CHICAGO | The 78 Site

[ithakas]

Nothing new under the sun...


https://www.southsidesox.com/2012/11...south-loop-sox

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by UrbanDweller98

As long as it’s a people-oriented stadium surrounded by restaurants, entertainment venues and public space and not parking lots great! Hopefully a new red line stop can be added as well. The emphasis on it being a baseball only stadium means the Bears are playing no parts in this, I also wonder what this means for the residential and office space originally planned for the 78

There was already plans for a new red line stop at 15th st (I think)

[galleyfox]

Huh. Interesting unconfirmed renderings from Twitter (since deleted)
Would be a pretty impressive rendering even if it’s just a fake by a fan.

[Bonsai Tree]

No way somebody whipped that up in a few hours. Thats the real deal.

[SIGSEGV]

And then maybe the bears can move to 35th?

[left of center]

That looks legit and I absolutely love it!

The Bears are probably regretting their Arlington Heights debacle right about now. Idiots.

[ardecila]

Yeah, it's definitely real... but there's no parking in sight. I love it, but it seems extremely un-Reinsdorf. I guess this is Related & SOM trying to pitch Jerry on the idea. Presumably there is some parking stashed away underground.

The transportation here seems like it doesn't work though. Even if most fans take the Red Line or walk to other trains at Roosevelt, there will still be thousands of fans who want to drive, and traffic gridlock in an area that doesn't really have the roads to handle it. At the very least they will need the Taylor St bridge for a direct link to the expressway that isn't Roosevelt.

However, if they can find a way to put in a Metra station at 15th too, with service on the Rock Island and Southwest Service - that could actually work. Incredible access to the south suburbs. I would even support reprogramming the money from the Red Line subway stop towards Metra instead - CTA rail is more useful for commuters going to work in a new office district, or residents heading to Loop/River North jobs, but if the main use here is sports then a Metra stop is a better use of money.

[left of center]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Yeah, it's definitely real... but there's no parking in sight. I love it, but it seems extremely un-Reinsdorf. I guess this is Related & SOM trying to pitch Jerry on the idea. Presumably there is some parking stashed away underground.

The transportation here seems like it doesn't work though. Even if most fans take the Red Line or walk to other trains at Roosevelt, there will still be thousands of fans who want to drive, and traffic gridlock in an area that doesn't really have the roads to handle it. At the very least they will need the Taylor St bridge for a direct link to the expressway that isn't Roosevelt.

Those thousands of fans will simply have to deal with parking somewhere else nearby/nearby garages and walking to the park. Wrigley draws large crowds, both from the city and the burbs, with very limited parking. The fans find a way. If you make the park easily accessible to cars, people will drive there. If its difficult to get there by car, people will take trains/rideshare/water taxis/etc.

All that said, a Taylor St bridge is still a great idea just for the connectivity of the neighborhood overall. Roosevelt is an absolute nightmare most hours of the day, even without the addition of potential ballpark traffic.

[ardecila]

I know what you mean, but we're talking about very different fanbases. The Cubs sell tickets no matter what they put on the field, because of a much larger fanbase, tourist appeal, and historic tradition.

The Sox struggle to fill Guaranteed Rate unless they have a winning team. I have all respect for the history of the club, but they are second fiddle in the Chicago market. A different owner (younger / more daring) might be willing to take the gamble, but I don't see Reinsdorf cutting off all of his most loyal fans from car access. The whole thing only works if there's a big untapped market of fans that would go to a Sox game, but only if they can make a day of it with bars and restaurants nearby.

That fickle fanbase also means Reinsdorf will surely demand a massive handout for this new ballpark, even if he can somehow grok the idea of a proper urban sports district. For that reason I think the best option for everyone including taxpayers is for Reinsdorf to simply redevelop the Guaranteed Rate parking lots.

[Steely Dan]

Reinsdorf is an idiot

He never shoulda torn down old comiskey.

He had a treasure in his hand and proceeded to flush it down the toilet.

[MorganChi]

Why haven’t Reinsdorf worked with the McCaskeys in possibly sharing a stadium like the dolphins and marlins are doing. You have your futuristic stadium in a prime area by water. By the way, both owners are interested in real estate.

[west-town-brad]

I assume the state owns Guaranteed Rate Field - is there any world in which it gets leased or sold to the Bears so they can develop it?

[Busy Bee]

Wowza

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

Huh. Interesting unconfirmed renderings from Twitter (since deleted)
Would be a pretty impressive rendering even if it’s just a fake by a fan.

Holy shit!!!!

Certainly better than the one casino proposal.

[k1052]

Originally Posted by ardecila

The Sox struggle to fill Guaranteed Rate unless they have a winning team. I have all respect for the history of the club, but they are second fiddle in the Chicago market. A different owner (younger / more daring) might be willing to take the gamble, but I don't see Reinsdorf cutting off all of his most loyal fans from car access. The whole thing only works if there's a big untapped market of fans that would go to a Sox game, but only if they can make a day of it with bars and restaurants nearby.

The idea that there is some percentage of people closer in to downtown that would consider a Sox game, in addition to their usual draw, if you basically dropped a Petco Park like environment on this site doesn't seem excessively crazy.

[southoftheloop]

The seats in this ballpark would, without a doubt, have the best skyline view in all of professional sports

[BuildThemTaller]

Originally Posted by MorganChi

Why haven’t Reinsdorf worked with the McCaskeys in possibly sharing a stadium like the dolphins and marlins are doing. You have your futuristic stadium in a prime area by water. By the way, both owners are interested in real estate.

The Marlins built their own dedicated ballpark a couple years ago. There isn't an MLB team playing in a shared stadium with an NFL team anymore.

[BuildThemTaller]

Originally Posted by southoftheloop

The seats in this ballpark would, without a doubt, have the best skyline view in all of professional sports

I am torn between orienting the park so that fans can see the city as depicted in the renderings vs. having one of the outfield walls border the riverwalk so that a well-hit ball can splash into the water.

[left of center]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I know what you mean, but we're talking about very different fanbases. The Cubs sell tickets no matter what they put on the field, because of a much larger fanbase, tourist appeal, and historic tradition.

Originally Posted by k1052

The idea that there is some percentage of people closer in to downtown that would consider a Sox game, in addition to their usual draw, if you basically dropped a Petco Park like environment on this site doesn't seem excessively crazy.

^ This, basically.

Downtown residents, tourists, business travelers, basically anyone downtown could literally walk to a game. The Sox indeed play second fiddle to the Cubs, but being a downtown team would absolutely raise their profile and visibility, just like moving out to the boondocks would do the exact opposite (*cough* Bears, are you listening? *cough*). Then of course the other obvious benefits like owning their own property, building an entertainment district akin to Wrigleyville that would attract people for shopping, restaurants, nightlife, gambling (sportsbook), etc. White Sox branding everywhere would make people associate the Sox with having a good time, thus building their fanbase as it becomes a self sustaining virtuous cycle. The only two cons of this plan that I can think of are that they would lose the ability for fans to tailgate (one of the few baseball teams that even allows it or has a culture of it), as well as the easy parking. But the benefits of this vastly outweigh those losses IMHO.

All this is coming from a Cubs fan, BTW. I'd infinitely rather see the Sox remain in Chicago than move to the burbs or another market.

[twister244]

Holy shit! Nice way to wake up on a Thursday morning.

I love this, mostly because it seems very oriented towards the trends with stadiums, which is to have an entertainment district surrounding it. Also, having it right on the river is pretty cool.

Build it.