Chicago and Illinois politicians are not forthcoming with funding for the project.
The Chief Executive Officer of the National Football League’s Chicago Bears franchise, Kevin Warren, is getting frustrated with Chicago and Illinois politicians who have not come up with a financial plan so the franchise’s owners can get a new stadium. Warren wants to know why Chicago is falling behind other cities in the United States in the stadium game. After all, New York politicians found money, about a billion dollars of public funding, to build Terry Pegula, whose net worth is estimated to be around $7 billion, a new stadium to house his National Football League’s Buffalo Bills franchise. And in Nashville, Tennessee politicians put together another package of around a billion dollars of public funding to build a Nashville stadium for the ownership of the National Football League’s Tennessee Titans. Maryland politicians have found money for a stadium renovation in Baltimore for the National Football League’s Baltimore Ravens ownership. Jacksonville politicians found public money for a renovation of the National Football League’s Jacksonville Jaguars’ stadium. Kansas is interested in building a football facility for the Kansas City Chiefs’ owner Clark Hunt.
Warren wants to know why his ownership has been unable to get public money for a Chicago or Arlington Heights, Illinois stadium. Politicians in Arlington Heights won’t reduce the property tax bill on the property the Bears’ ownership has in the northern Chicago suburb. “To think in Chicago how special this city is. We’ve never hosted a Super Bowl, we’ve never hosted a Final Four,” Warren said. “We’re missing out on concerts, multiple megaevents, including Super Bowls, Final Fours. It will grow businesses. If we don’t wrap our arms around some of these construction projects, we’re going to fall behind as a city and we need to do more as a city here in Chicago.” The Chicago stadium game continues.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
Bears’ CEO Kevin Warren