Chicago Bears address

zelezo vlk

zelezo vlk

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The League is definitely leveraging Chicago being good for the first time in a long time
 
zelezo vlk

zelezo vlk

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dublinirish said:
every time they do this the team in question sucks in Year 2 and NFL is stuck with a bunch of turkey ass prime time games
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I'd say the 2019 Chiefs were pretty good. Although the 2018 Rams are probably the better comparison, as it was clear that Ben Johnson has been the difference maker, like McVay was in LA.
 
zelezo vlk

zelezo vlk

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I think if the bill were to pass based upon the quotes I heard last week, the Bears would still be paying twice as much as anyone else in the NFL.
 
Jiggafini19Deux

Jiggafini19Deux

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zelezo vlk said:
I think if the bill were to pass based upon the quotes I heard last week, the Bears would still be paying twice as much as anyone else in the NFL.
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It's a tough line to toe politically.

If they move to Indiana, the narrative of Illinois not being "business friendly" runs rampant. If they stay and get some get tax breaks, the governor is for billionaires and not regular people. Bridgeview was "business friendly" and got the Chicago Fire to build a stadium there. That all worked out absolutely tremendously. So, yeah, fuck "business friendly."

I don't think the House version of the bill passes. Senate has to come up with something.

As far as the Bears go, this process has already been an embarrassing shit show. I don't think they have any kind of desire to go to Indiana, I don't think the NFL wants them there, The Bears do not want be the ownership that took the Bears out of Illinois, and do not want to build on that site. They're running out of leverage and time now.

I really don't care where they build this stadium. I don't want to pay for it and I'm glad I don't live in Cook County.
 
zelezo vlk

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Jiggafini19Deux said:
It's a tough line to toe politically.

If they move to Indiana, the narrative of Illinois not being "business friendly" runs rampant. If they stay and get some get tax breaks, the governor is for billionaires and not regular people. Bridgeview was "business friendly" and got the Chicago Fire to build a stadium there. That all worked out absolutely tremendously. So, yeah, fuck "business friendly."

I don't think the House version of the bill passes. Senate has to come up with something.

As far as the Bears go, this process has already been an embarrassing shit show. I don't think they have any kind of desire to go to Indiana, I don't think the NFL wants them there, The Bears do not want be the ownership that took the Bears out of Illinois, and do not want to build on that site. They're running out of leverage and time now.

I really don't care where they build this stadium. I don't want to pay for it and I'm glad I don't live in Cook County.
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If George were his grandfather, I think the move to Indiana would have already been locked in. I'm not sure how accurate the phrasing is, but on the Hoge & Jahns podcast the other day they brought on Brenden Moore, a statehouse reporter, and he said that Pritzker wants a megaproject bill done. The issue is wrangling up the politicians without using any political capital (subtext being that Pritzker is not trying to do anything that will hurt any chances of a 2028 run).
 
Jiggafini19Deux

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zelezo vlk said:
If George were his grandfather, I think the move to Indiana would have already been locked in. I'm not sure how accurate the phrasing is, but on the Hoge & Jahns podcast the other day they brought on Brenden Moore, a statehouse reporter, and he said that Pritzker wants a megaproject bill done. The issue is wrangling up the politicians without using any political capital (subtext being that Pritzker is not trying to do anything that will hurt any chances of a 2028 run).
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That's the bill that the state senate has now. It's the house version. It's a megaproject bill, but we all know what the centerpiece is.

Pritzker is going for a third term as gov this year and there is a probability he runs for POTUS in 2028. All of that being said, he's THE key figure in all of this right now. Not George McCaskey, not Roger Goodell, nobody in Indiana. I think it will get done at the 11th hour and ultimately no one is going to be able to claim "victory" but it gets done in the end.

He sticks tax payers with the bill, though, he's absolute toast.
 
Jiggafini19Deux

Jiggafini19Deux

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www.nbcchicago.com

Here’s why the end of the legislative session is so critical to Bears’ stadium talks

Lawmakers in Springfield are working down to the wire on a variety of subjects, but the Chicago Bears’ stadium project is near the top of the list.
www.nbcchicago.com www.nbcchicago.com

The money would come from a variety of funding sources. That would include doubling Lake County’s hotel tax from 5% to 10%. A 1% food and beverage surcharge would be assessed in both Lake and Porter counties. A 12% tax on all tickets purchased to events at the venue would also be assessed. Finally, there would be a special taxing district in Hammond to capture sales and use taxes around the stadium.
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Indiana: "Business Friendly."

"Variety of funding sources" = tax payers.
 
Jiggafini19Deux

Jiggafini19Deux

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Chicago sports has seen a lot of blunders over the decades. Kevin Warren has to be up there near the top now.

Maybe they can put a stadium on a floating barge in the middle of Lake Michigan. I think everyone is out of fucks to give at this point.

That's where I'll leave it.
 
Irish#1

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Jiggafini19Deux

Jiggafini19Deux

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Kevin Warren has been with the Bears since 2023. I'm not sure what he has actually done or accomplished other than being in every singe one of Ben Johnson's victory game ball presentation videos in the locker room. There's dumbass Kevin, front and center for all to see on social media after a win, like he did something. Dude hasn't done shit on the field nor off it, where is job actually is, so why he's in the locker room jock sniffing beats the hell out of me.

He was hired for the sole purpose of getting this stadium business over the line and he's yet to do it. So while the political narratives are spewing across state lines, Kevin Warren is still employed and George McCaskey is still chilling. There are your two responsible parties who need to be held accountable. Forget elected officials in Illinois and Indiana.

Fire Mike Brey Kevin Warren.
 
pumpdog20

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Jiggafini19Deux said:
Kevin Warren has been with the Bears since 2023. I'm not sure what he has actually done or accomplished other than being in every singe one of Ben Johnson's victory game ball presentation videos in the locker room. There's dumbass Kevin, front and center for all to see on social media after a win, like he did something. Dude hasn't done shit on the field nor off it, where is job actually is, so why he's in the locker room jock sniffing beats the hell out of me.

He was hired for the sole purpose of getting this stadium business over the line and he's yet to do it. So while the political narratives are spewing across state lines, Kevin Warren is still employed and George McCaskey is still chilling. There are your two responsible parties who need to be held accountable. Forget elected officials in Illinois and Indiana.

Fire Mike Brey Kevin Warren.
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What's your opinion on the opinion that KW was potentially handcuffed by the Arlington Heights purchase that happened before he joined the bears and may have impacted any leverage he had in negotiations?
 
Jiggafini19Deux

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pumpdog20 said:
What's your opinion on the opinion that KW was potentially handcuffed by the Arlington Heights purchase that happened before he joined the bears and may have impacted any leverage he had in negotiations?
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Kevin Warren has been difficult for certain parties to deal with since he came into the picture, both in Springfield and in Lake Forest, as it turns out. If you want to believe some of the reports that are out there as of late. He's pivoted multiple times with the state legislature since he joined the Bears, and his hiring was predicated on him getting this stadium deal done. He's not a football guy. He was hired to get this stadium built. June 2026 and they're still not there. It's on him. He made nearly $7M his last year as Big Ten Commish. I can only imagine what the Bears are paying him.

He's also at the center of this now being a political issue, and with everything happening in the world right now, more division over an NFL football stadium is the last thing anyone really needs. You have people in Illinois against each other, Illinois vs Indiana, etc. I don't give a shit where they play. I don't want to pay for it with my tax dollars. Plain and simple. Doesn't help they've been one of the more inept franchises in the NFL in my lifetime, but that isn't even the point. They could have Patriots number of Super Bowls and it wouldn't matter. Not on my dime. Sorry. I guess I'm "Not business friendly."

If this comes down to a tax break for the billionaire Bears, let them go to Indiana. Illinois' governor and state legislators will be scapegoated for "letting the Bears leave". Give the tax break, the governor and state body will be "in favor of billionaires." The narrative will get spun against them no matter what.

The McCaskey Family, post Virginia's passing, will be the ownership that moved this historic franchise out of Illinois and should face some accountability for that because there are people who care about that aspect of it. The Bears bought the land in AH without a plan, without a concept of a plan, and they have no one to blame but themselves. Kevin Warren got hired to do a job. Job's not finished.
 
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Jiggafini19Deux said:
Kevin Warren has been difficult for certain parties to deal with since he came into the picture, both in Springfield and in Lake Forest, as it turns out. If you want to believe some of the reports that are out there as of late. He's pivoted multiple times with the state legislature since he joined the Bears, and his hiring was predicated on him getting this stadium deal done. He's not a football guy. He was hired to get this stadium built. June 2026 and they're still not there. It's on him. He made nearly $7M his last year as Big Ten Commish. I can only imagine what the Bears are paying him.

He's also at the center of this now being a political issue, and with everything happening in the world right now, more division over an NFL football stadium is the last thing anyone really needs. You have people in Illinois against each other, Illinois vs Indiana, etc. I don't give a shit where they play. I don't want to pay for it with my tax dollars. Plain and simple. Doesn't help they've been one of the more inept franchises in the NFL in my lifetime, but that isn't even the point. They could have Patriots number of Super Bowls and it wouldn't matter. Not on my dime. Sorry. I guess I'm "Not business friendly."

If this comes down to a tax break for the billionaire Bears, let them go to Indiana. Illinois' governor and state legislators will be scapegoated for "letting the Bears leave". Give the tax break, the governor and state body will be "in favor of billionaires." The narrative will get spun against them no matter what.

The McCaskey Family, post Virginia's passing, will be the ownership that moved this historic franchise out of Illinois and should face some accountability for that because there are people who care about that aspect of it. The Bears bought the land in AH without a plan, without a concept of a plan, and they have no one to blame but themselves. Kevin Warren got hired to do a job. Job's not finished.
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The play from Warren seems to have been a series of poorly conceived bluffs where they put forth a plan that nobody takes seriously. The only "plan" they have actually put forth was the largely publicly funded complete reconstruction of the Soldier Field and South parking lot area as a domed stadium and outdoor park in the colonnade that would have seen the Bears essentially get every dollar of revenue from the stadium despite putting little up in the way of funds for the project. They had to know that wasn't going to go anywhere, especially given that the only public official who was willing to back it was the extremely unpopular Brandon Johnson.

So after a period of little to no progress, they pivot to the equally absurd idea that these north shore billionaires want to put their family's legacy on top of a slag heap in Hammond. At this point it's quite clear that don't actually want to do that or they would have said they're going the day after the session ended without a hint of a workable plan in Illinois. But at this point, they have painted themselves into a corner because in addition to these poorly conceived bluffs, they also haven't made any effort to put forth what they actually want. They keep saying "property tax certainty," but the megaproject bill addressed that, and it still wasn't enough. So the Senate tried a different path, and still nothing from the team.

They have never actually engaged to say what they do want with any specificity because they are trying to get the state to bid against itself. Warren is too out of touch to grasp the lesson Blago should have taught -- just because you have something that is fucking golden, doesn't mean you can't completely screw yourself if you don't play your cards right.

So the Bears are now left with two choices: either start listening to the lobbyists they hired to help navigate the state government process and get to a plan that gets a special session called, or they can all learn to start carrying cash for the stop at Calumet Fisheries on game day.
 
Jiggafini19Deux

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sfk324 said:
The play from Warren seems to have been a series of poorly conceived bluffs where they put forth a plan that nobody takes seriously. The only "plan" they have actually put forth was the largely publicly funded complete reconstruction of the Soldier Field and South parking lot area as a domed stadium and outdoor park in the colonnade that would have seen the Bears essentially get every dollar of revenue from the stadium despite putting little up in the way of funds for the project. They had to know that wasn't going to go anywhere, especially given that the only public official who was willing to back it was the extremely unpopular Brandon Johnson.

So after a period of little to no progress, they pivot to the equally absurd idea that these north shore billionaires want to put their family's legacy on top of a slag heap in Hammond. At this point it's quite clear that don't actually want to do that or they would have said they're going the day after the session ended without a hint of a workable plan in Illinois. But at this point, they have painted themselves into a corner because in addition to these poorly conceived bluffs, they also haven't made any effort to put forth what they actually want. They keep saying "property tax certainty," but the megaproject bill addressed that, and it still wasn't enough. So the Senate tried a different path, and still nothing from the team.

They have never actually engaged to say what they do want with any specificity because they are trying to get the state to bid against itself. Warren is too out of touch to grasp the lesson Blago should have taught -- just because you have something that is fucking golden, doesn't mean you can't completely screw yourself if you don't play your cards right.

So the Bears are now left with two choices: either start listening to the lobbyists they hired to help navigate the state government process and get to a plan that gets a special session called, or they can all learn to start carrying cash for the stop at Calumet Fisheries on game day.
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Nailed it.

I don't know how or when Kevin Warren gets fired, but it has to happen. I honestly don't think Ted Phillips could be doing any worse.
 
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