Gotcha. Well, I still agree with the points you made at the top of that post, and Bigfan has really missed the boat here. The UC area just needs to be developed. That area could really be something if they would put in a Pink Line stop, and build some bars around there. Instead it looks like a demilatarized zone. There's no need for another large arena in the city of Chicago.

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The El stop would be huge. Having to schlep all the way to Ashland Green Line after a Bulls or Hawks game in January when its freezing sucks.

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chicago-l.org says there used to be an L stop at Madison/Paulina, but it's been gone for over 60 years. Put it back. The only problem is that it's on the Pink Line, and so people on the other lines would have to change at Clark/Lake (I don't think the Bulls/Hawks rely heavily on people from Pilsen), but it still seems more convenient than getting off at Ashland/Lake or Medical District in the winter -- and way more convenient than driving.

You're not going to create an enclave of Lincoln Park at McCormick Place. Just go all in on making the United Center area better.

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I know one sure way for DePaul to fill a stadium. Move to Rosemont!

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The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

aaaaaahahahahahahaha. Perfect.


If I can address bigfan's in-post rebuttal here,


If we're defining the central business district as the Loop, and in turn defining that as being bounded by Michigan Avenue, Congress, and the river, then McCormick Place isn't the central business district any more than the United Center is. You're still a good mile and a half south. Now, if Chicago happened to have its sports/entertainment district next to its convention center all along, that would have been decent city planning. As it stands, however, they are separate.


I'm sure they would, but the reality is that we have a number of arenas in the market already. The United Center is only four miles away. You can't have a 15,000-seat arena four miles down the street from a 22,000-seat arena, to say nothing of the Horizon and Pavilion. It screws up the entire market for arena booking. I don't even think your scenario paints a pretty picture in the first place: one of people hermetically sealed in a Designated Chicago-Visiting Zone and never making it out. It's like flying into O'Hare, staying at the airport hotel for a convention there, maybe going out in Rosemont, and going back home. It is, yet isn't, "being in Chicago." Why can't people in town for expos enjoy a concert at the United Center or any number of places in the city? Why can't they use our relatively comprehensive network of public transit and go to the Magnificent Mile, or Lincoln Park, or Wrigleyville, etc? One reason might be that people just aren't in town for expos as much as they ought to be, and instead seem to be going to places like Indianapolis. Directly fixing this flagging sector of the economy seems like a better solution than building a new sports arena.


It's not that I don't like DePaul. I honestly don't feel one way or the other about DePaul. I have two problems, though. The first is a general discomfort, one that's growing more and more with just about every passing week, about the position of sports as our state religion. I love sports; I post about them here all the time. Still, I have serious reservations about the fact that with everything seemingly going wrong these days, the one thing our government reliably seems to finance is the construction of professional sports edifices. It shouldn't be the priority it is, yet again and again, we have these corporate welfare schemes whereby arenas are publicly financed for private gain predicated on "creating business in the area," which is never created so much as offset from other places. We do not need more sports arenas.

The other problem is that your argument seems to be predicated on a best-case scenario that's practically out of reach. You're saying that if the city builds a 15,000-seat arena four miles away from the UC, and if DePaul somehow upgrades its basketball program from "nominal" to "perennial tournament participant," then we can turn the McCormick Place environs into a thriving extension of downtown. I don't want to know what the ceiling is. I want to know what the floor is. Let's say they get this arena, but DePaul still can't massively upgrade their program in a way that I don't know I've seen a college basketball program do, and the arena has to practically give the place away to siphon events from the United Center and Horizon and as such does not create the expected revenue, and let's say the shopping/hospitality in the area never quite gets off the ground, because these things aren't automatic. Then what?

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DePaul needs to be in a wussy conference. Maybe like the Mac or whatever conference Loyola and UIC are in.

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Of course bigfan and I and the older guys here can remember the golden age of DePaul basketball in the late 70s/early 80s. But even if they were to have a team that good again, I don't think it would be the same. The DePaul basketball boom was another perfect storm. The city was starved for a winner at the time. DePaul had the headlines to themselves. Even if DePaul were as good as Indiana heading into this tournament right now, they'd still likely be getting moved off the back page by Derrick Rose.

Moving the the Horizon was a huge mistake. And playing at 26th Street wouldn't be much different. They need to play on campus. In Lincoln Park. They have the land. Stop being so fucking cheap. That gives you a permanent fan base. Even with a horseshit team you'll have kids walking over to watch games on Wednesday night just because it beats studying.

When they first moved to Rosemont the place was filled. But it was filled with old guys from the suburbs. Maybe they went to DePaul, maybe they hadn't. But that couldn't last forever. And it didn't. Going to a DePaul game at the Horizon now is worse than going to a fucking funeral.

And Jeannie Ponsetto is a nice girl, but she's in way over her head running a major college sports program. Always has been.

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The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

Agree on some levels with JORR.

Jeanie is not cutthroat enough for the job. She was the classic female athlete looking to make the other sports on the same level as DePaul Basketball.

for the location, one of the worst usages of space is a very nice girls softball field/stadium, but there it is! But there it is, amidst $1M 25x125 lots, right on Belden ave. If anything, that could have been built in a number of areas close to the campus for far less than the value of that land.

While I remember the greatness of DePaul, they rivaled pro sports in this town and that kind of potential exists still. DPU still has a solid base, even thru this drought, combine that with the bandwagon, you could easily recreate that here. Nobody else has even come close to taking that market here.

The ARENA Market is crowded, but having an Arena attached to the hotels, expo center, visible from Michigan Ave, off LSD, on the lakefront, etc, is a MUCH better attraction than The FAR west Loop, Little Italy or Rosemont.

I agree someone loses out, but it wont be the new facility off Michigan Ave! That much I am sure of.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

They haven't sold out Allstate Arena for many years, Mini, but that's a huge part of the problem. I don't think fans want to travel out to Rosemont to see a team that's been bad at basketball for many years, let alone deal with rush hour traffic just getting out to the arena.

Unfortunately, with the United Center out of the question now, fans not exactly thrilled about possibly playing their home games adjacent to McCormick Place and having to deal with similar traffic issues, and real estate in Lincoln Park not exactly a bargain, there's no ideal spot for DePaul to build their new arena.

It won't exactly solve all of DePaul's issues, but they need all the help they can get.

Couldn't they just play at some local high school gym?

They can't possibly be drawing more people than something like that would hold.

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You could say the same about Northwestern's own home, Welsh-Ryan Arena...

I agree. They just need a small, intimate gym where people can come in and enjoy a game with the whole loud, fun College Basketball Atmosphere.




Say, this looks like a nice arena. It's about 10,000 seats, fairly modern, probably has nice practice facilities around it. No suites, but add a ring of those and maybe some loge seats and you'd have something that starts looking like what DePaul probably wants the state to build for them. What you have here, of course, is Northern Illinois's arena, a nice new facility built for the only basketball program in the state that may be even more worthless than that of DePaul. Decent building, but the team still sucks, nobody goes to games, and DeKalb is deader than ever. But that couldn't possibly happen here, could it?

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If DePaul wants to build their new arena adjacent to McCormick Place, they might have quite a fight on their hands.

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/a ... mick-place

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Looks like Rahm is really pushing this bullshit, but he doesn't want to talk about it. Probably because subsidizing sports for a Catholic university looks really bad!

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectio ... id=9102506

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Why not DePaul use the brains God gave them and simply expand McGrath Arena on their Lincoln Park campus?

BOTH the men's & women's teams practice there, and the women's team calls it their home. I think from an economic standpoint, it would be easier on everyone's budget to simply expand capacity to what used to be called Alumni Hall. What's wrong with that instead of spending all that $$$$ for an arena out of their way that might be nothing more than a glorified white elephant if DePaul's once proud men's basketball team continues to be a punching bag?

Everything you said is correct, but you're forgetting an important point: WOOOOOOOOOOOOO SPORTS!!!

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It makes more sense for DePaul to simply expand their current facilities in Lincoln Park and forget about relocating to McCormick Place entirely.

I was listening to Laurence Holmes last night discuss this topic before the White Sox/Angels' game. He said his students weren't exactly thrilled about going out of their way to attend a game and also mentioned potential scheduling issues that might arise. Holmes mentioned something about DePaul wants to play more weekend night home games, something that hasn't happened often in recent years in large part because the AHL Wolves have occupied the Allstate Arena on many Saturday nights and DePaul has ended up playing in the early afternoon to accommodate them.

Holmes also said that environmental issues around the nearby Finkl & Sons factory site not far from DePaul's Lincoln Park campus prevented a proposed new arena from being built there, and also mentioned something that the land on the old Children's Memorial Hospital site is very valuable, about $154 million...

This is a great deal for the city...especially if this spurs the casino!

The biggest concern I have is that the city/state have ownership in a facility it seems that very little urgency is ever created to maximize it's potential and make money from it.

Arie Crown, has like 1 show every 2 months. The Cell hasnt had a money making event since the Stones...and that includes the Sox seasons! They seem to use Soldier field for rare events (Which only seem to be on Wed, before Bear home games...and the turf is fucked up)...I guess Charter One is now becoming an event, but the management there is subbed out.

All said....this is the gateway for one thing coming...CASINO!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Are college basketball games traditionally played on weekend nights? I thought those were mostly afternoon games. And yeah, as bad as getting to the Horizon is, it's not as if Brown Line + Metra Electric is a hell of a lot better, or doing a shuttle bus downtown and south instead of west. You're either on campus or you're not; it isn't like a continuum of inconvenience here.

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Back when they played on campus at Alumni Hall a lot of games were on Saturday night. There would often be a women's-men's doubleheader.

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The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

I agree. This state is so 'intellectually' constipated that for anything to get done to appeal to both sides it usually undermines the entire thing. They promise the revenue to something that pulls at everyone heartstrings and then the reality is they need to shuffle a lot of that around to other areas, so it all gets done in some half-assed fashion where nobody really benefits to the level they could. And you start shuffling around money, quietly, and guess what happens.

Get the Casino done. I know people who need those jobs. And stop promising all the revenue to our fucked up schools/teachers unions and build a 21st century mass transit system, and other shit, too.

The medical MJ thing was a perfect example. Of course this clown-ass blue state, for god know how long, drafts the law the with the toughest rules to finally get it passed, when we have states in this country that just legalized it for recreational use. Next they will tax the shit out of it and send everyone back to illegal methods.

And we do not need another park. I get the Burnham thing. But the plans make it look like the majority of ground will be yet another park. Put in a world class food market along the lakefront. Every great city I have been to has a world class market. Those places are amazing. Acres of seafood, cheese, wine, beer, ramen, deli sandwiches, etc, etc. Go there every week or month and eat something you never have before.

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"Mattress technology has come a long way"

- Dan Bernstein, 2016

1. Larry is like 38, did he talk to 2 students?
2. Students? When DePaul was good, it was Chicago's team, not the students. It is never going to be the students team. The Chicago fan base is an amazing untapped source.
3. Childrens memorial site would not even been close to big enough. Stupid to even consider.
4. Finkl site could have worked, environmental issues could have been cleaned up, but it is part of a much bigger plan over there that needs cooperation from General Iron, they own the River Bank from Armitage to North Ave, some amazing Prime Real Estate.
5. Shows you that anyone can have a show and talk about shit they dont know about.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

It's never going to be Chicago's team, either. I'm sure your work requires you to be measured and analytic about most things, but you really put on the retard hat when it comes to expensively enriching your old school's dead-ass basketball program.

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Well, this will be your opinion, I guess my opinion is 'retarded', but your's is "correct'?

What you fail to realize is DePauls past. It was never the place that had students attending games. It was people who live in the city attending games. The city population has expanded drastically since that time, creating more of a fan base for them to attract.

DePaul needs to "Dance with a the Devil" like everyone else does if they want to land a big time recruit and not miss out on kids like Sean Larkin or else it isnt going to work.

Time will tell, but if you don't think this team starts winning games and has a shot at an NCAA bid one day, they will fill the place up and maybe not rule the sports scene in the city, but become very viable.

I dont think anyone expects to see the No 1 ranked DePaul Blue Demons, but a team getting into the dance is the goal and that will create a real fan base in the city.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

and Bernstien thought the back of the synogogue was the place deals were going to get done...

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Curious Hair all over DePaul as if they never let him in?

DePaul is just a small part of this, if the building is used correctly, promoted and monetized well.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

There's a new problem. Read the following from 670thescore.com's Dave Wischnowsky. He's got a problem with actual attendance at DePaul games played at Allstate Arena in recent years:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/05/30/ ... a-project/

Good article, and I'm glad he wrote it, but one glaring misstep:



dude you JUST SAID there were fewer than 2,700 people at the games. Who's left to alienate?

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