i'm pretty sure that's what arsenal FC ended up doing in the early-mid 2000s to get a new stadium in north london.

fittingly enough, as they moved from their old stadium Highbury to their new Emirates Stadium(TM) it ended up being right around a time (~2005) when arsenal began to stagnate right below a championship standard which has continued on to the present day. they're remarkably consistent at finishing in the top-4 and therefore qualifying to play in the annual european "league", but then every year they're knocked out in the equivalent of the wild-card round of MLB/NFL playoffs and therefore many people like to blame that new stadium for costing them so much $$$ that they were notoriously tight/frugal with spending big $$$ on players via transfers, ergo the demotion.

of course now that we're ~10 years later many have realized it might be more of a "we like making money" thing than it was/is a "we don't have the money to spend" thing. ergo, i think it's pretty fair to say that Arsenal FC is effectively the Chicago Cubs of London football/soccer, but they're effectively run financially like the Chicago White Sox of London football/soccer (except that Arsenal actually sells out their stadium all the time and makes a bunch of $$$ on their own outside of TV/FA $$$/welfare/whatever)

all that said, can you imagine the white sox having a legit excuse to never pay their own players big salaries (via extensions) or having the $$$ to go and make some big free-agent signings (or even trading for guys on a big salary) because they have to pay off bonds for their new ballpark for the next 5-15yrs? it'd just be a whole lot more "formal" than what we're used to, huh? =D

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Hey, I have this awesome deal that runs for another 13 years that pretty much ensures that I don't lose money...fuck it, I want a shiny new car

Maybe Antoine Walker is the prospective owner.

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

holy shit dude, i'm going to need your mailing address because i think you've just inspired me to start up a credit card company! =D

btw, the one credcardco that always wastes money bugging me is this "credit one" outfit whose logo goes out of its way to try and look like capital one. obviously that's always going to be a sign that you're dealing with some wonderful people, but if you look up the horror stories you find out that they play all kinds of games like trying to force you to all of your payments over the phone (at $9/payment, and btw it'll often take something like ~4-8 days to post) and then they'll think up new and innovative ways to tack on ~3-33 cents to your balance so if you end up using it like a charge card and pay off a $72.93 balance they'll often use that 4-8 day posting time to find a way to stick on a ~12 cent surcharge/adjustment so that way you're likely going to end up with a past due balance that will incur some kind of ~$20-25 late payment fee (on top of the ~$9 they already efforted to make you give them to pay via phone), and then yeah the fine print says that membership is like $180/yr so that way they have an excuse to always stick you with a ~15/month charge so you're ALWAYS eligible for monthly payments that gotta be on time, and then 90%+ of the time all of the other (online) payment methods fuck up or never work so you gotta pay them via phone for $9 and then those a4mentioned games to make you miss your balance and all in all it's a fucking nightmare of a little scammy company that endeavors to find some "low hanging fruit" aka "easy targets" and dangle a non-secure-deposit $300/+ credit limit at them so ppl go "whoa hey that'd be a nice resource to have" or even "hey i can try to repair my credit score by using it like a charge card" end up getting fucked with/up by this predatory lil company who has genetically engineered a low-end credit card to figure out new and innovative ways to try and stick you with ~$25-50/month of fees/charges/bullshit OUTSIDE of the actual $$$ you spend and THEN your actual interest rates and all that.

AND GO FIGURE i watched a nascar race on FOX this year and i saw that the waving of the white/checkered flag was sponsored by Credit One: "What's not in your wallet?" --- so hey they at least make enough of this to buy a token lil NASCAR TV sponsorship so que sera sera, no? i wouldn't be surprised if their global HQ is on an indian reservation tbh (home to lots of predatory scam companies cuz a lot of USA business/laws don't apply there =)

AHEM! gesundheit!

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DB isn't hearing anything new, just that someone got out of jail. "Rezkoville" is the land from Roosevelt to the north and 18th St. to the south, between Clark St. and the river. Tony Rezko has the primary option on the land, and even while putting everything else on the line to stay out of jail he never let his option on that land get touched. It was the only way he could make good on any financial promises to those who kept his wife fed and the lights on and house warm while his was at the graybar hotel.

The stadium concept is one that has tickled the fancy of many urban planners because it would/could alleviate a lot of problems that are attached to Soldier Field. The land in question is undeveloped and aside from the geographical constraint of the river, could be developed in a variety of forms.

The Sox aren't going anywhere, anytime soon. Reinsdorf little pocket commission doesn't go too far beyond 31st Street, and its clout is getting old and moldy. Besides, nobody is going to give him another stadium.

As for those who question the value of the new DePaul arena, understand that not having to do business with United Center is seen as a big impetus for a lot of attractions that would love to perform in Chicago.

Rezko's wet dream is some multi-billionaire buying into his vision and giving him/them the financial leverage to dictate terms of what they will or won't develop.

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DRINK BƎTTƎR. @theRIPH

The deal is up in 2029. However, what leverage does the Stadium Authority have against him when he comes to get a new deal? There are any number of ways for him to get a new stadium for his team and then the authority is left with an empty stadium

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

What you say is accurate about the stadium but the Sox are hemorrhaging fans and in danger of missing out on a complete generation of fans. They'd make a lot more money with more fans in the stadium.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Why risk that there are even enough to regularly fill a new stadium when you have a sure thing?

Anyway, the stadium isn't the problem. If anything, Chicago population is trending towards closer proximity to the cell

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

The Cell, where fathers and sons spend quality time together. Well it wasn't called the Cell back then.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

It's not really a sure thing though. Attendance could fall even further.

The huge concern here is that they are going to lose a whole generation of Chicago fans. I think it would be really hard to convince a kid growing up in Chicago right now to choose the White Sox over the Cubs.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

IDK. There was a whole generation of Sox fans that grew up with the Frank, Ventura, McDowell era and still aside from here or there attendance sucked.

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Elections have consequences.

Much thought went into that response.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

I can't blame Bernstein for not wanting to drink Busch Light. Nobody should drink that.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Whatever, hippie.

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The state will probably buy the land and build the park for the Sox. Sure that would make no sense but neither does their current deal.

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Most of us don't "choose" a rooting interest, we're brainwashed into it by family.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

As it should be.

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