Make Fun of the Bears' Stadium Woes in Here

[WrigleyField 22]

24 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

I'm never going to get over the fact that the SF "renovations" reduced capacity and gave the Bears the smallest stadium in the league in the biggest single market in the country

How... how does something like that happen 

Over wrought concerns about saving thr collanades while still wanting to modernizing the sight lines. 

 

They did a great job given the limitations, honestly, but the limitations were self imposed. 

 

Timing is also everything. I wonder if Daley had taken the bulldozer to Meigs a decade before he did that a concept like the Bears floated with a new stadium to south and the collanades forming a open plaza couldn't have happened 20 years ago. SF site would still have issues, but they could have spent the subsequent 20 years trying to improve the pedestrian and transit site access. 

 

But the current iteration of that said plan SUCKED with it being a massive "public in name only" money grab offer by Bears. 

[Soul]

Even if they could bulldoze the entire site and start over, the one thing they can never do is get rid of Lake Shore Drive.  It makes getting in and out of there with 58,000 other people a nightmare.

[WrigleyField 22]

51 minutes ago, Soul said:

Even if they could bulldoze the entire site and start over, the one thing they can never do is get rid of Lake Shore Drive.  It makes getting in and out of there with 58,000 other people a nightmare.

I think the combo of LSD and trains is what makes it really difficult. And said trains provide practically no gameday transit utility. Pedestrian/plaza build out over both and turn Metra electric into usable transit leg from Millennium Park and you'd have something pretty salvageable.  There was a grand plan private proposal to do something like this on a large scale, but it really never got support (and had questionable transit utility which would have been key as it wanted large public investment) 

 

Or my grand fantasy of a Sox/Bears site swap. Easy to move in a couple thousand Sox fans in and out of muesum campus. 

[minnesotacubsfan]

IDK, Lumen Field and T-Mobile park dont have much better access than SF does and they are doing fine. Both are located just south of DT seattle and site right next to each other. The only real pain is if there are events in both parks, like a Mariners game and a Taylor Swift concert which did happen the same day/night. 

Edited December 19, 2025 by minnesotacubsfan

[Brian707]

2 hours ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

Easy to move in a couple thousand Sox fans in and out of muesum campus. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

3 hours ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

IDK, Lumen Field and T-Mobile park dont have much better access than SF does and they are doing fine. Both are located just south of DT seattle and site right next to each other. The only real pain is if there are events in both parks, like a Mariners game and a Taylor Swift concert which did happen the same day/night. 

There's a train station about 100 yards from the northern edge of Lumen.  The closest train station to Soldier Field I believe is the Roosevelt Red line, which is a mile walk from the stadium.

[minnesotacubsfan]

1 hour ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

There's a train station about 100 yards from the northern edge of Lumen.  The closest train station to Soldier Field I believe is the Roosevelt Red line, which is a mile walk from the stadium.

LRV is still vastly underutilized during gameday. I know this, because I am currently designing the new CID station and we are looking at event overflow (line 2 CID will be about 1/3 mile from Lumen), but its not as much as you'd think in terms of passenger amounts (I have the passenger count on my computer). Its sad that LRV isnt used more for events, but it just isnt yet. So while Lumen has Stadium and line 1 CID, SF has Museum and 18th, which are nearly identical in distances to what Lumen has (maybe a tad more, but were not talking MILES here, maybe 100 yards more)

 

Also, train stations can be added to existing lines, or completely remodeled and upgraded to handle the event numbers. Thats literally what I do for a living

 

ETA: King Street station is near Lumen as well, but thats Amtrak and nobody takes Amtrak to a sporting event

 

Edited December 20, 2025 by minnesotacubsfan

[Soul]

5 minutes ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

LRV is still vastly underutilized during gameday. I know this, because I am currently designing the new CID station and we are looking at event overflow (line 2 CID will be about 1/3 mile from Lumen), but its not as much as you'd think in terms of passenger amounts (I have the passenger count on my computer). Its sad that LRV isnt used more for events, but it just isnt yet. So while Lumen has Stadium and line 1 CID, SF has Museum and 18th, which are nearly identical in distances to what Lumen has (maybe a tad more, but were not talking MILES here, maybe 100 yards more)

 

Also, train stations can be added to existing lines, or completely remodeled and upgraded to handle the event numbers. Thats literally what I do for a living

Just looking at the satellite view, if you picked up Lumen and plopped it on the other side of the highway, then it would be similar to SF.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Surge events are a big deal to LRV operators. Not long after UDub station opened, an Apple Cup (UDub vs Wazzu) game caused such a mess that ST has been investing millions into understanding how to handle them (ah hm, me included as a consultant). It’s really about how fast you can get people off the platform. But it’s made a sore impression on people going to Husky games, and likely has had an effect on Seahawks, Sounders, Mariners, etc

https://www.soundtransit.org/blog/platform/what-went-wrong-link-after-apple-cup-what-were-doing-to-ensure-it-never-happens-again

 

[minnesotacubsfan]

26 minutes ago, Soul said:

Just looking at the satellite view, if you picked up Lumen and plopped it on the other side of the highway, then it would be similar to SF.

My point is there are viable LRT options and lines for SF, CTA just needs to design their stations well

 

 

(hire me 😉
 

 

also check the scale your looking at, they really arent that dissimilar 

Edited December 20, 2025 by minnesotacubsfan

[minnesotacubsfan]

8 hours ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

Over wrought concerns about saving thr collanades while still wanting to modernizing the sight lines. 

 

They did a great job given the limitations, honestly, but the limitations were self imposed. 

 

Timing is also everything. I wonder if Daley had taken the bulldozer to Meigs a decade before he did that a concept like the Bears floated with a new stadium to south and the collanades forming a open plaza couldn't have happened 20 years ago. SF site would still have issues, but they could have spent the subsequent 20 years trying to improve the pedestrian and transit site access. 

 

But the current iteration of that said plan SUCKED with it being a massive "public in name only" money grab offer by Bears. 

This may seem argumentative, but Daley was right to destroy Miegs

[jersey cubs fan]

1 hour ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

This may seem argumentative, but Daley was right to destroy Miegs

Totally 

 

But was cool to fly into 

[minnesotacubsfan]

The McCaskeys tried to do a mega suburb development after they were affordable; interest rates are up, general investment is much more focused on AI. I think the missed their window on AH unless they find a partner. They think it needs to be the state. 
 

what a mess

[WrigleyField 22]

2 hours ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

This may seem argumentative, but Daley was right to destroy Miegs

I didn't say it was wrong... (?) 

 

My point was maybe if it happens earlier Bears muesum campus dev looks different. 

[BigbadB]

19 hours ago, Derwood said:

Would there really be a long-term backlash if the Bears played in Indiana? Did it hurt New York to have the Giants/Jets play in New Jersey?

Hey, look! It's someone who has never driven through Gary, Indiana. 

[WrigleyField 22]

52 minutes ago, BigbadB said:

Hey, look! It's someone who has never driven through Gary, Indiana. 

I know people keep saying Gary, but I haven't actually seen that get mentioned from anyone involved. I'm sure it will be more like Hammond if it gets that far. Granted, Hammond still isn't Chicago/South Loop, but I'd doubt Gary is in play. 

[Wilson A2000]

36 minutes ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

I know people keep saying Gary, but I haven't actually seen that get mentioned from anyone involved. I'm sure it will be more like Hammond if it gets that far. Granted, Hammond still isn't Chicago/South Loop, but I'd doubt Gary is in play. 

I thought the Bears were already talking to the major of Hammond

[Derwood]

1 hour ago, BigbadB said:

Hey, look! It's someone who has never driven through Gary, Indiana. 

I’ve driven through plenty of times. 

[Brian707]

If nothing else, this whole mess proves the incompetence of ownership and management still exists.  At least they appeared to fix the on the field product.

If they move to Gary or Hammond or whatever,  fine. I just won't go to the games.  Tough going from NW suburbs down there.

 

[Banedon]

28 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

If nothing else, this whole mess proves the incompetence of ownership and management still exists.  At least they appeared to fix the on the field product.

If they move to Gary or Hammond or whatever,  fine. I just won't go to the games.  Tough going from NW suburbs down there.

 

As someone that drives up from central Illinois to go to all kinds of events in Chicago, I can't help but chuckle a bit at the idea that going from the NW Suburbs to NW Indiana is this terrible journey.

[jersey cubs fan]

13 minutes ago, Banedon said:

As someone that drives up from central Illinois to go to all kinds of events in Chicago, I can't help but chuckle a bit at the idea that going from the NW Suburbs to NW Indiana is this terrible journey.

Generally speaking, driving from a rural area to a city is much easier than driving from one suburban area, around a city into another suburban area. 
 

for me a 15 mile trip east is an entirely different animal than a 15 mile trip west 

[Banedon]

1 minute ago, jersey cubs fan said:

Generally speaking, driving from a rural area to a city is much easier than driving from one suburban area, around a city into another suburban area. 
 

for me a 15 mile trip east is an entirely different animal than a 15 mile trip west 

Yeah sure I get that to an extent.  But I mean, I'm driving 2.5 hours to go to a Cubs game.  So I guess a 90 min or whatever it might be doesn't seem all that cumbersome to me.  But I get that it's a change from what people are used to.

[jersey cubs fan]

4 minutes ago, Banedon said:

Yeah sure I get that to an extent.  But I mean, I'm driving 2.5 hours to go to a Cubs game.  So I guess a 90 min or whatever it might be doesn't seem all that cumbersome to me.  But I get that it's a change from what people are used to.

 But 2.5 hours going 70+ is more enjoyable than 90 minutes of stop and go bumper to bumper rubber necking insert traffic buzzword here 

[Brian707]

Central Illinois to the city for the first 90 minutes is a smooth drive. Probably similar to driving  from  there to Gary. It will be pretty close to the same amount of time to get there from NW suburbs going thru gridlock traffic.  From basically the NW side of Chicago to NW Indiana its horrible. Especially a non noon Sunday game 

 

Edited December 20, 2025 by Brian707

[UMFan83]

The Chiefs just announced a new domed stadium to be built in Kansas and opened for the 2031 season.  This would be the 6th NFL stadium that was announced after the Bears announced plans to build a stadium in Arlington Heights that will be completed before any Bears stadium is completed (possibly before any construction begins at this rate)