Everybody’s talking about that new Chicago White Sox stadium proposal despite it not actually being a proposal yet, but first, potentially big news out of Kansas City:
- Jackson County executive and eight-time Gold Glove winner Frank White yesterday vetoed the planned April vote on a sales tax extension to raise more than $500 million for the Royals and Chiefs, saying he won’t support it “without robust, binding agreements in place” on leases and community benefits agreements. The county legislature doesn’t have the votes to override it right now, and the deadline to make the April ballot is Tuesday, so expect a whole lot of frantic gamesmanship over the weekend — we’ll see if the teams actually commit to anything substantial, but props to White for trying, anyway.
- Crain’s Chicago Business has investigated who would pay for a new White Sox stadium in the South Loop, and come up with a resounding ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Gov. J.B. Pritzker weighed in yesterday to say “I think you know my views about privately owned teams, and whether the public should be paying for private facilities” but also “there are things that government does to support business all across the state” and “we’ll be looking at whatever they may be suggesting or asking,” so somebody’s ready to haggle over the price. Crain’s does confirm that the site is in a TIF district that would get property tax kicked back to pay for construction, but also that stadiums are typically owned by the public so they don’t pay property taxes anyway, so lots and lots of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ here.
- Somebody posted a bunch of renderings of a possible White Sox stadium of unknown origin that had previously been posted to Twitter then deleted, and yup, they look like generic renderings. NBC Sports Chicago complains that “the renderings have the stadium face the wrong way” and “it’s a no-brainer to face the stadium towards the river so (hopefully) White Sox players can hit home runs into the water” — can somebody please inform NBC Sports Chicago of how the sun works?
- “Are we really talking about a new stadium for the White Sox when we still don’t know how two people got shot during a game at their current one?” Sure, that’s a take.
- Oakland A’s execs are visiting Salt Lake City to see if its Triple-A stadium could be a temporary home until the team (maybe) moves to Las Vegas, after visiting Sacramento yesterday and probably other sites to come. Somebody has suggested an appropriate rebranding, all good, no notes.
- Virginia probably isn’t going to consider building a Washington Commanders stadium while it’s considering spending over a billion dollars on a Wizards and Capitals arena, meaning new Commanders owner Josh Harris will have to settle for getting Maryland and D.C. to bid against each other, or else wait a bit until the arena issue is resolved, still plenty of options there.
There was other stadium-adjacent news this week — MLB TV carrier Diamond Sports cutting a deal with Amazon to escape bankruptcy, New York Knicks and Rangers owner James Dolan getting sued for sexual assault charges that somehow involve both Harvey Weinstein and the Eagles — but I’m still technically on vacation here. Have a good weekend, and we’ll return to our regularly scheduled outrage on Monday!
“possible White Sox (stadium) of unknown origin”
Did they check their dryer?
… I’ll show myself out
“it’s a no-brainer to face the stadium towards the river”
Nothing is better than making the same bad decision a second time. The correct way to build the field would be to face the skyscrapers downtown.
This. Chicago has one of the best skylines in the world. A ballpark with it visible in the outfield would be top notch.
I believe a ballpark oriented due north would both face the skyline and put the river in play for home runs down the left field line. Problem solved.
A’s getting advise not to stay in Oakland, they’ve been trying to move for years but now that they have everything now they move. Powerful people/ groups don’t want any pro sports in Oakland and the A’s are listening to them.
Why would the MLB let them move to a much smaller market in hot weather? in a smaller stadium? out of California? It’s more than just money!
No, pro teams seem to be fleeing big cities but few had the weather, area and land in two area to build a stadium but the A’s ruined that just to move to L.V.!
You’ll be thrilled to know why In-N-Out is closing its only location in Oakland (and it’s down the street from the Coliseum). It’s all about the high crime within Oaktown.
The Quad Cities Surfers logo is beautiful. I hope Mr. Marks trademarked it before posting or Kaval will have already done so.
I think the coles notes version of the “78” Comiskthree park is that Reinsdorf will almost certainly be dead before any first game could be played in it. So it’s less about him or his pathetic franchise than the cash he thinks his heirs can earn from it’s “potential”.
The views from that spot might well be “lovely”. Which is why it should be expropriated and used for a public rather than private purpose like a sports stadium that is occupied less than 300 hours a year.
I loved this sentence from the Lost in the Sun link:
“The orientation of the field — like everything else about Major League Baseball — is proscribed by the rule book.”
Seems that would cause existential crises.
Ha! I missed that, that is excellent.
It’s more a guideline than an actual rule as it says it’s “desired” to be at 22 degrees north of east, but it’s not required and there is no punishment the stadium isn’t even close.