The public finally got a good look Wednesday at the Chicago Bears $4.7 billion lakefront stadium plan.
But the big reveal showed something far deeper than pretty renderings, impressive architectural animation and an optimistic financial projections.
With Mayor Brandon Johnson and his administration standing with the Bears, it is clear the city is willing to put private interests ahead of public benefit and cheer-on this ill-conceived and expensive effort to build a gargantuan domed stadium on Chicago’s lakefront.
It makes you wonder if 130 years of court battles and protests to protect and improve the lakefront mean anything on City Hall’s Fifth Floor.
A translucent dome
Designed by Manica Architecture from Kansas City, Kansas, the stadium has the same clean, machine-like and semi-futuristic look as its NFL contemporaries such as Inglewood, California’s SoFi or Allegiant in Las Vegas.
The stadium’s roof would be translucent, allowing in sunlight — but not the elements. A large glass window allows views of the skyline.
“You’ll get all of the benefits of being outdoors,” Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren at the announcement. “But you’ll be indoors.”
The stadium is planned for the Waldron parking deck just south of Soldier Field.
However, check out the stadium renderings accompanying this story. Look at how big that thing is. The size almost makes the Museum Campus buildings look like neo-classical LEGO blocks in comparison.
At some angles, it looks as if it gives Lakeside Center — a building with a 19-acre roof — a run for its money.
While the Bears did not disclose the stadium’s dimensions, Manica-designed Allegiant is 226 feet tall. That’s almost 80 feet taller than the current Soldier Field.
Judging from the renderings, the stadium looks pretty good as far as professional sports facilities go. It’s the right building but the wrong spot.
Frankly, it would’ve fit well in Arlington Heights, had the team not up and abandoned its bid to build there.
And imagine what it might’ve done for the old South Works site at 79th Street and right there on the lake. The team would have had to solve the parcel’s environmental issues, but given the team is going to ask for a billion in stadium subsidies anyway (more on that later) why not go there?
But a big pro football stadium with all the fixings in the heart of the lakefront? The city should have passed. Or run.
And proof of that can be seen in the Bears plan for Soldier Field. The team proposed yanking out the stadium’s seating bowl and almost all its innards and turning the spot into a recreational area within the preserved historic colonnades.
“We’ll make this a place where people will want to come and spend time,” Warren said.
The irony? With the old playing field turned into baseball fields and parkland, the retooled Soldier Field would be far more harmonious with the lakefront and the Museum Campus than the out-of-scale football stadium that would make it possible.
Who’s in charge?
When it comes to the new stadium, the Bears — not city government — are running the offense here, and that’s troubling.
Team officials acted like city-paid planners and transit experts as they outlined the additional roadways and infrastructure needs that would have to happen to get the project off the ground.
Meanwhile, Team Johnson stood by as a private entity took the lead and told how the public’s lakefront would be redeveloped.
As madding as that is, can you really blame the Bears? In the parlance of their game, they saw an opening — or perhaps a weakness in City Hall — and took it.
Admittedly, the Waldron parking deck is a concrete eyesore and does a disservice to the lakefront. The Museum Campus needs a revamp and Soldier Field is showing its age.
But the public and elected officials, not the Bears, should be the ones deciding what remedies are needed.
Meanwhile, the Bears said they will pay $2 billion to design and construct the publicly-owned stadium — with the help of the NFL and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.
There is a catch though: The team also said it would require an additional $1.5 billion in public infrastructure and transit to make all those pretty renderings fully come to life.
How can a mayor — an allegedly progressive one, at that — allow a billion-dollar football franchise to build what it likes on the lakefront, then charge taxpayers for the privilege? It’s outright ridiculous.
But, somehow, not to Johnson.
“Simply put, this is going to reinvigorate the entire city of Chicago,” Johnson said. “It will be the crown jewel of the city of Chicago.”
Wrong, Mr. Mayor. Chicago’s crown jewel is its lakefront. And you’re helping to tarnish it.
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