White Sox reportedly considering move from South Side; it's not the first time
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For months, the Bears have been taking steps to leave Chicago and build a new stadium in the suburbs, but they might not be the only team in town looking for a new home.
Crain's Chicago Business reports White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf could be trying to move or sell the team.
The timeline isn't exactly clear on when or if either a sale or a move out of Guaranteed Rate Field would happen, but the team's lease on the stadium is up in six years.
It's not the first time the White Sox have floated the possibility of leaving Chicago, as they threatened to leave the city in the late 1980s.
Former Gov. James Thompson was credited with keeping the White Sox in Chicago. There's even a statue in front of the stadium honoring his efforts in 1988 to prevent the team from relocating to Florida.
It appeared the team was headed to St. Petersburg, and the Florida state legislature even approved $30 million in state funding to lure the team.
Tim Nickens was a reporter and editor for the St Petersburg Times for more than 30 years, and he covered the potential move for the newspaper in 1988.
"We got the tip that Jerry Reisndorf was coming to town to make the push in private to key Florida legislators about getting this money," Nickens said. "There was a lot of excitement back in 1988 because you have to remember that Florida did not have a Major League Baseball team at all."
Florida White Sox shirts were even sold until Thompson came in at the 11th hour and wrangled enough votes in the Illinois General Assembly to publicly fund a new stadium on the South Side.
"At the time, it was a way, I think, for both the Illinois state legislature and for Mr. Reinsdorf to be mutually invested in something that was going to benefit Chicago as a whole," said Katie Krall, a former coach for the Red Sox, who now teaches sports economics at Northwestern University.
As for the publicly funded stadium that Illinois taxpayers are still on the hook for, Krall said, "In thinking about the balance sheet and whether or not a taxpayer is going to see a return, it's going to come in things like going to the game the entertainment complex as whole."
For the businesses that depend on White Sox baseball, and the fans who come out to games, the possibility of the team finding a new home is not sitting well.
"I hate to even think about it because I don't know then if the slow winters would sustain this business and this place," said Carrie Stegmiller, a bartender at Turtle's Bar & Grill, just a few blocks away from Guaranteed Rate Field.
Stegmiller said the Bridgeport neighborhood needs the White Sox.
"Turtles and Bridgeport have a family relationship with the White Sox," Stegmiller said. "My hope is that it's a rumor, and that it will never ever happen, because the Sox belong in Bridgeport."
A spokesman for the White Sox said there hadn't been any conversations about the lease. Still, with six years left, it's a natural time to begin those talks with the city, the state, and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which owns Guaranteed Rate Field.
Gov. JB Pritzker's office has not had any discussions with the White Sox on a potential move from Guaranteed Rate Field.
"The White Sox are a Chicago institution, and the Governor always hopes Chicago teams will stay in Chicago. Governor Pritzker doesn't support taxpayer subsidies for private teams, but with a lease that has six years remaining on Guaranteed Rate Field, this will likely be an ongoing conversation for several years among the team owners and local stakeholders. The Governor will ensure taxpayers are prioritized in those conversations when those conversations begin," a Pritzker spokesperson said in an email.
