed to pony up a significant chunk of the financing for the new stadium which will be paid off either in the long haul or as part of any sale of the team. The State of Illinois is not in any financial position to assist with this move and the best the Bears are likely going to get from Arlington Heights and Cook County is real estate tax relief. It's possible there's a major lender behind the scenes on this since most of the McCaskeys' wealth is tied up in the Bears, but I don't see how the NFL would allow the Bears to be plunged into that kind of debt to a third party unless that person is going to purchase the team.

If theres a financer already lined up and ready to buy the Bears, it's very likely Pat Ryan, who reportedly has rights of first refusal anyways on any McCaskey sale. I don't think he's quite wealthy enough to go it all alone, but connected enough to lead a ownership group.

[minnesotacubsfan]

I just cant fathom thinking to myself "I don't want to be the owner of the Chicago Bears anymore"

[Old Style]

I just cant fathom thinking to myself "I don't want to be the owner of the Chicago Bears anymore"

Maybe they need the cash.

[WrigleyField 22]

I just cant fathom thinking to myself "I don't want to be the owner of the Chicago Bears anymore"

Its possible the headache of how to split it like 50 ways post Virginia is just not worth it (plus the NFL maybe wouldn't allow it).

[minnesotacubsfan]

well, let's be honest, I can't even imagine thinking to myself "I own the Chicago Bears" to begin with, so....

[Sammy Sofa]

Don’t the colonnades have landmark status? If so, they (whoever that is) will have legal trouble tearing it down.

 

I'm pretty sure they lost that status after the renovation because of how poorly the renovation preserved those colonnades

 

Edit: here an article about losing landmark status:

 

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/644198/how-national-historic-landmarks-lose-nps-status

 

Sometimes, extensive remodeling can unintentionally strip a property of its defining historical features. Chicago’s Grant Park Stadium (better known as Soldier Field) lost its designation in 2006 after undergoing renovations to make it a more modern NFL stadium. Since its Doric columns and other design elements are now overshadowed by the bowl, the stadium is no longer considered historically significant.

IIRC during the remodel they did everything they could to incorporate the colonnades to maintain the landmark status.

 

End result - a horsefeathers looking structure, so bad that it lost the status they tried so hard to maintain. Also - they ended up with the smallest stadium seat capacity in the NFL.

 

This is the most horsefeathering Bears series of events short of them accidentally imploding the place. Jesus Christ.

[WrigleyField 22]

 

I'm pretty sure they lost that status after the renovation because of how poorly the renovation preserved those colonnades

 

Edit: here an article about losing landmark status:

 

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/644198/how-national-historic-landmarks-lose-nps-status

 

IIRC during the remodel they did everything they could to incorporate the colonnades to maintain the landmark status.

 

End result - a horsefeathers looking structure, so bad that it lost the status they tried so hard to maintain. Also - they ended up with the smallest stadium seat capacity in the NFL.

 

This is the most horsefeathering Bears series of events short of them accidentally imploding the place. Jesus Christ.

The Bears would walk away fairly unscathed. The city on the other hand....

[minnesotacubsfan]

I think it's rather funny how much misconception there is around the de-listing of Soldier Field.

 

 

It wasn't delisted because it turned out "ugly", it was delisted because the designer, Lohan, took the conceptual route we in the industry call "facadism". Archibabble to be sure, and I probably lost you all 2 sentences ago, but when you gut a historic structure and leave the exterior, it is the most patronizing way to try and keep hold of the "historicism".

 

It won several design awards. Not that they mean everything because we as a profession are extremely self rewarding. But honestly, you can't look at SF and think "that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen". Wrigley field, for example, looks like a horsefeathering circus tent from the exterior. Lucas Oil Field looks like it might house a blimp. The Raiders new stadium is just Darth Vader's helmet after it melted down on a very windy day.

 

Stadiums are notoriously difficult to grasp in a single view because THEY'RE GINORMOUS

 

AND, non of it is the Bears fault. The City hired the designers and construction company.

 

But yea, sooooo Bears

[WrigleyField 22]

I actually like the east side with the glass. The saucer part is ugly, collanades or not.

 

But really, trying to save the collanades just really screwed that reno.

[Sammy Sofa]

But honestly, you can't look at SF and think "that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen".

 

The horsefeathers I can't.

[minnesotacubsfan]

But honestly, you can't look at SF and think "that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen".

 

The horsefeathers I can't.

There is no possible way you can think that because at some point in your life, you must have looked into a mirror and gazed in horror!

[BigSlick]

As someone who grew up in Arlington Heights its extremely weird to think they're actually a possibility to host the Bears. It would be bad and weird, and the """"downtown"""" of Arlington Heights would be totally inappropriate for a pro football team. However I'm sure some property developers are absolutely salivating at the thought.

 

The real thing they should do is demolish the spaceship and rebuild SF to be exactly the same as it was pre-renovations, but with better accommodations.

[jersey cubs fan]

Soldier Field is much better looking than MetLife

[Banedon]

Ok so this is a very "downstate" point of view, but it's sorta funny to me that there's any sort of quibble about whether the Bears play technically "in Chicago" or in some suburb. I get that they're different places, but the middle is very true to me....

 

http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Screen-Shot-2015-11-15-at-12.04.41-AM.png

[jersey cubs fan]

Ok so this is a very "downstate" point of view, but it's sorta funny to me that there's any sort of quibble about whether the Bears play technically "in Chicago" or in some suburb. I get that they're different places, but the middle is very true to me....

 

People from the city of Chicago get upset when a person from the suburbs says they are from Chicago whether they're talking to a person from Illinois, New York or England. It's very goofy horsefeathers.

 

The city is the city though and Arlington Heights makes Evanston look like the Loop. That middle pic is pretty crazy.

[minnesotacubsfan]

The middle pic is how most people outside of the metro view Illinois. I grew up in the red part, for instance.

 

The only thing I dislike about the Bears being in a 'burb is I will always think of them playing their games along the lakeshore. It sucks that there is no simple solution to stadium capacity or ingress/egress to the stadium. And I can't in good conscious advocate for a new freeway tail disrupting more of that neighborhood, which is what it would take.

[Tim]

I wonder if this would finally help get the 53 extension built.

[David]

But honestly, you can't look at SF and think "that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen". Wrigley field, for example, looks like a horsefeathering circus tent from the exterior.

 

Wrigley Field, in its current form, looks great from the outside. What?

Edited June 18, 2021 by David

[David]

The real thing they should do is demolish the spaceship and rebuild SF to be exactly the same as it was pre-renovations, but with better accommodations.

 

what? no.

[jersey cubs fan]

The middle pic is how most people outside of the metro view Illinois.

 

And that small minority of people are wrong. People should work harder in school.

 

The "Chicago" in that middle pic incorporates some of the most rural places in the state.

[Derwood]

I don’t understand the romanticizing of old Soldier Field. That place was a terribly designed dump of a stadium

[David]

I don’t understand the romanticizing of old Soldier Field. That place was a terribly designed dump of a stadium

 

yeah, but only one guy really did that. and i almost spat out my drink when i saw the idea.

 

it seems especially silly given that they didn't even play there until the 70s.

[WrigleyField 22]

Ok so this is a very "downstate" point of view, but it's sorta funny to me that there's any sort of quibble about whether the Bears play technically "in Chicago" or in some suburb. I get that they're different places, but the middle is very true to me....

 

People from the city of Chicago get upset when a person from the suburbs says they are from Chicago whether they're talking to a person from Illinois, New York or England. It's very goofy horsefeathers.

 

The city is the city though and Arlington Heights makes Evanston look like the Loop. That middle pic is pretty crazy.

The official Chicago Metropolitan area as defined by the census bureau