There isn't actually a new Chicago White Sox stadium in the South Loop right now.
But at least the news on Wednesday about the Sox being in serious discussions to construct a downtown stadium near Clark Street and Roosevelt Road gave us something else to talk about, aside from the Justin Fields-versus-Caleb Williams debate.during a down time for our local sports teams. With no SoxFest on tap and no big-name signings to get fans excited 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 go to before and after games? It’s what the Sox should’ve done in the mid-1980s when they held the state hostage for public funding for what was then called new Comiskey Park.
Instead we got an unlovable structure
ridiculed 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 mea culpa, 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 constructed across the street. The moat was filled in with new bleacher seating. The Sox even allowed tailgating.
Oops.
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 fine. 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 Now comes another mea culpa from Reinsdorf — an admission that what’s now called Guaranteed Rate Field is obsolete after only 33 years. Reinsdorf wouldn’t say that, of course, but by making a new ballpark a priority, it’s obvious he “guessed wrong” about the one at 35th Street and Shields Avenue.
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 suggestion that the Sox will stay competitive in Chicago forever implies that they are currently competitive. Anyone who has been following the team's decline since the 2022 postseason, including its unimpressive offseason this winter, knows that it's a joke.
But let's assume for the sake of argument that 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's obvious that
Reinsdorf is not very popular among Sox fans. His popularity is very low. But Reinsdorf, who turns 88 in February, in September said expressed that he had no intention of selling the Sox. that “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
as it is to find the owner of the gun who shot two fans last summer in the Guaranteed Rate Field bleachers. The payroll is decreasing, and the organization’s strong interest in acquiring former Kansas City Royals players has peaked. personnel A new South Loop ballpark seems exciting, but it wouldn't solve the Sox’s attendance problems, just like the new Comiskey Park didn't after the initial novelty faded. Traffic congestion on the Kennedy and Dan Ryan expressways would make it difficult to get to, and taking the “L” at night is much scarier now than it was before the pandemic.
Even in the highly unlikely scenario that the Sox would cover most of the cost, what would happen to the soon-to-be white elephant in Bridgeport that Illinois taxpayers helped fund? Will the Sox ever explain why they need to leave after all those renovations?
At least the Sox should admit that the current ballpark, the last one built before the “retro” parks such as Camden Yards, was an architectural mistake.
“I talk to fans a lot, and they tell me they don’t like the ambience,” Reinsdorf told Greenstein in 1999 during another Sox rebuild. “But what people really want is something better in the uniforms.”
That statement is still 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 currently just a figment of someone's imagination. However, the news on Wednesday that the Sox are in“ serious talks” to construct a downtown stadium in the area known as“ the 78″ near Clark Street and Roosevelt Road gave us something to discuss other than the Justin Fields-versus- Caleb Williams debate during a down…
()
