From the Saturday, Nov. 22, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …
By Dave Wischnowsky
The WISCH LIST
On the basketball court, DePaul’s scores may add up, but when it comes to the Blue Demons’ proposed hoops arena near McCormick Place, the numbers sure don’t. And with taxpayers on the hook, that’s a problem.
In May 2013, when the 10,000-seat venue planned for a site in Chicago’s South Loop was announced, the estimated cost was about $140 million with the publicly funded Metropolitan Pier and Expansion Authority (McPier) and private-school DePaul slated to pay $70 million apiece.
This past Tuesday, however, Crain’s Chicago Business reported that due to the arena’s partially subterranean design, that price tag has now jumped as high as $250 million, 75 percent more than originally projected.
McPier spokeswoman Mary Kay Marquisos told Crain’s on Wednesday that it won’t cost that much, saying, “We’re confident that the proposal that will be presented to the (McPier) board next Tuesday will be within the budgetary parameters established for the project and well within the spirit of the original design.”
We’ll see exactly what that means. But I’d say it’s almost a certainty that the arena’s ultimate cost will significantly exceed $140 million. And if it does, overruns are likely to be covered by McPier – or, in other words, by you the taxpayer.
Soaring construction costs are only the project’s latest fuzzy figures, as it’s also been estimated that DePaul’s struggling basketball program – which drew a mere 1,900 fans per game at Allstate Arena last season – will somehow suddenly attract 9,500 per game in Chicago. Additionally, the mid-sized arena is supposed to appeal to enough conventions, musical acts and other forms of entertainment to keep it busy and profitable during the more than 300 days annually when DePaul doesn’t have a game.
Considering all of that, I’m not buying what DePaul and McPier are selling, and I don’t want to pay for it, either. So here’s my suggestion for DePaul: Take you ball and head home – literally.
After more than three decades of playing 15 miles away in Rosemont, having DePaul basketball back in Chicago would be a positive. But it should be played in an arena near campus, not at one that’s still 6 miles away from Lincoln Park down in the South Loop.
In June 2012, I interviewed DePaul students about how much their enthusiasm for basketball was dampened by the Blue Demons playing so far from campus. Senior Joe Laskero told me that most students simply don’t have the time, let alone the interest, to take the school’s free fan bus all the way out to Rosemont. I’m not convinced that they would have any greater interest in taking a train and then a bus to get to McCormick Place.
Before settling on the increasingly nonsensical South Loop location, DePaul investigated the 22-acre Finkl Steel & Sons Co. site that’s less than a mile from the heart of its campus. With an arena located there, students could walk to games, while everyone else could take the “L.”
Sounds great to me, but Ald. Michele Smith, 43rd, criticized that arena idea last year, saying, “Is that the best way to use space? Having it here in Lincoln Park is probably not the right match. We certainly don’t want it in the heart of Lincoln Park. It’s just too darn crowded here.”
Population density, however, would likely generate actual crowds at games. And that sounds a lot better than an empty arena costing taxpayers untold millions. DePaul should scrap its current plan and use the $70 million it has earmarked to build an arena near campus.
For both students and taxpayers, that would seem to add up.