Cubs Ballpark Plan Questioned by Quinn as Illinois Senate to Weigh Bonds
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn said he is dubious about a request from Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs for the state to sell $300 million of tax-exempt bonds to finance renovations of Wrigley Field.
“I’m skeptical of the whole proposal,” Quinn told reporters today at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. “They haven’t shown it to me. Apparently they don’t think I’m as important as some others, and I am important in this matter because I’m a goalie for the people of Illinois to make sure they get their priorities addressed.”
The state Senate is to consider authorizing the bond sale tomorrow.
Illinois faces a current-year budget deficit of at least $13 billion and an unfunded pension liability of at least $79 billion. The state’s unemployment rate, 9.9 percent in September, hasn’t been less than 9.5 percent since the first quarter of last year.
Thomas Ricketts, the Cubs’ chairman, approached legislative leaders and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority with the proposal to update the privately owned ballpark. Ricketts wants to repay the bonds by tapping future growth in a Chicago and Cook County amusement tax.
Burdening the Future
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley called the proposal “well- intentioned,” adding that it has “some serious problems.”
Daley, who announced in September he wouldn’t seek re- election after 21 years in office, said he wouldn’t want to “burden the next mayor” by committing future tax revenue when the city faces a $654.7 million budget deficit.
“I think we have to really talk about how you finance it without jeopardizing, whether it’s $5 million, $7 million, $8 million of future growth to the city of Chicago,” Daley said in response to questions at a news conference.
Chicago’s mayoral primary is in February. Daley is to leave office in May.
Ricketts told the Chicago Tribune editorial board today that if lawmakers don’t approve the plan, he doesn’t have an alternative idea for renovating the 96-year-old ballpark.
Quinn said no one from the Cubs talked to him before his Nov. 2 election.
“These are private owners of a baseball team,” Quinn said. “They spent almost a billion dollars buying it. They knew what they were buying. And then to be coming to the people of Illinois for assistance now, after an election, I think it isn’t a top priority.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Timothy Jones in Chicago at tjones58@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net
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