CHICAGO | Da Bears | New Domed Lakefront Stadium Proposal

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by left of center

Damn Tom, you're a cheesehead? I am beyond disappointed

I grew up in Kenosha. . . we were given a choice as to what team we could root for. . . it's 50/50 up there. . . I think I made the right choice. . .

. . .

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by twister244

A couple thousand people attending a casual racetrack

the track had a total spectator capacity of 35,000.

now, it only ever came close to that number on the very biggest race days of the calendar, but still, back in its prime, crowds of 20,000+ on a saturday afternoon were not unheard of.

yes, that's obviously quite different from an 80K+ seat NFL stadium, but AH isn't in completely uncharted waters for getting a large number of people to and from the site.


that said, my guess is that trying to ride a metra train out to the new stadium from the city on a football sunday will likely be a train-wreck (pun intended). how many passengers can the longest fully-loaded metra trainset carry at max capacity? 2,500 people maybe?

metra's gonna need to find a way to run A LOT of trains out before kick-off and then A LOT of trains back after the game or it's gonna be a real shitshow. can metra find the manpower to level up for that kind of crushing single event/single site passenger load on a sunday morning?

some of my past experiences with trying to take metra back to the city after concerts at ravinia don't leave me with much optimism (and ravinia's max capacity is only ~18,000).

[Kumdogmillionaire]

What a total embarrassment of a franchise. Haven't been competitive in their own division for years, last championship was almost 40 years ago, and now they're going to the suburbs? So happy my parents didn't raise me a Bears fan. Sad the city will likely lose not just the team but the stadium as well. Maybe they'll make the area into a nice park in the future. Tons of parking plus the stadium itself makes up loads of space. Include the fact they'll soon be tearing down the Jahn McCormick Center building and they could make a park rivaling Lincoln and Jackson. Either that or the city lures in a second team to take the stadium. There's absolutely room in Chicago for 2 football teams with how much the Bears fanbase has gone stale in the last 3 decades

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Kumdogmillionaire

Sad the city will likely lose not just the team but the stadium as well.

the Fire are still under contract to play at SF.

For now anyway, I know there have been rumblings of them eventually wanting a soccer specific stadium in the city.

And with the bears decamping for the burbs, maybe that can happen at SF for the Fire.

[MAC123]

That's exactly what they should do. The bears are leaving, they should just accept it at this point.

Renovate the stadium, make it new, modern, state of the art as much as they can, use it as a full time soccer stadium with opportunities for side stuff like concerts, ceremonies, etc.

[jbermingham123]

silly me

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by jbermingham123

13.. Forgot about Kansas City

Nope.

Arrowhead might be located in a very suburban-style environment, but thanks to some heavy post-war land annexation, it is within the municipal limits of Kansas City.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Can't wait for the Jags to move here and become the Chicago Jagoffs. I will root for them just to spite Bears fans.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Can't wait for the Jags to move here and become the Chicago Jagoffs. I will root for them just to spite Bears fans.

[Steely Dan]

a new poll indicates that most arlington heights residents are ok with the bears moving to their town, but an overwhelming majority do no not want their tax dollars going to the effort, which is refreshing.

• The UPshot: The poll shows 72% of polled Arlington Heights voters approved of the Chicago Bears plans to build a stadium in Arlington Heights, versus 18% who are opposed.

• The DOWNshot: The survey also showed 68% of voters disapproved of the project being supported by taxpayer dollars … compared to only 22% of the voters showing support.

source: https://chicago.suntimes.com/columni...ans-prosperity




the NFL is the most lucrative sports league on the freaking planet.

they shouldn't get one penny of public money.

[bhawk66]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

a new poll indicates that most arlington heights residents are ok with the bears moving to their town, but an overwhelming majority do no not want their tax dollars going to the effort, which is refreshing.



source: https://chicago.suntimes.com/columni...ans-prosperity




the NFL is the most lucrative sports league on the freaking planet.

You sure about that? I'd need to see stats to believe that. There are several leagues that make a ton of money including in Europe.

Baseball ; 162 games

NBA ; 82

Football ; 17

Other than that, totally agree. Let the owners foot the bill.

[ardecila]

Very surprising that so many folks in AH support the move.

It's hard to get 72% of people to support any kind of development, let alone an NFL stadium that will bring heavy traffic, noise, light pollution etc. Certainly far more impacts than the racetrack ever brought.

Anyway, here's hoping the stadium will be paired with a large mixed use development (ideally several thousand apartments). It's really a natural site for this, with easy Metra and expressway access. Picturing something on the scale of Legacy near Dallas...

Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara seems like a good comparison for what the Bears will likely build in AH - it is a highly suburban location served by commuter rail in a generally transit-friendly region. The seating capacity is around 65k like many NFL stadiums, but not enormous like Lambeau at 81k. Their total footprint is about 145 acres including many surface parking lots. If you dropped that stadium on the Arlington Park site, it would only use about half the land area, leaving lots of room for everything else. My fear is that they will chase the easy money of Amazon warehouses for the remainder of the space...

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by bhawk66

You sure about that? I'd need to see stats to believe that.

believe it.

the top 5 globally by total annual revenue in Euros:

1. NFL - 14,077,000,000
2. MLB - 9,780,000,000
3. NBA - 7,707,000,000
4. Premier League - 6,100,000,000
5. NHL - 4,570,000,000

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ues_by_revenue

[thegoatman]

America is such an economic and cultural powerhouse. I mean no other nation (besides China) even comes close lol. And I'm sure MLS will be on its way up there soon the way its booming.

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ues_by_revenue

Kinda odd list. It has Formula E but not F1?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by thegoatman

And I'm sure MLS will be on its way up there soon the way its booming.

MLS is currently at #10 on that list, behind La Liga (spain), Bundesliga (germany), serie A (italy), and Ligue 1 (france).

Originally Posted by r18tdi

Kinda odd list. It has Formula E but not F1?

yeah, i have no idea what Formula E is doing on that list.

auto-racing is not a "sport" in the same way that all of the other leagues on that list are.

[bhawk66]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

believe it.

the top 5 globally by total annual revenue in Euros:

1. NFL - 14,077,000,000
2. MLB - 9,780,000,000
3. NBA - 7,707,000,000
4. Premier League - 6,100,000,000
5. NHL - 4,570,000,000

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ues_by_revenue

Thanks. Yea, the NFL must make their dough on advertising slots. It clearly isn't all from gate receipts with only 9/8 home games per year. Strange biz. I never bought a Budweiser or a Rotovac because of a half time promo. Like ever. SMH.

Even still, those numbers seem suspect. For the NFL at least. I'd sincerely like to see that broken down if ever I had the chance. 53 man roster all making millions. Injuries and replacements (ie: practice squad on the payroll). Equipment, trainers, staff, friggin water bottles. And a scant 9 home games. Hmmmm.

[MAC123]

A sport is just a competition of skill. Physical activity, while being the usual, is not a requirement.

[bhawk66]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

MLS is currently at #10 on that list, behind La Liga (spain), Bundesliga (germany), serie A (italy), and Ligue 1 (france).



yeah, i have no idea what Formula E is doing on that list.

auto-racing is not a "sport" in the same way that all of the other leagues on that list are.

Formula racing is an equal sport to the NBA or any other.. They train harder in the off season than any NBA player....Try pulling G's sometime in competition.

Not a sport. Fak

[VKChaz]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Very surprising that so many folks in AH support the move.

It's hard to get 72% of people to support any kind of development, let alone an NFL stadium that will bring heavy traffic, noise, light pollution etc. Certainly far more impacts than the racetrack ever brought.

Anyway, here's hoping the stadium will be paired with a large mixed use development (ideally several thousand apartments). It's really a natural site for this, with easy Metra and expressway access. Picturing something on the scale of Legacy near Dallas...

Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara seems like a good comparison for what the Bears will likely build in AH - it is a highly suburban location served by commuter rail in a generally transit-friendly region. The seating capacity is around 65k like many NFL stadiums, but not enormous like Lambeau at 81k. Their total footprint is about 145 acres including many surface parking lots. If you dropped that stadium on the Arlington Park site, it would only use about half the land area, leaving lots of room for everything else. My fear is that they will chase the easy money of Amazon warehouses for the remainder of the space...

Sports stadiums these days are as much - or more - about adjacent land development opportunities as they are about sports. Wouldn't residential bring in more money than warehouses?

Santa Clara seems a good comparison. And probably close to the level of stadium that would be constructed, unless a dome is added