Just days after representatives of the Chicago Bears unveiled a multi-billion-dollar plan for a new lakefront stadium in Chicago, State Senator Seth Lewis, Minority Spokesperson for the Senate Appropriations- Public Safety & Infrastructure Committee, asked some pointed questions of leaders of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority (ISFA) when they appeared before the committee with their budget request for Fiscal Year 2025 on Tuesday. Appearing on behalf of the ISFA were Chief Executive Officer Frank Bilecki, Chief Financial Officer Dana Phillips Goodum, and General Council Maria Saldaña.
“The rumor mill has been running wild since last week’s new stadium proposal announcement, and I felt we needed to separate fact from fiction,” said Lewis. “First and foremost, people need to understand that the Sports Facilities Authority does not have the ability to just build a new stadium. The Authority can only carry out the conditions set forth in legislation approved by the General Assembly, and at this time there is no such legislation before us.”
At the hearing, Bilecki explained that the ISFA’s responsibilities are limited to the payment of debt service obligations to bond holders for Guaranteed Rate Field and Soldier Field, to provide for the safety and structural integrity and character of Guaranteed Rate Field and the surrounding property, and to provide financial assistance to the Chicago Park District for the maintenance and capital improvements to Soldier Field. He also explained that the debt for these sports facilities is structured for repayment largely through a percentage of the Chicago hotel tax and the statewide hotel tax.
“There have been statements made that the residents of Chicago are not and will not be responsible for one dime of the cost of a new stadium, and that is simply not the case,” stated Lewis. “Mr. Bilecki admitted during the hearing that when hotel tax receipts fall short as they have in recent years, the State of Illinois is kept whole by reducing the amount of Local Government Distributive Funds (LGDF) they redistribute to Chicago. LGDF funds are Chicagoans’ tax dollars. They are already being used to pay the debt service for the White Sox and Bears’ stadiums, and that debt service doesn’t expire until 2029 and 2033 respectively. There is no reason to believe this trend would not continue under a new plan.”
Bilecki said LGDF funds have been used to subsidize bond payments in recent years and will likely be needed in amounts that could total up to $20 million per year through the end of the bond repayment schedule in 2033.
The total ISFA budget request for Fiscal year 2025 was $80.275 million.