IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
At the time there was a new dome proposed as part of McCormick Place (McDome), however there was a lot of pushback with things like the Bears should only play on grass and the Bears should play outside in 'Bearweather'. Modifying Soldier Field as they did was controversial enough. There was plenty of hyperventilating by the historic preservation folks and Soldier Field was stripped of its listing on the National Register of Historic Places. So, this proposal which takes from the original integrity of the stadium even more would have been out of the question.
I am not a huge Bears fan but, I will say this concept of adding a dome looks pretty appealing. The Bears thus far seem to be bungling their Arlington Heights proposal and have no experience at all in pulling off a massive project like that. I envision that an Arlington Heights Stadium will be a banal stadium and surroundings with corners cut. There just isn't the critical mass of people nearby to sustain the energy they are hoping for. On the other hand, the state has no business giving Robert Dunn any of the $6.5 billion he requested for his companion One Central project.
There's a Metra line that runs right to the location instead of a mile away, and they'll be able to let people tailgate as long as they want without having to listen to the Chicago Park District's ridiculous rules on that. They'll have plenty of people show up.
The people I feel bad for are the ones in NW Indiana. That's going to be quite the hike up to Arlington Heights.