From today's Trib:

"Due to refinancing and years of primarily paying interest instead of principal, the debt owed for Soldier Field has ballooned from the original $399 million to $631 million, according to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority"

Exhibit A for why the Bears shouldn't get a fucking penny to build another stadium.

Laurence Holmes is a fucking weirdo, a nerd in denial, and a wannabe. Not a very good radio host either.

Just reinforces the fact the McCaskey clan are broke ass bitches, as soon as that old hag dies( this year) this team is sold.

The victims are the American People and the Republic itself.

That has nothing to do with the McCaskey's.

There is a lot out there about how the city chose to go deep in debt for Soldier Field.

why do they want the Bears around then?

Today the team argued at a hearing of the Cook County Board of Review that the land should be appraised at $60 million rather than the $160 million put forward by three area school districts.

The team’s property tax attorney, Matthew Tully, also asked that the team be taxed at the county’s 10% residential rate rather than the 25% commercial rate because of the ongoing demolition work to dismantle the racetrack that formerly occupied the property.

Tully argued at the virtual hearing that Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s $197 million valuation, which tracked with the price the team paid for the property, was an example of “sale chasing” and did not consider that “the real estate market has gotten worse, demolition was ongoing and taxes were more than double.”

The school districts released their own appraisals of the property in December, pegging the value of the former racetrack at $160 million, which was less than the $197 million Kaegi valued it at in 2023.

“In February of 2023 the Chicago Bears paid $197 million for a property they now want you to believe is worth $60 million,” Scott Metcalf, an attorney for the school districts, said at today's hearing.

Last year, the school districts and the site's former owner, Churchill Downs, reached a settlement of $95 million for valuation of the land used to determine its 2022 tax rates.

Board Commissioner Larry Rogers, who has frequently clashed with Kaegi since the assessor took office in 2018, suggested he would not side with the school districts' higher valuation.

Rogers said he was “not persuaded that (the site) should be treated any differently than other properties” despite the potential stadium development and called Kaegi’s valuation “questionable” for so closely tracking with the Bears' purchase price.

The team’s property tax attorney, Matthew Tully, also asked that the team be taxed at the county’s 10% residential rate rather than the 25% commercial rate because of the ongoing demolition work to dismantle the racetrack that formerly occupied the property.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

I'm sure Kevin Warren thanks the McCaskeys every day that they took care of the tax situation before buying it.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Yes it is.

Probably should be the same 95 million Churchhill paid. It wasn't used in 2022 or 2023.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

It's worth what they paid for it. The McCaskeys are dolts. This was not the way to do business and they deserve to have it blow up in their faces. I hope it becomes the housing we need.

Hate to tell ya this "Amigo", but that is sort of the essence of how life works.

As an aside, wouldn’t that overwhelm the school district?

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

I dunno. Glenview made it work. I think that's more or less the blueprint.

Hate to tell ya this "Amigo", but that is sort of the essence of how life works.

It's worth what they paid for it. The McCaskeys are dolts. This was not the way to do business and they deserve to have it blow up in their faces. I hope it becomes the housing we need.

Yes it is.

"The real estate market has gotten worse," I think to myself every day.


Why, is there someone living in the rubble?

It's worth what they paid for it. The McCaskeys are dolts. This was not the way to do business and they deserve to have it blow up in their faces. I hope it becomes the housing we need.

You have been a champion of the flawed idea that "Stadiums don't make money for cities" and yet the Bears try and do the right thing and build their own stadium with their own money and you are mad at them for not instead demanding $2 billion of taxpayer money to not play in the worst stadium in the NFL?

Instead, you want Arlington Heights to build another few subdivisions because there aren't nearly enough subdivisions in the area?

It's possible. A guy I know spent a summer living in the tote board. Oddly enough, he still had a Churchill Gold Card.

Allstate demolished their buildings in that strip of land on Route 72 in Hoffman Estates along I-90 to get the property valued as just land. But in this case, the Bears just paid fair market value, so the purchase price rightly should be the appraised value. But once the demolition is complete, then it does change from a commercial use to just land. The value would come down. Maybe Michael Madigan could help get the property value reduced…..

You have been a champion of the flawed idea that "Stadiums don't make money for cities" and yet the Bears try and do the right thing and build their own stadium with their own money and you are mad at them for not instead demanding $2 billion of taxpayer money to not play in the worst stadium in the NFL?

Instead, you want Arlington Heights to build another few subdivisions because there aren't nearly enough subdivisions in the area?

Why would they want to deal with Cook County? Move to Aurora!

I am not a legal expert, how many times do I have to say it?