Get out your politician-to-English code books, someone asked Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker about Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s potential $2 billion in stadium development subsidies, and the governor answered:
“I start out really reluctant … unless a case is made that the investment yields a long-term return for the taxpayers that we can justify in some way,” Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference. “I haven’t seen that yet.”…
“The information that we’ve gotten so far is still very limited,” Pritzker said. “How the taxpayer is going to benefit from this still hasn’t been put forward to us. It’s just what the need is. And of course, I think the pictures that we’ve all seen, the drawings anyway in the newspaper, all look terrific. But again, that’s not enough to make a priority, in my view for Springfield.”
Theory #1: Pritzker is trying to signal that he’s going to oppose Reinsdorf’s plans, and is laying out his grounds for doing so: It won’t create a good return on taxpayer investment, and pretty pictures aren’t enough reason to override that principle.
Theory #2: Pritzker is trying to signal that he’s ready to okay Reinsdorf’s plans, as soon as he’s provided with a financing proposal that he can justify as being something taxpayers are getting back for their money.
Theory #3: Pritzker hasn’t decided at all what he’s going to do, and is hedging wildly that of course he’ll oppose a stadium that’s a massive giveaway, unless of course it’s not a massive giveaway and is actually great, either give me some numbers I can use as cover, Jerry, or get lost.
Any of these is more responsible than “Damn, those sure are some pretty pictures!” like some other local electeds have said, even if it’s not so useful as far as tea leaves go. And then Pritzker went and added this:
“The idea of taking taxpayer dollars and subsidizing the building of a stadium as opposed to, for example, subsidizing the building of a birthing center, just to give the example, does not seem like the stadium ought to have higher priority,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker was visiting a birthing center at the time, so it’s not like he’s necessarily likely to start describing the stadium subsidy in terms of how many birthing centers it will cost. In case you’re wondering, though, that number is 853 birthing centers.
Reinsdorf and Pritzker still haven’t met yet to discuss the stadium proposal, because the last time the Sox owner came to the capital, the governor had places to be. Taken together with this statement, that’s maybe a sign that Pritzker is at least a bit more on the skeptical side than his previous statement of “has yet to rule anything out.” (Okay, I’m reading tea leaves a little, sue me.)
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Chicagoland, apparently sensing an open bar, the Chicago Red Stars of the NWSL are now looking for public stadium funding as well. (It’s behind the Trib’s paywall, so I am going off the headline and subhead.)
Never mind that they play in an 18-year-old stadium that is (I believe) fully paid off.
I had to laugh. The NWSL has made great strides and has many success stories in its ranks, but the Red Stars are comically inept and irrelevant and they should be laughed out of the room.
SeatGeek stadium, formerly Toyota Park, was built by the Village of Bridgeview issuing $135 million in general obligation bonds. Bridgeview’s bond rating fell to junk status in 2017 and property taxes have increased. On top of that, the Fire ditched them, and apparently the Red Stars want to as well. It is more of a warning for Arlington Heights than anything else. Still, it would be nice if politicians realized that they are taking on massive costs to the tax payers that are locked in until they get paid off, but the teams they are subsidizing will jump as soon as they can.
Or theory #4: Pritzker would like a birthing center inside the stadium.
Never too early to indoctrinate new fans…..
To bad he wasn’t visiting a public school at the time.
I’m going with Door #2 on the theory that Pritzker’s pangs of reluctance will last at most about 15 minutes after handing over to Reinsdorf a Big Ceremonial Check(tm).
Absolutely reprehensible…and yet utterly predictable that Laura Ricketts would come up to the trough of Illinois/Chicago politicians asking for a handout for a new stadium…I mean why not? All the other sports teams in town are doing so! Even her Cubs are now asking for “increased security” subsidized by Chicago/IL to alleviate crime in Wrigleyville area…
Until a politician has the guts to tell a billionaire sports owner to take a hike…they won’t receive a dime of taxpayer money, the billionaires will continue to come hat in hand…
The proposed site being a TIF district means the politicians, local and state, know there are already incentives dedicated for whatever ends up on the 78 site. This means they are going to be more delicate in their wording. They all obviously want the site developed, but aren’t all that interested in giving more than is already committed.
But should they? If they don’t develop the site, and any development goes somewhere else, it will actually pay property taxes.
It depends on your opinion of the added value from the infrastructure and other developmental commitments that are contingent in the deal, or how those might change as plans for a stadium were not discussed when the TIF was granted five years ago. What Reinsdorf has thrown out is a bad idea for the city, it does not necessarily mean any development under the terms of the tif would be a net negative.