Any thoughts on the Bears leaving Soldier Field?

[RealSNR]

It's been out there for a couple weeks now, but we haven't really talked about it.

I guess the team bought an old horse track or something in Arlington Heights and tried to be secretive about it. Local media caught wind and the response was, "It's good to keep our options open"

The mayor gave a pretty good response, "Maybe you should worry more about beating the Packers than getting out of your Soldier Field lease."

People have brought up a pretty good point. Soldier Field is iconic, but it's a tiny ass stadium, and its glory as a historic stadium kind of got shit on when they renovated it into a mutant spaceship years ago. Getting a nice big indoor place like the Vikings' new digs would allow them to host Final Fours and all that jazz, too.

And at the same time, the economics are pretty clear that tax payer-funded stadiums aren't good community investments at all. They don't stimulate shit for economic growth compared to the cost of building them.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

Was reading around a bit to see how the Bears fans feel and holy ****ing shit do they hate Nagy something fierce.

I saw some article earlier this week that was speculating whether he was intentionally tanking the offense so he could start Dalton again. I don't follow the Bears closely so I don't know why a coach would dislike Fields so much that he'd do that, but then again Haley should have done it in the Matt Cassel era, so I guess it's possible.

I'm not sure what's going on with Nagy there, but it's sure ugly.

[Hoover]

I think this is a brilliant move for the Bears.

It's a 326 acre site in Chicago. It's massive. Already serviced by rail and two major four lanes. Isn't the Truman Sports Complex only 220 acres? Think about that.

They are going to bulldoze all of that shit. New stadium, you know it will have retail and other entertainment options to generate revenue, and then the parking. Chicago is going to be an awesome tailgating team.

From a business stand point its a no brainer. When CBS, Fox, or ESPN come to town they are still going to shoot scenes from about the city, just like they do in KC. It will be great.

If that franchise is worth 4 billion today, It will be worth twice that once this thing is built out.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by Hoover

I think this is a brilliant move for the Bears.

It's a 326 acre site in Chicago. It's massive. Already serviced by rail and two major four lanes. Isn't the Truman Sports Complex only 220 acres? Think about that.

They are going to bulldoze all of that shit. New stadium, you know it will have retail and other entertainment options to generate revenue, and then the parking. Chicago is going to be an awesome tailgating team.

From a business stand point its a no brainer. When CBS, Fox, or ESPN come to town they are still going to shoot scenes from about the city, just like they do in KC. It will be great.

If that franchise is worth 4 billion today, It will be worth twice that once this thing is built out.

As opposed to currently being in downtown Chicago on Lake Michigan?

Outside of more space and brand new, I'm not seeing it as a location upgrade.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

As opposed to currently being in downtown Chicago on Lake Michigan?

Outside of more space and brand new, I'm not seeing it as a location upgrade.

You don't understand the business.

They Bears pay rent to play there. They have limited luxury box income in addition to limited seating. All this is due to them not being able to alter the exterior of old solider field. They also don't have acres of parking to charge people through the nose for. It's the NFL dude, people will travel for it. And all those people from outside of downtown, will appreciate not having to go into the heart of the city.

MetLife stadium is in the middle of a swamp, you have to take like two different trains to get to the stadium from Times Square. The 49ers new stadium isn't anywhere near San Francisco.

[ChiefsCountry]

Football stadiums suburb locations are the best because of the space needed. Baseball and sports arena the downtown core is better because of the amount of dates they have.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Football stadiums suburb locations are the best because of the space needed. Baseball and sports arena the downtown core is better because of the amount of dates they have.

Bingo!

Nobody tailgates a baseball game....

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by Hoover

You don't understand the business.

They Bears pay rent to play there. They have limited luxury box income in addition to limited seating. All this is due to them not being able to alter the exterior of old solider field. They also don't have acres of parking to charge people through the nose for. It's the NFL dude, people will travel for it. And all those people from outside of downtown, will appreciate not having to go into the heart of the city.

MetLife stadium is in the middle of a swamp, you have to take like two different trains to get to the stadium from Times Square. The 49ers new stadium isn't anywhere near San Francisco.

I'll take your word for it, I was mostly taking issue with your reasons why the location is better. Retail, entertainment, rails, highways, etc. That doesn't get better than where they are now. The business side for the Bears I'll definitely concede.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by Shoes

Anyone familiar with Soldier Field knows that the stadium itself is a dump. Location is nice but there isn't much room to expand or improve the facilities and I hear the accessibility of the stadium leaves a lot to be desired.

Build a new stadium for da Bears.

It’s a fantastic location but the stadium sucks. Chicago would be smart to completely raze it & build a new stadium there.


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[Frazod]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

As opposed to currently being in downtown Chicago on Lake Michigan?

Outside of more space and brand new, I'm not seeing it as a location upgrade.

I understand why you feel that way. You live in Chicago. Well, "understand" really isn't the right word here. Let's just say that I realize there are people who enjoy living in Chicago, just like I realize there are people who like pickles and grapefruit juice and rap music and reality TV. But I'll never understand them.

I pretty much moved as far away from Chicago as I could and still get to work. I hate Chicago. I hate the thought of Chicago. For me, going to any sort of event or attraction there is always a giant pain in the ass, serving to reinforce all the reasons I fled that ****ing sewer in the first place.

I wish they'd be able to break ground on the new stadium tomorrow and have it ready for next season.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by Frazod

I understand why you feel that way. You live in Chicago. Well, "understand" really isn't the right word here. Let's just say that I realize there are people who enjoy living in Chicago, just like I realize there are people who like pickles and grapefruit juice and rap music and reality TV. But I'll never understand them.

I pretty much moved as far away from Chicago as I could and still get to work. I hate Chicago. I hate the thought of Chicago. For me, going to any sort of event or attraction there is always a giant pain in the ass, serving to reinforce all the reasons I fled that ****ing sewer in the first place.

I wish they'd be able to break ground on the new stadium tomorrow and have it ready for next season.

I get it. For me its not about loving living in the city its about pure logistics. I have good friends that have left the city for the burbs and I never see them because I don't go out there because there's no other reason to.

In my experience, people don't commute from the city to the burbs then back. Its like fish flowing against the stream, traffic bears that out. People commute into the city for work and entertainment then back to the burbs, not vice versa.

But like was mentioned earlier, the NFL is the kind of beast that can pull that off.

[backinblack]

I always thought Chicago was great when I was there, but I was younger, didn't care about the politics, and even then knew to stay away from the South Side. Downtown had a lot of great bars/clubs/stripclubs etc. Even the northern suburbs have a lot of great nightlife, Highland Park or whatever where all the rich people live have some great bars. And the Metra train is actually widespread and pretty easy to use.

Never got the chance to see a game at Soldier Field, did see a Cubs/Mets game at Wrigley though, even that was pretty fun.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

It’s a fantastic location but the stadium sucks. Chicago would be smart to completely raze it & build a new stadium there.


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Go to a game there when it's zero degrees outside and then walk over a mile to your car and tell me its a fantastic location.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by Frazod

Go to a game there when it's zero degrees outside and then walk over a mile to your car and tell me its a fantastic location.

It looks cool on TV....

If the City would actually work with the Bears on a new stadium on the lakefront I think that would be an option, but they won't. Look at the mayors comments, she thinks she has the upper hand. She doesn't. The Bears will gladly leave the City of Chicago and pay them 86 million to get out of their lease in 2026.

[Dunerdr]

I do not have thoughts on the bears leaving, in fact i don't give a single shit about the bears unless we play them. Much like Cincinnati they haven't been really relevant since the trent green era of football.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Hoover

It looks cool on TV....

If the City would actually work with the Bears on a new stadium on the lakefront I think that would be an option, but they won't. Look at the mayors comments, she thinks she has the upper hand. She doesn't. The Bears will gladly leave the City of Chicago and pay them 86 million to get out of their lease in 2026.

She DID think she had the upper hand. Now she knows she doesn't.

Most big city mayors are bad, but Beetlejuice has got to be the worst. The Bears will be gone and that piece of crap eyesore will sit empty except for concerts and random soccer games.