CHGO roundtable: What would a new White Sox stadium look like in the South Loop?

Will the South Loop become the new South Side home of the White Sox?

According to a midweek report from the Sun-Times, the team is in “serious talks” to acquire “The 78,” a big piece of undeveloped land between Roosevelt Road and 16th Street, with the intention of constructing a new stadium on the property. The White Sox’ current lease at Guaranteed Rate Field, where they’ve played since 1991, expires after the 2029 season.

The idea sparked an awful lot of daydreaming for White Sox fans, who have been given few reasons to get excited during back-to-back disappointing seasons on the field that forced a rare change atop the baseball department at 35th and Shields last summer.

It obviously remains to be seen if such a deal and such a stadium would ever come to fruition. But with some specifics following a relatively vague report from Crain’s Chicago Business in August stating that team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was considering a departure from Guaranteed Rate Field and a wide array of potential destinations, it’s allowed plenty of folks to wonder:

What would a new White Sox stadium look like in the South Loop?

We at the CHGO White Sox Podcast unsurprisingly dedicated a whole show to that question. Here are our thoughts on some of the more interesting topics that came up during our White Sox stadium discussion.

Where are the White Sox reportedly considering putting a new stadium?

Sean Anderson, CHGO White Sox Podcast host: As I was sitting down to eat some beef stew (Wednesday night), the Sun-Times released this piece saying that the White Sox are in “serious talks” to acquire “The 78” parcel of land, which is 62 acres along a half mile of riverfront property. It is located just north of Ping Tom Memorial Park in Chinatown and extends to Roosevelt and Clark. What do we make of the view? What do we make of the plot of land? And what do we make of these “serious talks?”

Vinnie Duber, CHGO White Sox beat writer: Anyone who’s been down to the South Loop has probably seen this giant piece of land. I believe it is one of the largest undeveloped pieces of land in the city.

This is a view of it from the northern end of Ping Tom Memorial Park — which by the way, if you haven’t been, a lovely park, a lovely place to spend a beautiful summer afternoon down there in Chinatown — but right on the river. As you can see, that is an undeveloped piece of land, but looking right at the Chicago skyline. That is a really nice view from that park, and it would only get better as you would move further north through that big, giant piece of land that has railroad tracks running right through the middle of it.

If you saw that Crain’s report from the summer or were perhaps spooked by Jerry Resindorf’s meeting with the Nashville mayor during the Winter Meetings, and you were afraid the White Sox were going to leave the city or leave the South Side — even to go to the suburbs or the South Suburbs or anywhere else that might remain convenient for a lot of the fan base — something like this shows you that there’s perhaps a hope that if the White Sox were to leave Guaranteed Rate Field they could end up staying on the South Side, which I think is a cool thing.

The way we identify these two teams in this town is by the part of town that they’re in. And if the White Sox, the South Side’s team, ends up in Naperville or somewhere like that, that kind of strips away a lot of the identity that goes with this franchise. So whether this ends up happening one day in the future or not, the idea that the White Sox could achieve both finding a site for a new stadium and building a new stadium as well as maintaining that South Side identity, that should be exciting to a lot of fans, because it allows this organization to keep part of the appeal that it has with a lot of their fan base.

What would a new stadium in the South Loop mean for the White Sox?

Herb Lawrence, CHGO White Sox community leader: This offseason — and for the last couple years — it’s been all bad when you bring up the White Sox, especially when the national media gets involved. So when you get something this positive that gets people talking, gets people thinking and imagining? … It’s like, “Oh my god, there’s endless possibilities the White Sox could build on this land with the beautiful view. What type of ballpark will they have? Will it be a retractable roof? Will it have this, that and the other?” And so the planning and the thinking of White Sox fans of, “We haven’t had a new stadium and something to get excited about in a long, long time.” In this desert of badness, this is the oasis.

It’s a good thing to imagine that the White Sox are in a premium spot with a premium stadium that tourists would come to by the thousands to see it.

If this comes to fruition, I think that the White Sox would come to a nice level. The Cubs are kind of the champions in this city, they’re the big boss and the bully of this city, where probably 75 percent of the fans in this city are Cubs fans. You get a world-class stadium like that? The White Sox start to get talked about, and people start going to that ballpark from other places in this world and say, “Hey, I’m going to Chicago. I’m not just going to go to Wrigley Field. I’m going to go to Sox Park in the South Loop.” So this is an exciting time for the White Sox to get some positive news.

What would a new stadium in the South Loop mean for White Sox fans?

Sean: It should be like what the Braves are offering to their fans, a large complex that’s sprawling. It’s not just the ballpark. Same with what the Rickettses are trying to do in Wrigleyville. Same with what Steve Cohen’s trying to do in New York. It’s trying to make this a place you can stay before the game and after the game.

”Let’s spend eight hours in Comiskeyville!”

Herb: I don’t know if you’ve been to Atlanta and the Battery Park area. It’s beautiful. It’s great. There’s a lot of things to do in that area. But it’s not in Atlanta proper. It’s far north of Atlanta.

Vinnie: That’s what the Bears’ thing (in Arlington Heights) would be.

Herb: This is in the city. You can have all those arteries to do things, the infrastructure to do a lot of things. Staying in that area would be phenomenal for tourists to come in and see a brand new stadium in a world-class city with the best skyline in the United States.

Vinnie: Forget all the parking lots. There’s just not going to be much parking. And guess what? They do it perfectly fine up on the North Side. There’s no parking up there, and people still come to fill that ballpark up. Taking the L or the Metra or anything like that, it’s not difficult. And if there’s a reason to go besides just the ballgame, it could be really appealing to folks. It would jazz up that neighborhood a bit. South Loop, for having a few places here and there, the cool places to go are kind of few and far between in that part of town. To be able to have a giant new area would be pretty good. And then it’s connected to Chinatown, it’s not far from Pilsen, you can get to the West Loop pretty easily. I think that’s all pretty cool and that would be a great idea to build that area up.

Taking the water taxi to a game? Now we’re talking some Volunteer Navy kind of stuff right there. Get people in the summer to park their boats. You miss your tailgate parking lot? You could tailgate on the river!

Sean: If this happens and there’s a new stadium come 2028, we’ve got a CHGO tailgate on a pontoon boat. That’s a great idea.

Herb: Tailgating is a main part of White Sox fandom. But I’m sure they’d get over it if they didn’t have as many parking lots as they have right now and they had extra things to do while you’re at the ballpark: a restaurant, a bar. The White Sox would benefit from these things and then, hopefully, put that right back into the team or the stadium.

Would a new White Sox stadium have a view of the Chicago skyline?

Herb: You don’t get that close and not face the skyline.

Sean: It’s an odd place. But on Wentworth facing north, that’s where I got the ability to see the entire skyline. It is weird, though, because (Ping Tom Memorial Park) is west, so I don’t know if you can get the skyline shot exactly like you need.

It’s possible to include the skyline, but it might not be that picture-perfect framed skyline shot.

Vinnie: I think it’s just still too far away from downtown. There are stadiums in baseball that have that incredible vista over beyond the outfield, but that’s because they were able to put those stadiums right next to those buildings, or in close proximity enough to those buildings. You’ve seen the pictures I posted, the video that Sean posted. You’re still far away. And it’s a lovely view, but let’s not pretend that if you’re standing at home plate you’re going to get the Chicago skyline right in your face. You’re going to probably get a nice view from the upper deck, but it’s going to be a little further off. That should not prohibit them from trying, you can still get some lovely views on the broadcast and especially from the upper deck. But it’s not right in your face.

Sean: It’s in a better spot, for sure. It’s absolutely a great move. And even if you can get the skyline or not, it’s still the right step for this franchise.

Should there be a retractable roof on a new White Sox stadium?

Herb: Would you guys be opposed to a retractable roof at this new proposed stadium? I think that would be the best thing for the city, to host things that are not White Sox related. Concerts, like they have at Wrigley Field right now, you could have them all year long and have passive income coming in from these events. I know baseball purists don’t like to have roofs, but when you go to the ballpark, you want to be sure that they’re going to be playing a game. And I think up at Miller Park, they’ve shown you that every time, a game is being played.

Sean: Give me T-Mobile (Park)’s retractable roof and make the windows of the back of the stadium open so you have the roof close over it but there’s still a window where you can see the skyline.

Vinnie: As someone who doesn’t like sitting through rain delays, it would be nice to have it be a thing of the past. But at the same time, I don’t know. To me, a baseball stadium is outside. It makes it a little less personable if you throw up the infrastructure needed to have a retractable roof. I like going to Miller Park. I think Minute Maid Park in Houston is a real fun stadium. But at the same time, I would probably prefer not having it on there so it can be lower and have more of a park atmosphere, which I think is neat.

Sean: We’re going to have to have an architect on the show.

What else could be unique about a new White Sox stadium in the South Loop?

Sean: A commenter brings up the White Sox having their own version of McCovey Cove with the river.

Vinnie: If the ballpark was facing north, the river would be the left-field corner. If the third-base line paralleled the river, the ballpark would be facing toward the lake, northeast.

Herb: Unique stadiums are what make baseball fun. You go to a basketball game, they’re all the same. Baseball, you can have different. If you want a Green Monster type of thing, the McCovey Cove but a high left field, you could have a shorter left field where the ball goes over the fence for a splash down. Or if you want it to face the skyline, have a shorter right field and a long center field like the Polo Grounds.

This is an opportunity for the White Sox to get very creative, if they’re going down the road on this, and make a unique stadium. It doesn’t look like there’s a lot of land out. Build the stadium up. Go back to the old stadiums where you build the stadium up, like Wrigley, kind of cozy and on top of each other, sans the obstructed views, without the big-ass poles in front of your face.

I like our commenter’s ideas: “Work with the towers to light up during home games and light up the river with lights and exploding pinwheels around the water. White Sox painted water taxis.”

Vinnie: How about this? Chicago and the Chicagoland area has a long history of building canals, when you had to move grain up and down canals to get to the Mississippi River and whatnot. How about you dig a little canal around the ballpark, water flows in with the river, and you’ve got a moat around the ballpark.

Sean: And we could have a drawbridge, too.

Vinnie: That’s how you get in, like you’re going into Disneyland.

Sean: You wait for the drawbridge to drop, and then you run in.

Herb: People will be jumping onto the drawbridge, falling into the water trying to get in.

The proximity to the lake would bring so many different things to that stadium. As we see with Wrigley — it’s kind of the same distance away from the lake as Wrigley is — you would get different weather days. I would go with that stadium getting built for that reason alone.

What would be the best thing about a new White Sox stadium in the South Loop?

Herb: I love Guaranteed Rate Field, but I’ve been to 19 other stadiums. It’s pretty mediocre, as far as stadiums around the (baseball) world. A new stadium? You could get it right. Jerry was offered the Baltimore Orioles’ stadium, and that would’ve been a great thing. We would’ve kept that stadium and be kicking it still, for years to come, if we had the Orioles’ stadium. This is another chance for Jerry to get this right and to build a world-class stadium.

I’m looking forward to more talks, and hopefully this gets down the road because it would be so premium that the White Sox would have people actually coming to Chicago to see their stadium like they do with Wrigley Field.

Sean: If it’s built right, maybe it does last 100 years. If it is a true neighborhood. If it is truly the full-fledged, $7 billion, 62-acre plot of land within the middle of the city, it seems like a pretty good business idea. I’m not a businessman, but it seems pretty good. I get why Jerry Reinsdorf would be interested.

Vinnie: The thing I’ve said about currently standing Sox Park right now is while Bridgeport is a great neighborhood to be in, the prevalence of all those parking lots puts it on an island and makes it so 99 percent of people aren’t walking through the neighborhood, aren’t walking down the street to go to a watering hole or a restaurant. It would be cool if you could have some of that nearby to turn it into that real neighborhood feel. The thing that is the most interesting about this is that they could move and still have that, even perhaps improve on what they have currently.

The idea that a ballpark is in a neighborhood is so rare across the country. We here in Chicago are fortunate enough to have it twice. That is so valuable, and that’s what you should cherish, whether you’re a Cub fan or a Sox fan. And the idea they could move and keep that is really neat.

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