A new Chicago White Sox stadium in the South Loop is just a product of someone’s imagination at the moment.
However, the news on Wednesday that the Sox are seriously discussing building a downtown stadium in the area known as “the 78″ near Clark Street and Roosevelt Road gave us something to discuss apart from the Justin Fields-versus-Caleb Williams debate during a slow period for our local sports teams.while there's no SoxFest scheduled and no major signings to excite fans about the season, the leak of the ballpark rumor provided the Sox with front-page news on another cold, dreary day in January. Nothing wrong with that.
Who doesn’t want to dream of a beautiful new ballpark with a skyline view and surrounding bars and restaurants to visit before and after games? It is what the Sox should have done in the mid-1980s when they demanded public funding for what was then called new Comiskey Park. Instead, we got an unlikable structure mocked by fans for its steep upper deck, a moat separating the field from the bleachers, and a lack of entertainment options anywhere near the park. The “Ball Mall” was the popular nickname after it opened in 1991.
“When people came out for that first opening day, they were in awe of the place,” Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf told the Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein in 1999. “But now the stadium is a popular thing to attack.
Look, I thought people wanted unobstructed views and wide aisles. I guessed wrong.
People wanted a more homey feeling. But I really believe that if we had built Camden Yards instead, I would have been massacred.People wanted a modern park.
In a rare admission of fault, Reinsdorf eventually agreed to a series of renovations that included removing eight rows and 6,600 seats from the upper deck and a canopy-style roof to replace the flat one over the 13 highest rows. A sports bar/restaurant was built across the street.
The moat was filled in with new bleacher seating.
Oops.
The Sox even permitted tailgating.
Once renovated, “The Cell” grew on fans, at least those who didn’t have to sit in the upper deck.It wasn’t as beloved as old Comiskey Park. but it was acceptable. Still, the only time outside opening day that the ballpark was typically filled was when the Sox were in the midst of a winning season or playing the Cubs in the City Series.
Now comes another admission of fault from Reinsdorf — an acknowledgment that what’s now called Guaranteed Rate Field is outdated after only 33 years.
After the Sun-Times broke the news about new stadium talks between the Sox and the city, Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Sox released a statement Thursday.
“Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf met to discuss the historic partnership between the team and Chicago and the team’s ideas for remaining competitive in Chicago in perpetuity,” the statement read. “The partnership between the City and the team goes back more than a century and the Johnson administration is committed to continuing this dialogue moving forward.”
The concept that the Sox will stay competitive in Chicago 'forever' implies that they are competitive currently. Anyone following the team’s decline since the 2022 postseason, including its unexciting offseason this winter, knows this is a joke.
But let's say the Sox plan to compete in the near future. Would a ballpark in the South Loop attract fans who have generally avoided going to Sox Park over the last couple of decades?
If they construct it, will people come?
Only if a new ballpark comes with a new owner.
It is obvious that Reinsdorf’s favor among Sox fans is lower than the sewer system under Lower Wacker Drive. But Reinsdorf, who turns 88 in February, said in September that he had no intention of selling the Sox.
“Friends of mine have said, ‘Why don’t you sell? Why don’t you get out?’” he said. “My answer always has been, ‘I like what I’m doing, as bad as it is, and what else would I do?’
“I’m a boring guy. I don’t play golf. I don’t play bridge. And I want to make it better before I go.”
It’s difficult to find evidence of Reinsdorf improving the Sox compared to the person who fired shots hitting two fans last summer in the Guaranteed Rate Field bleachers. The payroll is decreasing, and the organization’s odd attraction with hiring former Kansas City Royals players has peaked. personnel A new South Loop ballpark sounds appealing, but it would not solve the Sox’s attendance issues, just like the new Comiskey Park didn’t after the novelty wore off. Traffic congestion on the Kennedy and Dan Ryan expressways won’t make it any easier to get to, and taking the “L” at night is much scarier now than before the pandemic.
Even if the Sox were to cover most of the cost, what would happen to the soon-to-be underused stadium in Bridgeport that Illinois taxpayers helped pay for? Will the Sox ever explain why they need to move after all the renovations?
At least the Sox should admit that the current ballpark, the last one built before the “retro” parks like Camden Yards, was a design mistake.
“I talk to fans a lot, and they tell me they don’t like the atmosphere,” Reinsdorf told Greenstein in 1999 during another Sox rebuild. “But what people really want is something better in the uniforms.”
That statement remains true 25 years later.
Perhaps the Sox need to address that before discussing a new ballpark.
A new Chicago White Sox ballpark in the South Loop is only a figment of someone’s imagination right now. But at least the news Wednesday that the Sox are in “serious talks” to build a downtown stadium in the area known as “the 78” near Clark Street and Roosevelt Road gave us something to discuss aside from the Justin Fields-versus-Caleb Williams debate during a down…
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