In Your Dreams

Either the folks at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill had nothing better to do yesterday, or a respected Chicago architecture firm is in need of work, bigtime. Either way, SOM released drawings of what a new Bears stadium would look like if sited at Rate Field, home of the White Sox Chicago being Chicago, local media was all over the “story’; maybe somebody even mentioned that the Bears had no comment on the idea. Come to think of it, maybe everybody should’ve kept their mouths shut about what looks to be a Hail-Mary’s Hail Mary. I mean, the drawings envision a residential/entertainment district around the stadium. But if it’s on Illinois Sports Facility land, who’s going to run that district? Don’t you think the McCaskeys fantasize about the revenue streams that would come out of it? And has anyone ever seen the heirs of Halas willing to share money with a public body? The drawings also wish away a small public-housing development. Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson’s going to be OK with that? And if the Bears are headed to Bridgeport, that means the Sox would relocate to the South Loop with an Amtrak cleaning-and-repair facility headed for Bridgeport. SOM realizes Bridgeport wants no part of that facility, right? This is what happens when a tiny group of people indulges in wishful thinking and it gets picked up by an enabling media; a non-story becomes a story. Expect the Bears’ stadium saga to continue.