The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the public entity created in 1987 for the construction and renovation of stadiums in the state and expanded in 2001 to include bonding authority for Soldier Field renovations, operated at a $7.7 million deficit in its general fund in fiscal year 2022, according to the agency’s 2023 annual report. Much of that is due to a $6.1 million Soldier Field maintenance subsidy.

First in a series looking at the public funding of Illinois sports stadiums

Tom Tresser gets sick every time he hears something is needed to make Chicago “a world-class city.”

“It means that somebody’s got their hand in my pocket,” the public watchdog said.

With both the Chicago Bears and Chicago White Sox seeking public funding for new stadiums, Tresser, a Chicago resident who fought to squash the city’s bid for the 2016 Olympics, is now taking aim on the potential stadium deals.

“We didn’t need the Olympics then and we don’t need public-funded stadiums today. It’s the same argument,” Tresser said. “It’s not the city’s job to subsidize billionaires.

“The city’s job is to make sure that everybody who lives in it, especially people who have been disadvantaged and sandblasted through a hundred years of racist policies, have a good shot at health care and at education.”

Tresser is founder of the Civic Lab, a co-working space for civic engagement in Chicago’s West Loop, bringing together activists, educators, coders and designers.

He has a petition posted at https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/no-public-dollars-for-sports-stadiums, urging public officials to not dedicate tax dollars for sports stadiums.

While the Bears and Sox stadium deals have been getting the lion’s share of attention, the Chicago Red Stars women’s soccer team is also seeking public funding for a stadium deal. The lead investor of the Red Stars is Laura Ricketts, co-owner of the Cubs.

Not coincidentally, the Cubs are asking for $30 million in taxpayer funds for security improvements around Wrigley Field.

The White Sox are seeking as much as $1 billion in public funds for a new stadium.

The Bears are seeking public land for a new stadium in Chicago after a tax dispute with the village of Arlington Heights apparently derailed that deal.

A Bears and White Sox combined effort is also on the table for a tax increment financing district — a public funding mechanism for “blighted” areas — on the city’s South Side.

“If they put both stadiums in that area, I’ll put everything I have in my bank account that they’re going to come to the (Illinois) legislature and the (Chicago) City Council for billions of dollars of public subsidies, public financing, laying the infrastructure,” Tresser said. “It is going to be a huge cost to me, the taxpayer.

“If we’re going to put all that money on the table, I would build 20 health care centers. I would build 20 more parks, 20 more libraries, that are to be enjoyed by the people for free because we pay for them. That is the job of the city.”

The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the public entity created in 1987 for the construction and renovation of stadiums in the state and expanded in 2001 to include bonding authority for Soldier Field renovations, operated at a $7.7 million deficit in its general fund in fiscal year 2022, according to the agency’s 2023 annual report. Much of that is due to a $6.1 million Soldier Field maintenance subsidy.

Even with the operating fund deficit, the ISFA ended FY22 with a $17.7 million surplus.

Leslie Darling, chair of the Sports Facilities Board, noted in the agency’s annual report, that “Fitch Ratings upgraded ISFA’s bond rating and affirmed our rating outlook as stable.”

Tresser said claims of construction jobs do not make him want to jump on the public dollars for stadiums bandwagon.

“Yes, of course, if you build a stadium, metal workers, welders, painters will have jobs, but who are those guys? I’ve got nothing against them, but most of them don’t live in the city,” Tresser said.

The 71-year-old, semi-retired Tresser said there have been a hundred reports done on the public funding of stadiums and they all have a familiar theme.

“They tell us over and over again that these projects overpromise and underdeliver,” he said. “It’s never a win for the taxpayer, never, ever, ever.”

Tresser said it is somewhat encouraging that neither Gov. J.B. Pritzker nor Chicago Mayor Brendan Johnson have signed on for public funding for stadium plans, not saying “yes” or “no” to public money going toward public stadiums.

“I’m just saying to both those leaders, the answer is ‘no,’ no public money, no public land, no public tax forgiveness because even if you forgive their taxes, it is still a burden on us,” Tresser said. “It’s still a gift that they don’t deserve.”

He said no one gives him a break on his taxes, so why should billionaires get tax deals?

“I am sick and tired of billionaires sucking the public tit to get free stuff that we the people have to pay for. It’s that simple,” Tresser said.

He said he is willing to do a public throwdown with Bears owner Virginia McCaskey and other Bears brass or any other team owner about billionaires getting billion from the public for stadiums.

Tresser said arguments that Chicago’s sports teams could leave for greener pastures if not given publicly financed stadiums don’t hold water.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” Tresser said. “Try to fit ‘Arlington Heights Bears’ on your cap. It’s a business. That’s their job. If they can wrangle free money, they would be negligent not to get free money from us, but where’s the loyalty?

“The fans love these teams year in and year out. They buy the tickets. They buy the merchandise. They watch them on television, give them ratings. They talk it up. They cry when the teams lose. I mean there’s a lot of emotion … People love their teams, but the loyalty is only one way; and as soon as the team thinks they can get a better deal, they’re going to say ‘F— you’ to the millions of fans, all the diehard fans. ‘We’re going to stick you in the eye and go wherever.’”

kbeese@chronicleillinois.com