Quote:
Originally Posted by aaron38
In a region of 9.5 million people, transportation is the most important thing. It’s at the intersection of two major interstates, twenty minutes to O’Hare and has a commuter rail station. For a promoter trying to sell tens of thousands of concert tickets, what matters is getting people in and out. For everyone not in Will County, it’s centered enough.
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I think this is a bit of a stretch description....
Yes, you have 90 nearby, but 53 terminates shortly north of here, and it turns into 355 to the south which eventually gets you to 88. So, sure, this is convenient for folks along the 90/355 corridor. But... as Steely noted, there's no way the Metra is going to operate capacity to even remotely serve anyone coming from the city. It's certainly not anymore convenient for folks in the Northern suburbs who will have to get off 94 and commute through non-interstate roads to get to AH or spend extra time going down to 90 then out to 53.
I don't think the stadium will have a problem filling up for Bears games, but that's where I see the utility ending. Keep in mind there's already the Allstate arena in Rosemont and the NOW arena out by S. Barrington right on 90. So.... you have SF sticking around in Chicago for major concerts/events in the city, Allstate serving the middle burbs, and yet another arena out by far NW burbs for smaller events.
Of course the Bears are going to spin this as a major investment for the area into something than more than a huge shiny stadium that sits empty 99% of the time, but that's the reality here.