True public cost of Bears stadium would be billions more over time
In their effort to persuade politicians and the public that government support for a new domed stadium development on the city’s lakefront would be a sound investment, the Chicago Bears repeatedly tried to stress that taxpayers would not carry an overwhelming weight of the costs.
Team officials said during their public unveiling Wednesday the Bears would pledge $2.3 billion in private money while asking the state agency charged with stadium development projects to borrow less than half of that — $900 million — to build a long-sought, year-round indoor replacement for century-old Soldier Field.
But a deeper look at the financial details of the Bears’ full plans shows the costs, especially over the long term, are drastically higher.
In addition to the $900 million in borrowing, the Bears want the state’s stadium agency, the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, to refinance about $430 million in existing debt for previous projects and take out about $160 million more to set up as a so-called liquidity fund to cushion the city of Chicago from future shortfalls in revenue from a 2% city hotel tax that’s supposed to cover the cost of the borrowing.
Counting interest and other long-term costs, the proposed new borrowing would tally up to at least $4.8 billion over four decades, said Frank Bilecki, ISFA’s CEO.
In addition, the Bears are seeking up to $1.5
