Hey, Bears, Figure This Out – No Public Nothing For You
Bears CEO urges Chicago to “Figure this out”
From a report in Front Office Sports:
Already facing an uphill battle to build a new downtown stadium, Bears president Kevin Warren has sent a new message about how Chicago is losing out on major events as a result…“If we can’t figure this out in Chicago, shame on us,” Warren said Thursday, speaking before the Economic Club of Chicago. “What we have to do is stop looking at what we don’t have in Chicago. Let’s put our assets on the table and figure out what we do have and how we can come together, make this city even stronger than it already is, make it a better place, and create an incredible revenue stream for Chicago.”
Hey, Kevin – we figured this scam out a long time ago. Not one square foot of public land. Not one public dollar for your stadium or for any other private stadium to be owned and operated for the profits of white billionaire sports owning families.
The average team value in the National Football League is $5.11 billion! The Chicago Bears weigh in at #9 in value at $6.4 billion and enjoyed revenues of $599 million. Overall, the NFL got $125.5 BILLION in TV revenue in 2023.
“Shame on us.” Indeed. Shame on the media and fawning reporters. Shame on the Civic Federation, Shame on the Chicago Metropolitan Planning Council. Shame on the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Shame on the Chicago Community Trust. Shame on Leadership Greater Chicago. Shame on the University of Chicago. Shame on the Chicago City Council. Shame of Mayor Johns – former public school teacher and union organizer.
Where is the oversight? Where is the outrage? Nowhere. It reminds me of the silence and complicity of all these same groups back in 2009 when Mayor Daley went all in to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to Chicago. Remember that?
No Games Chicago was a group of volunteers who were not silent and did the due diligence that was seemingly beyond all these well-funded groups to do. Hosting the Olympics is a city-killer. And now, all the hype and arse-licking coverage of the Bears and other stadium seekers seems like they dusted off all the BS press releases from the Bid and inserted the words “Bears Stadium” for “2016 Olympic Games.”
Well, you can show your outrage by (1) Signing this online petition-> www.tinyurl.com/No-Public-Dollars-Stadiums. (2) Call the Mayor and your Alderman and say “No thanks!” to any public subsidy for a sports stadium, (3) Call the Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, WBEZ, WTTW and Crain’s Chicago Business and tell them the same. (4) Buy a copy of my book documenting the No Games campaign – it contains a Strategic Playbook for fighting mega-projects-> www.nogameschicagobook.com.