Tough Times

These are tough times for professional sports teams, and I’m not talking win-loss records. In a world gone upside down, local and state governments aren’t falling all over themselves to help build new stadiums the way they used to. In St. Petersburg, the city council hasn’t funded repairs to Tropicana Field, with its hurricane-damaged roof, possibly due in part to an impasse over a new Rays’ stadium; my guess is the Rays want more public funding than the $600 million offered to help cover a $1.9 billion project. Truly, my heart bleeds. Closer to home, the White Sox can’t drum up the mildest of interest in a publicly-funded (or -subsidized, it depends on the day of the week) stadium in the South Loop. And let’s not forget the Bears, who’ve been huffing and puffing for a new stadium since they bought land in Arlington Heights back in early 2023. Only the best-laid plans of mice and clueless team executives didn’t count on neighboring school districts refusing to play nice and let the Bears determine how much they’d pay every year in property taxes. Now, the team has reached a sort-of agreement with Arlington Heights and the affected school districts. I say “sort of” because nothing hasn’t been voted on yet, and, even if everybody signs on, it may not matter. Why? Because the Munsters want a ton of public funding, and the state of Illinois isn‘t interested. The McCaskeys are a sad lot, trying to shake down schools for money; then playing Chicago off against the suburbs; then saying they’ll look into an alternative lakefront site. They might even play on the moon, provided somebody else picks up the tab and they get to control the shuttle contract—and oxygen franchise. In Chicago at least, the teams may stink, but the politics behind them never ceases to amuse.