Now, here’s something that we don’t see every day: a professional sports team that is willing to pay for a new stadium without any public funding.
The Wall Street Journal reports Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire has reached a deal with its hometown’s officials to self-finance a new 22,000-seat stadium. Team owner Joe Mansueto, the founder of the financial data firm Morningstar, agreed to pay for the $650 million venue in Chicago’s downtown with nary a dollar from taxpayers.
“It would definitely slow down the process to have to engage with political leadership to secure financing,” said Mansueto.
The stadium will be built on a parcel acquired by the developer Related in 2016. Over the years, several proposals for the parcel – including corporate office properties and a casino – were floated, but the concepts never too root. The Chicago White Sox expressed interest in the site but demanded $1 billion in public funding to cover the development costs.
The stadium is part of a proposed 62-acre mixed-use development is known as “The 78,” a project named for its goal of becoming Chicago’s seventy-eighth neighborhood. The developers are aiming to open the stadium ahead of the team’s 2028 season – other aspects of the development, which could include affordable housing and retail, have yet to be formalized.
Photo: Artist’s rendering of the new stadium, courtesy of the Chicago Fire
