Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson defended the nearly $5 billion proposal for a new NFL football stadium and stood by the billionaire Chicago Bears owner last week.
When questioned during an NBC Sports interview about how his supporters might view the proposal as "inconsistent" with his progressive agenda, Johnson responded, "This project is aligned with my vision for the people of Chicago. I've said from the very beginning that the best way to build a better, stronger, safer Chicago is we have to invest in people. We have to invest in young people in particular."
"Having the opportunity to stand with billionaires, you could not have convinced me a decade ago that I would have the opportunity to do that," he continued.
The NFL team plans to spend $4.6 billion on building a new enclosed stadium along with an improved lakefront area, half of which would be paid by the state’s taxpayers. According to The Chicago Tribune, the Bears would pay $2 billion alongside a $300 million NFL loan. Taxpayers would be on the hook for the other $2.3 billion, which includes infrastructure projects to the surrounding area.
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Despite Johnson’s optimistic outlook and defense of the proposal, some of his progressive and Democratic colleagues are more skeptical.
Johnson was a former teacher whose mayoral campaign was funded by the Chicago Teachers Union. The Chicago Tribune reports that the organization has previously been in direct opposition to similar proposals, writing that the CTU has "vociferously opposed prior publicly funded stadium projects."
The outcry of Johnson’s Democratic allies echoed the same sentiment.
State Representative Kelly Cassidy reportedly said, "This is so far from a progressive priority as to be laughable. There is not a case to be made to me that would ever compel me to give a billionaire more money. … This thing is dead in the water."
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, D-Ill., added, "As I’ve said, the priorities of the people of Illinois are not building stadiums, right? We have important things we need to invest in for the future of the state and, again, stadiums, in my mind, don’t rank up in the top tier of those."
"The progressive movement for more than a decade has been persistent in fighting the allocations of public money to privatization. I do not see a way to make a case for this that is progressive, and especially in terms of what we’ve expected of our mayors for the last two decades," Rebecca Williams, executive director of the Chicago Progressive Reform Caucus, told The Tribune.
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Johnson stated that the new stadium would generate revenue and "reinvigorate" the city.
"All of these year-round attractions in the city of Chicago will generate significant new revenue that will support my commitment to invest in people, and that means more revenue for mental health clinics, youth jobs, housing, investments and our community violence interrupters. Simply put, this is going to reinvigorate the entire city of Chicago," Johnson said.
The current owner of the Chicago Bears is Virginia Halas McCaskey, whose family has an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion, according to Forbes.
Johnson has faced outrage from Chicagoan taxpayers for the costly migrant situation in the city.
"Ya'll are mismanaging this - failing actually," a local Chicago resident said at a City Council hearing last week that committed $70 million in resources towards mitigating the ongoing migrant crisis.
Another local resident said, "Every 3 or 4 months, there seems to be some new vote for a massive amount of taxpayer funds to be allocated to the illegals, and we have to put a stop to it or it's going to bankrupt our city."
