Bridgeport, South Loop residents lambaste plan for new White Sox stadium
This past weekend, a minority owner of the Chicago White Sox released a proposal to build a new stadium in the South Loop.
On Tuesday, some people from both the Bridgeport and South Loop communities spoke out against the plan.
Canal Edge released renderings for the new stadium in the area known as "The Railyards," with a mixed-use space concept including retail and "potential healthcare offerings by Northwestern Medicine along the riverfront."
This area is located between Roosevelt Road and 18th Street along the South Branch of the Chicago River, with Canal Street as the western border. It is across the river from planned megadevelopment The 78.
White Sox minority owner Justin Ishbia is a shareholder of Canal Edge, which has the riverside property under contract.
Back in March, CBS News Chicago reported Shore Capital, a private equity firm of the Sox's owner-in-waiting, Justin Ishbia, was in the process of buying a 47-acre Amtrak railyard.
Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) called the new stadium plan a betrayal of the Bridgeport community. The official community area boundaries cut off Bridgeport at the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks just west of Rate Field, but the ballpark, and old Comiskey Park before it, have long been considered part of the Bridgeport community.
"Our residents work at the ballpark. Working-class residents have spent their hard-earned money on season tickets, merchandise concessions, and year after year in support of the team," Lee said, "and I've got to tell you, our community feels pretty disrespected right now on all fronts."
In 2024, the White Sox and owner Jerry Reinsdorf proposed a possible new stadium not across from The 78 development, but right in the 62-acre site. Renderings at that time showed a new White Sox stadium along the South Branch of the Chicago River, amid a grove of new high-rise buildings.
Construction is now under way for a stadium for the Chicago Fire FC soccer team in The 78.
Rate Field — originally known as new Comiskey Park and later U.S. Cellular Field and Guaranteed Rate Field — opened in 1991. It is located across 35th Street from the former site of old Comiskey Park, the White Sox's home from 1910 until 1990.
Rate Field was financed by the State of Illinois after Reinsdorf had threatened to move the team to the Tampa Bay Area in Florida back in 1988.
The state-run Illinois Sports Facilities Authority owns Guaranteed Rate Field.
The White Sox's lease at Rate Field is set to expire in 2029.
