It’s been known that the Chicago White Sox would like to get into a new ballpark in the new future, and now they’ve officially put out renderings for a ballpark in the city’s South Loop.
The Chicago White Sox have released drawings for a planned new stadium in the city’s South Loop.
Although it was already known that the White Sox had intended to vacate Guaranteed Rate Field for some time, they are now formally implementing their plan.
Using social media, Front Office Sports claims:
The Chicago White Sox have suggested building a new stadium at “The 78” in the South Loop.
The Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer might use the Sox’s present Guaranteed Rate Field as a soccer stadium if they relocated to the South Loop.
More details on this concept were provided in an article published in January by the Chicago Sun-Times:
The White Sox and developer Related Midwest are in talks on the potential to construct a new ballpark on the “The 78” South Loop plot.
The Chicago Sun-Times was informed by “serious” sources familiar with the talks that they are in the process of negotiating a baseball-only stadium. All of these sources spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Frank Bilecki, CEO of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the government organization that owns and finances Guaranteed Rate Field, states that the authority has not participated in the talks. The stadium authority would eventually have to decide what would happen to Guaranteed Rate Field and, if it were publicly funded, perhaps even build a new ballpark.
The only ballparks older than Guaranteed Rate Field are the Red Sox’s Fenway Park, the Cubs’ Wrigley Field, the Dodgers’ Dodger Stadium, the Angels’ Angels Stadium, the Athletics’ Oakland Coliseum, the Royals’ Kaufmann Stadium, and the Blue Jays’ Rogers Centre.
Considering how old the stadium is, it makes sense that the organization would want to look into other locations and possibly acquire a new ballpark. It’s encouraging to see that the team is looking into Chicagoland, as there have been discussions in the past about the franchise maybe moving there.