(The Center Square) – For the first time, there may be some support in providing public funding to help the Chicago Bears build a new stadium.
Since the team unveiled plans for a $4.7 billion stadium project on the lakefront last year, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and many Illinois lawmakers have balked at providing state taxpayer dollars to help. But Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch told Fox32 that if the Bears built at the former Michael Reese hospital location just south of McCormick Place, that would change things.
“If they chose a site like Michael Reese, that’s a neighborhood that could certainly use some great economic development, that is a different conversation,” said Welch.
Michael Reese Hospital officially closed in August 2009. The streets through the campus were closed and demolition began the following October.
Welch said the state may be open to funding infrastructure improvements at the site to help the Bears.
“The state has a road fund that we could probably help building roadways or improving the roadways around the area,” said Welch.
Bears president Kevin Warren has expressed concerns about the Michael Reece property’s smaller size and challenges related to train tracks on the property but said he is confident the team is getting close to a breakthrough.
“Downtown still remains the focus, the museum campus,” said Warren. “I feel we made a massive amount of momentum.”
The group Friends of the Parks, who has strongly opposed the Bears building on the lakefront, said they have no problem with the Michael Reese site.
There are plenty who are critical of using public funding for sports stadiums, including Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Adam Hoffer, director of excise tax policy with the Tax Foundation.
“In terms of what a taxpayer gets for that investment, the answer is they get sports teams but not much else,” said Hoffer.
