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The White Sox might soon be getting an amazing new stadium in the South Loop of Chicago as part of a $9 billion project on the Chicago River.
Considering the team has one of the worst track records when it comes to making it to, and winning, a World Series, a new stadium might allow the White Sox to finally be competitive. (Since 1919, the year of the Black Sox scandal, they have made it to just two of them, winning one.)
Team owner Jerry Reinsdorf has been threatening to move the team off and on since the late 1980s when the White Sox almost moved into the then brand new Florida Suncoast Dome (now Tropicana Field).
Thanks @Buster_ESPN for having me on the pod this morning. We talked Red Sox, we quizzed, and we discussed this week's Phantom Franchise, the Florida White Sox.https://t.co/Yz00cjhIkD pic.twitter.com/uWQAAnVQT7
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Now, Reinsdorf and company have been floating the idea of possibly moving the team to Nashville (or possibly Orlando).
So, with the team’s lease at Guaranteed Rate Field about to come to an end, talks of building a new stadium in Chicago are starting to heat up.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the latest proposal, by developer Related Midwest, would see the White Sox move to a 62-acre site called “The 78” that “could potentially yield billions of dollars in economic impact for Chicago, create thousands of jobs and draw 5 million visitors a year.”
Related Midwest claims the project would could $9 billion, provide at least 10,000 construction jobs and 22,000 permanent jobs, add 1,000 affordable housing units, and have an economic impact of $4 billion a year.
The Chicago White Sox have proposed a new stadium in the South Loop's 'The 78.'
If the Sox moved to the South Loop, their current Guaranteed Rate Field could be converted into a soccer stadium for the MLS' Chicago Fire. pic.twitter.com/Xat55svBnV
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) February 8, 2024
The site will also become the home of a University of Illinois tech research center known as Discovery Partners Institute, 4,000 other residential units, an office building, a hotel and dozens of restaurants and bars.
Also as part of the proposal would be the conversion of the White Sox current home into a dedicated soccer stadium with the idea that Chicago Fire FC of the MLS could move there. The soccer club currently plays in the cavernous 61,500 seat Soldier Field.
“We’re encouraged that the conversation about the White Sox’s future in Chicago has begun and we look forward to further discussions,” said Frank Bilecki, CEO of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the organization that owns Guaranteed Rate Field.