Following reports that White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf is in discussions to possibly sell the team, Mayor Brandon Johnson said Friday he hopes the franchise will stay in Chicago and that he remains open to its pitch for a new publicly financed stadium.
At an unrelated news conference on the West Side, Johnson told reporters he has not spoken to Reinsdorf about the potential sale but believes Chicago remains a world-class home base for the team that has played games on the South Side for over a century.
“I hope that he and his family or others will figure out how to keep them here,” Johnson said. “I have not had a conversation with Jerry, about his intentions with the team, or any other groups that are interested in purchasing this team. All I can say is we have one of the most diverse economies in the entire world. We have top universities, workforce, again, over $20 billion of new investments. There are people all in the world that are investing in Chicago.”
According to a report Wednesday in The Athletic, Reinsdorf has changed his stance about keeping the team he has owned since 1981 and is in “active discussions” with a group led by Dave Stewart, the former major-league pitcher who starred under manager Tony La Russa in Oakland. Stewart’s group has been trying to get an expansion team for Nashville, Tenn., the city the Sox have been linked to as a possible destination if they decided to move.
In the 1980s, Reinsdorf began talks with the city of St. Petersburg, Fla., on moving the franchise there. That catalyzed a series of discussions with Mayor Harold Washington, Gov. Jim Thompson and others that resulted in the current stadium at Comiskey Park.
Asked Friday whether the latest talk of a sale could similarly pressure local politicians into agreeing to Reinsdorf’s stalled efforts to secure public funding for a proposed new ballpark on the site of The 78 in the South Loop, Johnson said he doesn’t “play politics, I do politics, and I have not had a conversation with Jerry” about the potential sale.
“I’ve seen the renderings of The 78. I don’t think there’s a disagreement between me and ownership about the value added to these particular spaces,” Johnson said. “Here’s what I’ve always said: ‘You got to put some skin in the game.’ That’s it. Come to the table ready to throw down.”
The mayor said he remains open to a “real substantive conversation” about The 78 plan and all pitches from Chicago sports teams, so long as they include substantive investments in the neighborhood. He brought up his ongoing support for a new taxpayer-funded Chicago Bears stadium as an example of a proposal that benefits the community. That package also remains stalled, with lackluster interest from Springfield.
Bridgeport Ald. Nicole Lee, 11th, said this week she hasn’t spoken with Sox leadership about the potential sale but believes Reinsdorf does want to keep the team in Chicago.
“Look, I have known for some time in my conversations with the Sox and Jerry directly that he wants nothing more than to secure the future of the White Sox here in Chicago, and I know that he’s trying to do that while he’s still able to,” Lee said. “The sale of the team was always going to happen at some point. If that brings us one step closer to be able to secure a future here in Chicago, in particular on 35th Street, I’m all for it.”
The Tribune’s A.D. Quig contributed reporting.
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