The Phoenix Business Journal reports: The Cubs are facing opposition from the White Sox and other Cactus League teams to a financing plan for their new spring training complex in Mesa, Ariz.
Under the proposed plan, all Cactus League teams would bankroll the $84 million stadium though ticket surcharges.
White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf said other teams didn't pitch in to pay for Camelback Ranch in Glendale, the Sox's spring complex they share with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Get the full story: Phoenix Business Journal
Under the proposed plan, all Cactus League teams would bankroll the $84 million stadium though ticket surcharges.
White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf said other teams didn't pitch in to pay for Camelback Ranch in Glendale, the Sox's spring complex they share with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Get the full story: Phoenix Business Journal
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1) Way to get the Sox-Cubs feuds going Tribune! Even though the article states twice that many Cactus League teams oppose the financing plan, you put the headline "Sox oppose financing plan for new Cubs stadium". And, lo and behold, the commenters begin bickering back & forth.
2) I'd like to clarify the financing of new Comiskey Park (now known as US Cellular Field). The building of the new park was not paid for by IL taxpayers or "the people of IL". The majority of the financing was generated by bonds issued by the IL State government and the remainder from a hotel tax (which would have been paid mostly by visitors to our state). That was also 22 years ago and a different situation from this. What is a fairer comparison is the financing of Camelback Ranch in Glendale.
Cub fans think they're clever when refering to the tax dollars that helped build Comiskey. Better yet they think they justify the bogus request the Cubs are making in Mesa. But there is a difference between a public vote and a vote amoungst organizations. There is a difference between taking money from the state of the home team and asking organziations of other teams. I'm not from Chicago, but to everyone else around the country this is easily one of the most egotistical moves any organization has requested. You think the Cubs would do the same if Tampa and Kansas City asked for funding a new stadium? There is a reason why other teams are collectively saying "NO." If you never saw EGO in the Cubs logo before, it's more evident now.
A more recent update reports the tax will not work because of a complicated legal tax law. The Cubs are reported to not want to fight the Arizona law and will fund the new stadium themselves. A lot about nothing.
So the other teams in the Arizona Spring League need to raise their ticket prices just so the Cubs can have a new park where the Cubs get to keep the advertising money generated, and get to sell the naming rights? How is that fair at all?
The new Cub owners have the cash, they can put up what's needed and then hit their fans for the cost.
Awwwwwww the wittle White Sox are jealous of the CUBS......again.
Just like their loyal "fans" (who joined the wagon in 2005) the White Sox have a MAJOR inferiority Complex in Chicago....and they aren't wrong. This city loves the Cubs and ignores the Sox. Truth hurts don't it?
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nada
Not a fan of either team, but knowledgeable enough to know this, the White Sox are and always will be the "B" team in that town, no matter how many titles they win. They need to remember who essentially pays their bills in AZ. The Cubs bring more revenue to AZ during spring training than most teams combined. Sox fans should hop on the Cubs bandwagon, at least until they get back to Chicago.
Sox fans, please remember that tax dollars also paid for the Sox/ Dodgers spring training park as well. The Cubs would also use the new stadium for the Arizona Fall League, just like they use HohoKam park..
This wouldn't be an issue if the Sox could attract like the Cubs but they cant and needed another team to share the facility. This is where Sox fans now say, but but but the Cubs haven't won a world series since 1908. Then they say well Wrigley is a dump as well and all cubs fans are drunk blah blah blah. More proof that they hate the Cubs more than the love the sox and the dump they play in on the southside..
"Two-thirds of the funding for the complex, which ended up costing $100 million, came from the state-run Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority. The city of Glendale was responsible for the remaining one-third and expects to generate its funding with sales taxes and other revenues from the 500 acres that will be developed near the ballpark, which was simply referred to as Glendale Ballpark during most of its construction."
Jealous of what Wrigley Field is a wasteland always has been always will be i hope i live long enough to see them tear that trap down i will drive the bulldozer and what recent championships have come from the northside
Im a Cub fan and I kind of figured teams would protest when they found out that a new tax was going to go on ALL tickets sold in Cactus league just so Cubs could have a new park. These yahoos in Az are being given one more chance to make a deal with a deal already in palce in FL and the financing with no tax except on hotels which hotel owners nder already voted on themsleves and land already aquuired. AZ hasnt even acquired necessary land yet,which has to be contiguous .And its not just White Sox against it. I predict AZ will be long gone unelss soemone esle streps in a write a huge check for Cubs and these are hard times.
I think Cubs are giving AZ one more chance for public relations with so many Cub fans..at least now when Cubs move to Fl itll be clear why.
Did anyone read the rest of the article?
"Legislators also may face criticism if they fast-track taxes for the Cubs as they cut education and social welfare programs in the face of a multibillion-dollar deficit."
So they will raise taxes to build the Cubs a new stadium that they will use for a little over a month? Makes a lot of sense to me. Dodgers and Sox, too bad you just spent a lot of money to build a new facility, which is used for the Arizona fall league, we are going to make your fans pay for the Cubs.
Sounds like a great idea to me.
@ TheFan and other moronic Cubs fans (which means all of them):
The only thing I, as a Sox fan, am jealous of is the Cub's rich history of championships and recent World Series successes. Oh, wait a minute . . . . I guess there's nothing to be jealous of afterall.
Sox fans, please do not forget that tax dollars of Cubs fan helped pay for the dump on the south side....
This is all about leverage. The Cubs have long been the Spring Training anchor here in AZ. They not only sell out their games, but they sell out their road games as well. So, there is some benefit the other teams get by having the Cubs here. Obviously, those with the books in Mesa, and the state, recognize the financial stick the Cubs have during Spring Training, when they visit the Dbax during the season, and the thousands of Cub fans that leve here year round. Their record matters not, sorry Cub bashers out there, this is about cash, pure and simple. The Cubs have delivered that for Mesa for years, and that town can ill afford to lose that revenue, and the state gets revenue from the Cub fans as well.
Would anyone notice if the Sox moves to Florida?
As it is they are dead last as far fan following Chicago's team....even if you includes sports like soccer, arena football, WNBA.
WelfareCub & others: the White Sox received extensive public financing (handouts) for the Cell....in effect Cubs fans in Illinois paid for the White Sox stadium..quit complaining.
Uh, no one cares about the Cubs' attendance titles, the only titles they can win. This is about fairness. If the rest of the teams didn't pitch in to build the other new facilities (and more have been built than just the Dodgers/White Sox facility in the last five to ten years), why should the Cubs get special treatment?
If the Cubs want new facilities, they can do it themselves or get Mesa to do it, like the other teams did. Why should everyone else finance the Cubs' profits? That's idiotic.
Why would the other Cactus teams pay for a new cubs stadium. Let the Cubs tickets pay for, since they like to watch a team that never accomplishes anything and shell out money for nothing. 102 years, oh boy I think its time to jump on that bandwagon!
Dear Brian,
Put down the beer and go look up the proper usage of "your" and "you're".
By the way, you missed the point of the article. It's not just the White Sox who are complaining. The issue is that other stadiums were not financed through ticket surcharges.
How would you like going to see a Cubs game and paying a surcharge to help build a new stadium for another team?
And, TheFan, when was the last time you saw your team in the World Series? Oh, that's right...
Sheesh.
Way to go Jerry. Don't let them Cubs stick it to you. If they want to play then they got to pay. No free lunch in Arizona. That ain't Crook County, Illinois YO. Them cowboys and indians demand a full day of work for a day's pay.
/signed/
Ernie Banks Jenks
- Hit like Banks
- Throw like Jenks
100 years and counting. White Sox fans aren't jealous. We have a trophy, we just don't believe in hand outs for losers.
Surprise, surprise. The Cubs trying to screw over fans, what a rarity. Preach on Jerry, smart people understand what those scumbags are doing.
Hey Jerry when you're team becomes the best draw in Arizona for Spring Training, then and only then can you complain. Until that time shut that hole in your fat face.
What a suprise? Sox jealous of Cubs.