Chances for a new Chicago Bears stadium in the city suffered another setback Wednesday when Mayor Richard Daley asserted that he could not justify using public funds to finance a facility where only a handful of games would be played each year.
Daley said the Bears should be content to continue playing in Soldier Field unless, he observed in a tongue-in-check suggestion to reporters, a second National Football League franchise could be lured to Chicago.
The mayor`s comments came in response to a question about whether building a stadium for the Bears alone is still a viable proposal.
”It`s very difficult to justify for 11 or 12 games unless we had two teams, Daley said. ”I recommend we have two fine national football teams here. . . . That would be fantastic.
”I love the Bears. I`m a great Bear fan but also we can really support two teams here in Chicago.
”I think Chicago could really have two football teams and that`s 22 dates or 24 dates and that really makes a change in the financing of a new stadium.”
With heated bidding underway among cities without NFL teams for expansion franchises or for the relocation of existing franchises, the possibility of a second team in Chicago is considered unlikely.
Asked if a public agency such as the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which is overseeing the construction of a White Sox stadium, could justify spending any taxpayer money for another stadium to be occupied only by the Bears, Daley said, ”That`s the question I think will raise a lot of doubt about whether the public should foot (the bill) for 11 games . . . 11 games.” Peter Bynoe, executive director of the stadium authority, said that although discussions are underway with the Daley administration and Gov. James Thompson about a new Bears stadium, the mayor`s negative comments Wednesday
”are an important signal from him that gives me a good idea where he`s coming from.”
Asked about the stadium during a news conference called to discuss delinquent water bills, Daley declared the Bears will remain in Chicago because the team has a long-term contract with the Chicago Park District and will have to abide by it.
Bears board member Andrew McKenna declined to comment on the mayor`s position, as did Howard Trienens, the Bears` counsel. Those two had met July 25 with Thompson to discuss a new stadium for the Bears. Thompson said after that meeting he had ”made no commitments to do anything.” David Fields, the governor`s press spokesman, said Wednesday that since that meeting nothing had changed.
Bears President Michael McCaskey could not be reached for comment but, in a weekend radio interview, he expressed concern over the lack of progress on the stadium plan, again suggesting that Arlington Heights was still an attractive potential site for a Bears facility.
”This is just something that has to be done,” McCaskey said Sunday on
”Sports Line” on WBBM radio. ”The other teams in town have been taken care of. They are in good shape, and it`s way past time to make sure the Bears are in good shape.”
Most sources agree that time is becoming an increasingly important factor for the Bears` stadium hopes. The team has until the end of 1990 to take advantage of a special exception to the federal revenue code that would permit issuance of $100 million in tax-exempt bonds for the project. Use of the bonds would save the Bears or eventual builders millions of dollars in interest.
It remains unclear how much of the $140 million to $170 million in current estimated costs of a stadium that the Bears would be willing to put into the pot.
