Public enemy

Court case could kill Soldier Field project

The nation's most expensive stadium project may be in for a seismic shock Thursday morning in a Chicago courtroom.

With cranes and bulldozers already tearing apart old Soldier Field, two civic groups will present their final legal attack on the $632 million plan to remodel the Chicago Bears stadium. And it's an attack that could easily succeed, throwing the project and the Bears into chaos.

The issue before Judge John Madden (no relation to the the NFL broadcaster) of the Circuit Court of Cook County is whether the huge taxpayer investment (more than $400 million) in Soldier Field has any "public purpose." The judge will decide if the new stadium offers any benefit to the community or only provides private profit for the McCaskey family, which owns the team.

The groups attacking the project -- the Friends of the Parks and the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois -- contend that only the McCaskeys will enjoy dividends from the public investment in the stadium. According to studies the groups commissioned, the McCaskeys' annual profits will triple when the stadium is completed while the value of their franchise will double to $800 million.

Orchestrated by Chicago mayor Richard Daley, the original stadium deal gives priceless Chicago lakefront property to the McCaskeys and the Bears, along with the rights to all parking, concession and advertising revenue. Under this plan, the city park district is obligated to provide funds for operation and maintenance of the stadium. In a highly unusual contractual binder, the taxpayers are obligated for the next 30 years to make sure the venue is ranked in the top "25 percent of stadiums in the NFL."

Daley and the Bears have been rushing to destroy the old stadium to begin rebuilding, even as the litigation attacking it progresses toward Thursday's critical hearing. Madden warned everyone involved that they were proceeding at their own risk, but there is little left of the old ballyard. If the judge rules that the deal violates "public purpose" requirements, the Bears will be left homeless. The construction schedule for the new stadium already forces the team to play next season's "home" games at the University of Illinois in Urbana, a two-and-a-half hour drive from Chicago. If the work is stopped, the Bears could be at home on the road for multiple seasons.

The Bears and Daley had been treating this case (which was filed last August) as nothing but a nuisance for months. But the Illinois Supreme Court changed the landscape on April 4 with its ruling in a dispute over a stock car track near East St. Louis, Ill. The high court's decision added new definition to the key phrase "public purpose." The owners of the track wanted to improve their facility, exactly what the Bears are trying to do at Soldier Field. The goal was to build up the track to the point where it could host NASCAR Winston Cup events. The owners' first step was to add more parking, and, like the Bears in Chicago, they persuaded local authorities to help out with some bonds.

This bond initiative was subsequently challenged in court, the issue being whether the parking facility served any public purpose. The Supreme Court ruled by a 5-2 vote that the parking improvements served only the private interest of the track's owners and served no public purpose.

Given these findings, it is hard to see how the Soldier Field project serves any public purpose. The McCaskeys will reap a bonanza. If the park is finished, it will be the most expensive stadium building project ever attempted. Studies by the Chicago Tribune and University of Chicago economics professor Allen Sanderson show that the construction cost per seat of the new venue will be $10,000, nearly double the cost of the next most expensive stadium.

The new stadium has no roof, retractable or otherwise, and will have 8,000 fewer seats than its predecessor. Its placement on the lakefront and its bizarre design have infuriated civic groups, editorial writers, environmentalists and preservationists. The project's only supporters are Mayor Daley and the McCaskeys, a powerful combination that has treated all criticism with scorn and contempt. But there's a good chance Judge Madden will stop the project, which would be a stinging humiliation for Mayor Daley and would render the Bears homeless.

Sports Illustrated legal analyst Lester Munson regularly holds court on sports law and business matters on CNNSI.com.

 

Related information
Stories
Lester Munson's Insider archive
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.