The Chicago Bears have been seeking taxpayer money to finance a new stadium for the team, but Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch recently made it clear that taxpayers have no interest in funding a stadium for the team.
Chris Welch made it very clear that taxpayers are simply not interested in funding a new stadium for an NFL team, and that isn’t going to change regardless of what happens in the upcoming election.
“You know, even after the election, I just think it’s, things we have to focus on: the kitchen table issues,” Welch told WTTW. “People want to make sure their groceries are affordable, their rent is affordable, you know, that they have a roof over their head. The last thing they want us to be talking about is stadiums for sports teams.”
Welch’s message to the Bears and all of Chicago’s other sports teams is that taxpayers won’t be spending their own money to fund projects for teams owned by billionaires.
“As we’ve said to the Bears over and over again, to the White Sox, and also to the Chicago Red Stars, there’s just no appetite to use taxpayer funding to fund stadiums for billionaires,” Welch said.
Needless to say, it sounds like the Bears are going to need to find funding elsewhere – or pay for it themselves.
[WTTW]
