The Windy City Bears, the NFL squad that raised some eyebrows inwards June after placing a call on Arlington International Racecourse, have agreed to buy the historic racetrack in the Windy City suburbs for $197.2 million. That’s according to an announcement made Wednesday morning time by vender Winston Churchill Downs Incorporated.
The sell is expected to tight either late next yr or too soon inwards 2023, according to the filing. But it testament follow several years before the Bears could potentially surface a new arena on the site.
The Athletic foremost reported the sell belatedly Tues night.
In a financial statement Wednesday, Bears President and CEO Ted Phillips said reaching an arrangement with Winston S. Churchill Downs was “a vital next step” inward its due diligence for the project.
“Much process remains to be completed, including workings closely with the Village of Arlington Heights and surrounding communities, before we canful confining on this transaction,” Phillips said. “Our goal is to chart a track forrad that allows our squad to fly high on the field, Chicagoland to prosper from this endeavor, and the Bears organisation to live ensured a strong future. We will never stopover working toward delivering Bears fans the rattling best experience. We testament carry on to provide updates on our forward motion at the seize time.”
Churchill Downs proclaimed in Feb its intention to sell the 326-acre property inwards Arlington Heights. The Louisville-based gaming companion contracted with commercial message existent landed estate business firm CBRE to market place the situation and beg bids.
The deadline to bidding was inward June. In later(a) July, Winston S. Churchill Downs CEO Bill Carstanjen told investment analysts the company received “numerous” proposals.
Rumors well-nigh the Bears’ involvement in the track began spreading shortly after Churchill’s announcement heptad months ago. For the past tense 50 years, the team up played its place games at Soldier Field – with the elision of the 2002 flavor when it played at the University of Illinois inward Champaign patch the arena underwent a monolithic overhaul.
While the team’s charter at the sports stadium is non due to ending until the 2033 season, The Windy City Tribune reported inward July that the be to develop the letting would be $84 million inward 2026. Figuratively speaking, that’s couch buffer money in the NFL, where for each one of the 32 teams are guaranteed to make believe $220 billion this year from subject television contracts alone. By 2032, the teams will receive $377 gazillion a season.
Soldier Field, which holds simply 61,000 fans, is the smallest bowl in the NFL, so having 326 acres would allow the Bears to build a often larger arena and ease have room for other developments, too. It also would improve their chances of having an on-site or conterminous sportsbook, something that has been denied by the Bears’ current landlord.
Excitement inward Arlington Heights
In a financial statement to Casino.org Midweek morning, Arlington Heights Mayor Uncle Tom Rutherford B. Hayes said he was rattling excited well-nigh the news.
My goal for any redevelopment has ever been to position this meridian slice of real acres to its highest and best use, and i can’t guess of a higher and improve utilise than this one,” Rutherford Birchard Hayes said. “There is a long way of life to move as we begin this journey, and many issues for the biotic community to discuss, but the Village is committed to working with the Bears system and all stakeholders to explore this opportunity for Arlington Heights and the nor'-west suburban region.”
In a break statement posted on the village’s website, Arlington Heights said its officials have got been inward talks with both the Bears and John Churchill Downs since the summer.
“The Village recognizes that many residents and stakeholders feature questions almost the potential redevelopment of this earth and its impact,” the statement read. “This testament follow a long word and in that respect will live many opportunities for community stakeholders to wage inwards the process. As with all developing efforts, the Village will exhaustively psychoanalyze all proposals and create decisions based on what is inwards the best interests of the Arlington Heights community as a whole.
“While this physical process is in its initial stages, all parties full honour and interpret the challenging and complex nature of this travail and are committed to act through and full explore the tremendous opportunities that this situation presents. Further information testament live made available as the mental process unfolds.”
Part of the dispute with the deal will likely add up from Chicago officials.
Even though the moneyed suburbia is just a 30 minutes from downtown Chicago, Windy City Mayor Lori Lightfoot antecedently indicated she would fight back to maintain the team inwards the city.
She repeated want inwards a Tweet late Tues share-out a tie-in to the Walter Scott Powers clause inward The Athletic.
“My financial statement still stands on the Bears: my admin remains committed to continuing the work on to dungeon the squad in Chicago,” the city manager posted. “As I have said numerous times, our door inward City Marguerite Radclyffe Hall remains open.”
Bitter Dispute Between IL Horsemen, Churchill
The Bears news comes simply days after Winston S. Churchill Downs ended the lowest run into at the historic track. The company did non accede a proposition for 2022 run dates, which the IL Racing Board awarded to tracks cobbler's last week.
Not only did Saturday’s card remainder nearly a century of racing at the track, it also served as the ratiocination of a lengthy conflict 'tween horsemen and running officials.
It was also a climbing nightshade 24-hour interval for local racing fans, especially those inward Arlington Heights. The rails had long been a gem for the community, and the hamlet openly embraced it and tied its identity element to racing. On its seal, the A is made into a horse’s head.
Hayes told Casino.org that he went to the rails ace endure clip with his household on Saturday.
“It was a sad day, but it could non hold been a ameliorate path to go game out with great races and hone weather,” he said
The acrimony festered 'tween the sides after First Duke of Marlborough Downs opted against applying for a gambling casino permit at the track, an opportunity that horsemen and caterpillar tread officials antecedently chased and finally got when Illinois lawmakers passed an expanded gaming measure inwards 2019.
Churchill Downs officials declined to apply, citing a task bodily structure that would relieve oneself a track gambling casino unprofitable. However, in November 2018, the society bought a legal age stakes inward Rivers Casino Des Plaines. The state’s largest casino is virtually a 20-minute aim from the track.
Revenue from an on-track gambling casino would get been used to supplement purses to draw more horses and horsemen for the meets. It would likely have led to increased wagering on the races as larger fields typically produce to a greater extent attractive odds for bettors.
The track’s 2020 come across ended upwardly beingness delayed not by the COVID-19 pandemic but by a months-long impasse 'tween the horsemen and cart track officials over the size of purses.
A former Arlington executive director put together a conjure with the intention to continue racing, but First Duke of Marlborough Downs officials had antecedently shooter push down any considerateness for that.
In July 2020, Carstanjen told buy in analysts that the “economics” of horse racing aren’t practicable at Arlington and that the company would look at “a best long-term solution” for racing.
“But the long-term resolution is not Arlington Park,” he said. “That set down testament make a higher and amend intent for something else at some point.”
Churchill Downs Looks to Sell Calder Land
As the potential sales event of Arlington Park draws near, Duke of Marlborough Downs has assign a for cut-rate sale signal upwards at another of its properties.
At an investor presentation on Monday, society officials noted that it has started the process of marketing nimiety set down it owns at Calder Casino in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Among the 170 acres Duke of Marlborough Downs owns in that respect includes a racetrack. In recent years, First Duke of Marlborough Downs tore pile the grandstand at the one time renowned track. It and then leased the caterpillar track to nearby Gulfstream Park, which used it for a fall meet. However, Winston Churchill Downs chose not to renew the take after Florida law of nature allowed the society to dungeon its casino permission past offering jai alai, another pari-mutuel game.
The selloff isn’t a ratify that Winston S. Churchill Downs is looking for to downsize. On the contrary, the companion has plans to grow.
Last week, it submitted a proposal to build a cassino inward Terre Haute, Ind. Earlier this year, it proclaimed unexampled plans to vest millions in its namesake caterpillar track in Louisville. It also has plans to build a new historical horse racing gaming installation inward downtown Louisville and expand its existing Derby City Gaming composite past adding a hotel to the site.
Churchill Downs is also a partner inwards a proposal for a cassino inwards Waukegan, Ill., placed 'tween Chicago and the Badger State stateline.
“The warm liberal cash in flowing of our businesses with the potency to monetize underutilized assets enables us to maintain low leverage, enthrone in organic and inorganic growing opportunities, pay off increasing levels of dividends and strategically repurchase shares over the long term for our shareholders,” Carstanjen told analysts on a July 29 every quarter earnings call. “As we discussed, we have a lot of opportunities that are in the instruction execution phase, and we make the content to set ashore to a greater extent projects as they develop. We conceive the skyline has never looked brighter for us.”
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