Bear Down and Out, Chapter 3: The Money | NBC Sports Chicago

Stan Kronke is a billionaire many times over the Bears don't have five billion dollars thrown by Bernstein in the houses 10-2 noon at 6 70 the score this is not their hustle this is how they make their

money

when you look at others owners around the NFL is Jerry Jones does oil you know what I mean Stan crockie does real estate Robert Kraft does a little bit of everything and then it turns out they also own a team with the McCaskeys isn't that so the Bears are a family business organization and we're seeing owners come in now with huge amounts of

money

it's almost like it's two different leagues this is a billionaires game now not a millionaire where you have family owned property that has been around for a long period of time and that is their only source of income, makes it increasingly difficult to compete in a world that has changed.

I think if they don't have very deep pockets and huge resources, they can do it? I would say no, with a caveat: Arlington Heights is going to kick is the state of Illinois is going to kick when the National Football League was first formed all the teams played in municipal stadiums thanks then it went through a construction boom of stadiums the 90s 2000s where public money was invested to build new stadiums and now you are at end of life really some of those are not at end of life but 25 to 30 years from now they need significant improvements or you need new stadiums with all the other demands for tax dollars that the public really doesn't want to fund the construction of a stadium that is going to cost two three four billion dollars certainly not in Illinois and especially because of the disastrous deal that was made at Soldier Field now 20 years ago when they revamped it and created you know what they call it looks like a spaceship crashed into the foreign Parthenon that was a really expensive project and they did it by selling bonds that's their way of borrowing money we wanted to know how much they still owed on those bonds what What we found out was pretty shocking for the Bears in each of the NFL contributed $100 million; the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority issued bonds for the remainder of the project for more than $398 million, but at this time they owe more than $383 million in principle and more than $256 million in interest and now owe $640 million , yeah, they owe almost double what was originally lent and I think when people hear that they say well how is that even possible?

It's really how we financed it that made this an extraordinarily expensive project, basically, you had the state of Illinois provide a good chunk of the hotel motel tax that raised a lot in Chicago and give it to the Chicago Park District through the

sports

facilities authority to rebuild soldier field we have refinanced it as well and every time we have refinanced it at least three times it is making the current payments minus to default on the principal it would be like taking all the principal out of the mortgage on your house and then paying yourself the interest on the mortgage over a long period of time the smallest stadium in the NFL not the parking lot will end up costing over a billion dollars when it's all said and done and remember that's until the early 2030s so that if the Bears leave, you're still paying for it. the charm and dignity of this distinguished stadium, on the contrary, will enhance it, it was a deal that should never have been made, first, the building itself was obsolete before the concrete walk, they will never find uses for the building. that will justify continued payments and everyone looks at that and it kind of haunts everything going forward cities realize they can't afford to do that anymore cities all over America made those deals and they did it and they were happy with it and then everything paid off largely the public is looking at this and saying yeah we think maybe you should move Soldier Field it's old we wish you luck we'll go see games at that new stadium but don't ask us to pay for it like that what an opening great air new stadium would be in the $2+ billion range a fixed dome closer to $3 billion a retractable dome significantly more the biggest question for the Bears is how are we going to pay for the way we ask an interview to the Bears and they declined that they will be able to have help from the NFL to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars that will come from the 350 league plus or minus 100 million dollars, it is also very likely that they will have seating licenses that generate five plus hundred million dollars up front I imagine the fans will be very upset if they realize that personal seat license might not transfer to Arlington Heights, but one of the things I do know about the Bears is that they are very considerate of those who have those things like the naming rights their major advertisers in the building complex lease the club seating licenses that are in the NFL and Bears fans and sponsors will be the ones funding the stadium itself foreigners decided coming here and moving the rams to the one thing he knew is that building a football stadium on its own is a loser that ultimately is usually quite expensive and the outcome of his return will be questionable if he just builds the stadium.

You made a mistake because you can't monetize everything you need business around you you need to make it a destination 365 days a year if you want to see another model look what the Chicago Cubs did at Wrigley Field they created a kind of district around Wrigley Field you have a hotel you have a large Place in front many other ways to earn money. Professional

sports

is a business and the professional sports business is generating as much revenue as possible using its asset as its centerpiece.