The new Comiskey Park, criticized by many as a taxpayer bailout to keep the White Sox in Chicago, will be a substantial money-maker for the state again this year.
The Sox will pay more than $3 million in rent to the state because attendance is expected to reach 2.2 million in the team`s second year in the new South Side park, said Tim Romani, executive director of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the agency that built the stadium.
With 16 home games remaining, assuming the team does not make the playoffs, the Sox will draw about 2.2 million fans.
Last year, the Sox drew 2.9 million fans and paid $4.25 million in rent. Sports Facilities Authority officials had expected an attendance dropoff this year as some of the novelty of the new stadium wore off.
But they said the second consecutive year of a healthy rent payment to the state vindicates their claim that the new park would be as good for taxpayers as it would be for the Sox.
”Everybody attacked this deal because it was based on a formula, and it was hard to see where it would end up,” Romani said. ”But when the money started rolling in, everybody began saying, `It`s not a bad deal after all.`
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Under the 40-year lease worked out between the team and the state, the Sox play rent free in the new stadium if they draw fewer than 1.2 million fans in a year.
Above 1.2 million, they pay the state rent based on a formula for each full-price ticket sold. The team also shares a portion of its broadcasting and advertising revenues with the state.
The new stadium was built with $150 million generated from the sale of state-backed bonds. Former Gov. James Thompson, who lobbied for the stadium up until the final vote approving it, has predicted the state will come out a winner on the stadium.
But others, including Rep. John Dunn (D-Decatur), who adamantly opposed the deal in 1988, says he still has doubts.
Dunn said the state still has 38 years left on the lease. He questioned whether all would be as rosy as the first two.
”I hope, for everyone`s sake, that the thing makes money,” Dunn said.
”But I think, in the long haul, a few seasons with the novelty wearing off and a team below .500 may see attendance drop to a point where taxpayers have to pick up the tab.
”You`ve got a love affair right now. The Sox are doing better, and the stadium is new and attractive.”
Howard Pizer, executive vice president of the Sox, said the second year of making a substantial rent payment shows the project is working.
”I am happy that those people were wrong,” he said of Comiskey opponents. ”It`s nice that everybody will be successful because of this.”
