As a suburban student in the 1990s, it was easy to remember the difference between a bull market and a bear market, because Chicago’s NBA team was seemingly invincible while the local football squadron settled between middling and embarrassing.
In 2026, the franchise’s fortunes between the lines have certainly traded places, but with news this week about a major urban redevelopment effort centered around the United Center, it seemed appropriate to consider the different strategies the Bulls (and Blackhawks) are wielding in terms of public support versus the confounding Bears.
The Chicago Sun-Times on Monday reported that Mayor Brandon Johnson wants to offer a property tax break worth $54.7 million under a Cook County special assessment program. The Wirtz and Reinsdorf families, who own the stadium and controlling interests in its primary tenants, are planning to spend up to $7 billion on what they call the 1901 Project.
There are similarities to what the Bears’ ownership family wants: the first phase is centered around a 6,000-seat concert venue and also would include a boutique hotel and parking garage. Long-term goals involve housing units across the expense spectrum. In other words, a diversified real estate portfolio that increases revenue streams beyond just sports.
But the differences are vast. For one thing, the teams already own their stadium (the Bears lease Soldier Field), which they built on their own nickel in the first place three decades ago. They’re not playing municipalities, regions and states against each other. The Bulls and Blackhawks would stay put (and so would the stadium), they’d just be in a vastly improved area instead of surrounded by literally acres of parking lots.
Further, whereas the Bears seem insistent on doing everything out of order and using the wrong people to try twisting political arms, the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families are deliberate: they first announced the project in 2024, months after Jerry Reinsdorf spent millions taking ownership of parking lots to establish size and scope, and have used the time quietly garnering consensus that their redevelopment vision is broadly beneficial and not just a personal wealth plan.
Courting a tax break from the city now does run against the original stated intent of only needing approval, not resources, but the Bulls and Blackhawks now are where the Bears say they want to be: negotiating “tax certainty.” The Sun-Times says there may yet be discussions about public money for a new Pink Line station, but so far, the entire effort is something non-Chicagoans can easily disregard, given that it wouldn’t affect our tax bills unless we choose to head in and spend money.
Without blessing everything else either family has ever managed, the 1901 Project is far less problematic than the Arlington Heights debacle.
• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.
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March 26, 2026 at 10:02AM
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