OT: Bears Talk - Justin Fields era begins

[jmajew]

As a season ticket holder to the Bears I'm both for and against this. I love tailgating on the lake, I think it is an incredible experience. However, as a fan I believe Soldier Field holds back the Bears. The Stadium is just too small. That means the team cannot bring in enough revenue. They need a 70k-100k person stadium. Ideally that would be built in the same vicinity as Soldier Field, but we know that won't happen with what has happened with the Lucas Museum.

As a business the McCaskey's need to find a way to increase the value of their business. The best way to do that is to own their own stadium. If they build the stadium in AH they will likely only have to build the stadium. They would then sell off the rest of the land at a huge profit which will help to pay for the stadium. Think how valuable all that adjacent land becomes to developers?

The Arlington Race Track is actually a good location for a lot of chicagoans. The have a Metra line that stops right next to the race track. They can have trains go into the city and then have express trains setup to go directly from their to the stadium. If they put in express trains from the city you are looking at a 25 minute ride from the city. It really isn't bad.

[Michael Jackson]

It might. I think the Bears are just posturing, that’s my gut but Lightfoot might make them more serious. Sometimes Lori makes me miss Harold Washington.

[Susan]

It might. I think the Bears are just posturing, that’s my gut but Lightfoot might make them more serious. Sometimes Lori makes me miss Harold Washington.

She'd **** up a one car parade.

[Michael Jackson]

It might. I think the Bears are just posturing, that’s my gut but Lightfoot might make them more serious. Sometimes Lori makes me miss Harold Washington.

She'd **** up a one car parade.

Maybe she can put out a YouTube video for the bears like she did for Covid… sing a song about not worrying about their stadium and just beat the packers. She is silly… it’s a shame I really wanted to like her honestly but she is not good at the job. (In fairness I wouldn’t want the job and I would effe it up too)

[GinWeary]

As a season ticket holder to the Bears I'm both for and against this. I love tailgating on the lake, I think it is an incredible experience. However, as a fan I believe Soldier Field holds back the Bears. The Stadium is just too small. That means the team cannot bring in enough revenue. They need a 70k-100k person stadium. Ideally that would be built in the same vicinity as Soldier Field, but we know that won't happen with what has happened with the Lucas Museum.

As a business the McCaskey's need to find a way to increase the value of their business. The best way to do that is to own their own stadium. If they build the stadium in AH they will likely only have to build the stadium. They would then sell off the rest of the land at a huge profit which will help to pay for the stadium. Think how valuable all that adjacent land becomes to developers?

The Arlington Race Track is actually a good location for a lot of chicagoans. The have a Metra line that stops right next to the race track. They can have trains go into the city and then have express trains setup to go directly from their to the stadium. If they put in express trains from the city you are looking at a 25 minute ride from the city. It really isn't bad.

I am not sure everyone is familiar with Metra, or recognizing how horrendous they are. While I don’t ride it consistently anymore since moving back to the city, I have rode their trains thousands of times - five days a week, round-trip, for a few years. Metra is AWFUL. The service is terrible - Recently, I had 40+ minute delays two weekends in a row, albeit not on the line to AH. They ALWAYS have track construction, and signal/switch problems. Bad weather can exacerbate these issues. I have probably been forced to get off of a train because it broke down completely and wait for Metra to arrange bussing almost a dozen times.

Some train cars border on being filthy. Don’t even get me started on the bathrooms - they are nearly vomit inducing. The cars are cramped an uncomfortable, with some dating back to the 1960’s.

Can you imagine Metra, which already provides awful service and is a horrifically run business taking on the swaths of Bears fans every Sunday? Can you imagine how nasty and cramped those cars will be full of drunk fans after a home game loss? Metra would need to construct multiple new tracks that go right to the Stadium Campus area and run multiple trains throughout the day - well before, during, and well after the game. I don’t see Metra being a viable solution for people from the city to commute on game day unless they step up their service capabilities, which I do not see happening.

Also, Ogilvie is downtown. If you live further south, it can easily be 45+ minute public transportation commute to get to the station, and then a 50 minute ride to the park. As it stands, Metra is far from a convenient or attractive option to get to games.

Edit: What happens on Monday and Thursday games when the Bears fans are competing for space with the general workforce that already crowds Ogilvie and the train during those late afternoon and evening hours? I think it could be a mess. There are 10+ stops between Ogilvie and AH - anyone that lives within a few miles of one of those stops will likely consider taking the Metra to avoid driving to the game and only adding to the crowds. An express train can be an option, but Metra will still want to ensure that they are providing service to all stops, both ways, to increase ticket sales.

[dougthonus]

I am not sure everyone is familiar with Metra, or recognizing how horrendous they are. While I don’t ride it consistently anymore since moving back to the city, I have rode their trains thousands of times - five days a week, round-trip, for a few years. Metra is AWFUL. The service is terrible - Recently, I had 40+ minute delays two weekends in a row, albeit not on the line to AH. They ALWAYS have track construction, and signal/switch problems. Bad weather can exacerbate these issues. I have probably been forced to get off of a train because it broke down completely and wait for Metra to arrange bussing almost a dozen times.

I believe it depends considerably what line you were on.

Up until the pandemic, I had rode METRA daily for 12 years to commute to work. Over that period of time, there were a grand total of three times in probably 5000 trips where I was delayed more than 30 minutes. Once was the polar vortex where temperatures dropped to -70, once was the Cubs world series parade day, and once was a delay due to track problems.

I would guess out of 5000 trips, no more than 50 trips were delayed by more than 5 minutes and if I had to guess, I'd say probably around 20 trips in the 5-10 minute delay range. Delays over 10 minutes were exceptionally rare. I found this to be true on the 3:30, 4:20, 4:50, and 5:17 which were the four trains I rode with regularity.

I found METRA to be amazingly consistent day to day, to the point where I frequently planned things requiring near 1 minute precision getting off the train from work and never got burned.

Some train cars border on being filthy. Don’t even get me started on the bathrooms - they are nearly vomit inducing. The cars are cramped an uncomfortable, with some dating back to the 1960’s.

Rarely have I seen the cars have any dirt level that I would say is filthy. The bathrooms are really small and difficult to use and generally pretty gross, I agree with you there. I don't have experience with other trains but I never felt particularly cramped in a two seat car next to another person relative to the space I'd expect to have. To put it in comparison, I feel more cramped on a coach flight.

Again though, experience my vary by line, I rode the Milwaukee West line.

Can you imagine Metra, which already provides awful service and is a horrifically run business taking on the swaths of Bears fans every Sunday? Can you imagine how nasty and cramped those cars will be full of drunk fans after a home game loss? Metra would need to construct multiple new tracks that go right to the Stadium Campus area and run multiple trains throughout the day - well before, during, and well after the game. I don’t see Metra being a viable solution for people from the city to commute on game day unless they step up their service capabilities, which I do not see happening.

They would run extra trains centered around games if there was demand, they already do this for all kinds of events. Since most games are on Sundays, this would actually be pretty trivial, and they would probably make most of the extra trains pure expresses to downtown or limited stops.

Also, Ogilvie is downtown. If you live further south, it can easily be 45+ minute public transportation commute to get to the station, and then a 50 minute ride to the park. As it stands, Metra is far from a convenient or attractive option to get to games.

Commute to Ogilvie is definitely a potential problem if you want to take he METRA and aren't near by, and it's certainly not like Ogilvie is in the middle of a big residential area.

Edit: What happens on Monday and Thursday games when the Bears fans are competing for space with the general workforce that already crowds Ogilvie and the train during those late afternoon and evening hours? I think it could be a mess. There are 10+ stops between Ogilvie and AH - anyone that lives within a few miles of one of those stops will likely consider taking the Metra to avoid driving to the game and only adding to the crowds. An express train can be an option, but Metra will still want to ensure that they are providing service to all stops, both ways, to increase ticket sales.

Depending what time Bears fans are trying to get out for the game and the tip off time, there may not be much conflict. Most commuters are leaving in the 4:30-5:30 range. Also, on busy days, they simply schedule extra trains, odds are they would schedule full on expresses to soldier field and back that don't stop anywhere on the way if they knew there was a market for it.

While METRA may not be the perfect solution for all people, it's a WAY better solution than you are suggesting, and they would probably do an excellent job on game day if they had regular crowds and planned around it.

[fleet]

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[Stratmaster]

Let's hear about the commute to Wrigley.

After a game, every freaking stadium is a mess. Go to a Sox game and it's a mess the hour after the game. LMAO at trying to drive to Wrigley. After a Bulls/Hawks game it's a **** show getting to 290 and once you're on there, it's a damn crawl.

Thinking moving to AH will make the commute any easier is hilarious. You're dealing with tens of thousands of people with a large swath of them drunk, all trying to leave the same space at the same time. It's ALWAYS going to be a mess. That Metra stop ain't alleviating anything.

Have done probably around ~500 Bulls games, and the commute home (to the Suburbs) is pretty easy. Never find 290 to be going all that slow, granted, going to so many games, I have the route out of the stadium, perfect place to park to get out figured out, so maybe my experience was easier.

I don't know those things at all about Sox games, but I never found that commute to be so bad going home either. I agree that Wrigley is a train wreck if you drive, which I have done a couple times, by far the worst.

Generally speaking, the Bulls drive home starts at some point after 10 p.m. and is quite often a week night.

I have never had that big issue driving to and from the Bulls... or the Cubs. I arrived half way through q2 to a Monday night Bears game because of traffic, and have never bought another ticket to anything in Soldier Field since. That was in 1993.

I would go to Arlington Heights for a game in a heartbeat.

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[Stratmaster]

I'm not arguing that Soldier Field doesn't suck, it does, but it at least has infrastructure to support it. The location is far from ideal, it's just far better than Arlington Heights.

But it doesn't. I don't know why everyone keeps saying this. How many people here have actually even been to both Soldier Field and Arlington Park? Because it doesn't sound like anybody harping on its location actually have.

Soldier Field is an objectively awful experience to get to and in, and then the experience of the stadium itself is poor too. It sucks to drive there, and it sucks to take the train there. Even for much of the city, Soldier Field is awful to get to, requiring multiple transfers and tons and tons of walking. So it's like you might as well be going to the suburbs. But in the city. To a crappy undersized stadium with no roof.

There's absolutely no convenience benefit at all to its location except for a tiny minority of the fanbase. The vast majority of Bears fans live in the suburbs, not the city. Arlington would be a much easier commute for, I don't know, 2/3 of fans? Probably more? A new stadium with better parking and entryways would even end up actually saving time for many of the fans that would have to drive farther to get there.

It'd be nice to have the city's football team actually in the city. But that's literally the only redeeming feature of Soldier Field. If this was a Wrigley, it'd be different. But it's not. It's just a small, somehow already outdated stadium with a terrible commute that just has some other old stadium's columns in front of it.

If they build up Arlington Park into one of these luxury stadiums they're not just going to host bears games, it's going to host concerts and all other types of events, that's the only way to recoup the massive cost of building it. So in order to make it viable as Susan mentioned they'd need to build all types of new expressways, hotels, and public transit options that would allow it be viable.

Woodfield is less than 10 minutes away. O'Hare is less than 20 minutes away. There's a Metra stop literally right there on the property that will send you directly to the loop.

Somehow, the Patriots, Cardinals, and Cowboys haven't totally collapsed with their suburban stadiums in smaller metros with no public transit anywhere near it. I'm pretty sure a stadium in an easily accessible burb in a 9million+ metro area will do just fine.

@#$% I hate it when I agree with you.

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[fleet]

One way or another, the 3rd biggest market in the country needs 3rd biggest market facilities. Making excuses why everyone should be Ok traveling to a substandard situation in the city falls way short of an acceptable approach. Either the city steps up, or it doesn’t. Let the bodies hit the (burbs).

[Susan]

Let's hear about the commute to Wrigley.

After a game, every freaking stadium is a mess. Go to a Sox game and it's a mess the hour after the game. LMAO at trying to drive to Wrigley. After a Bulls/Hawks game it's a **** show getting to 290 and once you're on there, it's a damn crawl.

Thinking moving to AH will make the commute any easier is hilarious. You're dealing with tens of thousands of people with a large swath of them drunk, all trying to leave the same space at the same time. It's ALWAYS going to be a mess. That Metra stop ain't alleviating anything.

Have done probably around ~500 Bulls games, and the commute home (to the Suburbs) is pretty easy. Never find 290 to be going all that slow, granted, going to so many games, I have the route out of the stadium, perfect place to park to get out figured out, so maybe my experience was easier.

I don't know those things at all about Sox games, but I never found that commute to be so bad going home either. I agree that Wrigley is a train wreck if you drive, which I have done a couple times, by far the worst.

Generally speaking, the Bulls drive home starts at some point after 10 p.m. and is quite often a week night.

I have never had that big issue driving to and from the Bulls... or the Cubs. I arrived half way through q2 to a Monday night Bears game because of traffic, and have never bought another ticket to anything in Soldier Field since. That was in 1993.

I would go to Arlington Heights for a game in a heartbeat.

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Cool, that was 28 years ago.

[dougthonus]

Have done probably around ~500 Bulls games, and the commute home (to the Suburbs) is pretty easy. Never find 290 to be going all that slow, granted, going to so many games, I have the route out of the stadium, perfect place to park to get out figured out, so maybe my experience was easier.

I don't know those things at all about Sox games, but I never found that commute to be so bad going home either. I agree that Wrigley is a train wreck if you drive, which I have done a couple times, by far the worst.

Generally speaking, the Bulls drive home starts at some point after 10 p.m. and is quite often a week night.

I have never had that big issue driving to and from the Bulls... or the Cubs. I arrived half way through q2 to a Monday night Bears game because of traffic, and have never bought another ticket to anything in Soldier Field since. That was in 1993.

I would go to Arlington Heights for a game in a heartbeat.

Sent from my SM-G965U using RealGM mobile app

Cool, that was 28 years ago.

Maybe 5 years ago I took my daughter to a Taylor Swift concert at Soldier Field. It took me 3 hours to get to a spot I could park, and was the worst commute experience I can ever remember having in my life. There were probably a similar amount of people as a Bears game (part of the seats weren't for sale behind the stage but they also added seats on the Field itself).

Maybe Taylor Swift draws more cars / suburbanites than a Bears game, but I can't imagine any scenario where Soldier Field is a good driving commute for anyone. There's only one way in, and it is less directly connect to the highway than Arlington would be as you have to deal with lots of stop lights to get in/out. It definitely can't manage the traffic well.

[Michael Jackson]

Let's hear about the commute to Wrigley.

After a game, every freaking stadium is a mess. Go to a Sox game and it's a mess the hour after the game. LMAO at trying to drive to Wrigley. After a Bulls/Hawks game it's a **** show getting to 290 and once you're on there, it's a damn crawl.

Thinking moving to AH will make the commute any easier is hilarious. You're dealing with tens of thousands of people with a large swath of them drunk, all trying to leave the same space at the same time. It's ALWAYS going to be a mess. That Metra stop ain't alleviating anything.

Have done probably around ~500 Bulls games, and the commute home (to the Suburbs) is pretty easy. Never find 290 to be going all that slow, granted, going to so many games, I have the route out of the stadium, perfect place to park to get out figured out, so maybe my experience was easier.

I don't know those things at all about Sox games, but I never found that commute to be so bad going home either. I agree that Wrigley is a train wreck if you drive, which I have done a couple times, by far the worst.

Generally speaking, the Bulls drive home starts at some point after 10 p.m. and is quite often a week night.

I have never had that big issue driving to and from the Bulls... or the Cubs. I arrived half way through q2 to a Monday night Bears game because of traffic, and have never bought another ticket to anything in Soldier Field since. That was in 1993.

I would go to Arlington Heights for a game in a heartbeat.

Sent from my SM-G965U using RealGM mobile app

I come from the Western Burbs and man I hate going to Soldier Field. I only go if I am forced to take customers. TBH I loathe Wrigley almost as much. Being where I am I much prefer going to Bulls/Hawks games as the US is more convenient for me. I would personally prefer going to AH but I am not a season ticket holder and only sapiently go to Bears games as is.

[Michael Jackson]

Can you imagine Metra, which already provides awful service and is a horrifically run business taking on the swaths of Bears fans every Sunday? Can you imagine how nasty and cramped those cars will be full of drunk fans after a home game loss? Metra would need to construct multiple new tracks that go right to the Stadium Campus area and run multiple trains throughout the day - well before, during, and well after the game. I don’t see Metra being a viable solution for people from the city to commute on game day unless they step up their service capabilities, which I do not see happening.

They would run extra trains centered around games if there was demand, they already do this for all kinds of events. Since most games are on Sundays, this would actually be pretty trivial, and they would probably make most of the extra trains pure expresses to downtown or limited stops.

They already have the extra schedule thing down too. They do it for Lollapalooza, Cubs rally, fireworks etc... They can easily make adjustments for Sunday and Monday bears games, plus we are talking the reality of 8-10 events a year, its not like the Cubs moving.

I thought this was a bunch of nonsense posturing and still kinda do, but this story isn't dying. Chicago better come up with a plan of the Bears will be in AH. This is more realistic than the Gary Bears was. While I still think it was meant for bargaining if things continue to devolve I think it was still a legitimate plan to move to AH and everyday it is inching towards that.

[TheFinishSniper]

One way or another, the 3rd biggest market in the country needs 3rd biggest market facilities. Making excuses why everyone should be Ok traveling to a substandard situation in the city falls way short of an acceptable approach. Either the city steps up, or it doesn’t. Let the bodies hit the (burbs).

Pretty much this. I am not a huge fan moving team out the current location, but if city is not willing to step in and help build for 3rd biggest market team proper stadium and facilities then I am all aboard alternate solution which is willing to do it.

[ATRAIN53]

I'm for the move.

Getting TO and FROM Soldier Field is a nightmare.
My kid doesn't even want to go to Bears games anymore because the walk is so long.

Metra, CTA, driving - none of it is easy.

I took my kid to Bears FAMILY Night like 5 years ago.
Family Night which is like maybe 10,000 fans MAX
even that was a nightmare with traffic and that's 1/8 of the fans at games.

That Waldron Parking Deck is like for the privliged season ticket holders. you know people who get up at 7 AM to tailgate.
I've done it, it's a long full day and even getting home from a noon Bears game after you tailgate is a nightmare.


New stadium would be a 15 min drive for me.
Super Bowl, Final 4, Headliner Concerts and all kinds of events.

This is really in a good spot. Plenty of room from surrounding neighbors if they build it on the NORTHWEST side of the parcel.
Nothing is near there, it's been the practice track for decades.
Easy access to public trans, highways.

[nomorezorro]

.00001% of people who say "the bears need a domed stadium so they can host a super bowl!" would actually go to the one super bowl in their lifetimes chicago would get with a domed stadium

[Susan]

So we're really out here thinking that people who are going to come here for the Super Bowl/Final 4 are going to stay out in Rosemont, Arlington Heights and Schaumburg for the week leading up to it?

This isn't to say the current Soldier Field setup is ideal and doesn't need work, but man - there's some serious delusional thinking going on here. We're talking about Arlington Heights in February and March as a travel detestation?

And all this discussion on a stadium to enrich a billionare family that's been living off of what George Halas did how many decades ago but no talk about extending our best offensive player in Allen Robinson?

[dougthonus]

So we're really out here thinking that people who are going to come here for the Super Bowl/Final 4 are going to stay out in Rosemont, Arlington Heights and Schaumburg for the week leading up to it?

This isn't to say the current Soldier Field setup is ideal and doesn't need work, but man - there's some serious delusional thinking going on here. We're talking about Arlington Heights in February and March as a travel detestation?

This seems like a massive irrelevancy. The Bears aren't picking their destination based on whether possibly the city would be awarded a superbowl or not. If they don't have the quality stadium to support a superbowl, they sure aren't getting one either and good chance they won't get one regardless of what they do and if they do get one, it's probably a once in a lifetime event anyway.

You simply aren't making a 30 year decision on your stadium based on that.

And all this discussion on a stadium to enrich a billionare family that's been living off of what George Halas did how many decades ago but no talk about extending our best offensive player in Allen Robinson?

Who is discussing building in AH because they want to enrich a billionaire family? How does any stadium relate to an entirely different football operations decision to extend/not extend a player which is a salary cap issue?

I don't know why you're so emotionally wrapped up in the location. I'd guess all things being equal that they find some place in the city to build, but it's not nuts to have a suburban location if they can't work it out. That model has worked in other major cities, and AH has a lot of the infrastructure in place with the direct metra stop to make it work if they wanted to.

[Stratmaster]

Have done probably around ~500 Bulls games, and the commute home (to the Suburbs) is pretty easy. Never find 290 to be going all that slow, granted, going to so many games, I have the route out of the stadium, perfect place to park to get out figured out, so maybe my experience was easier.

I don't know those things at all about Sox games, but I never found that commute to be so bad going home either. I agree that Wrigley is a train wreck if you drive, which I have done a couple times, by far the worst.

Generally speaking, the Bulls drive home starts at some point after 10 p.m. and is quite often a week night.

I have never had that big issue driving to and from the Bulls... or the Cubs. I arrived half way through q2 to a Monday night Bears game because of traffic, and have never bought another ticket to anything in Soldier Field since. That was in 1993.

I would go to Arlington Heights for a game in a heartbeat.

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Cool, that was 28 years ago.

Did you have a point? Are you saying it is now easier to get to Soldier Field for a Bears game than it was then?

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