Here's the latest on White Sox proposed new ballpark

CHICAGO -- Any baseball field designed and cultivated by Roger Bossard, the highly respected White Sox head groundskeeper who has been with the team for the past 58 seasons, inherently has something special attached.

In the case of the small baseball venue put together by Bossard this summer on the proposed location of a new Major League ballpark as part of the ‘78’ project on a parcel in Chicago’s South Loop, the diamond provides a view of what could be for the future for the White Sox organization and the city of Chicago.

“It’s good to be able to stand here where home plate would be,” said Michael Ellch, the senior vice president of development for Related Midwest, which owns the potential site at Roosevelt Road and Clark Street, during a recent visit at the location. “This is where home plate would be.

“This is the way the ballpark would be situated. So, you get the idea of the amazing skyline you could have as a backdrop for this ballpark.”

Ellch explained the vision for the ‘78’ as a 13-million square foot extension of downtown Chicago with a half mile of frontage along the river they would look to create and exponentially expand back to connect with the downtown Riverwalk. The first phase of development in creating Chicago’s next neighborhood would include two apartment buildings, food, beverage, and retail spaces, as well as parking.

Over the past five years, the group looked for an anchor tenant to jumpstart this first phase, and the focus currently is on a new ballpark for the White Sox. Delivery for the first phase would be targeted for 2029, with Ellch adding everything after that is really market driven.

“For us to get out of the ground on a project of this scale, we need something that has the kind of excitement and brings in the kind of energy and the visitors that we think a new White Sox ballpark can do here,” Ellch said. “We look to some of the other stadiums, the new stadiums across the country, to something like Atlanta as a model of bringing 10, 11 million new visitors per year.

“That’s more than Epcot Center. That’s the kind of impact something like this can have on the city. It’s really about having something that’s a demand driver and drives excitement.”

The White Sox current lease at Guaranteed Rate Field -- located in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago and owned by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority -- expires after the 2029 season. The team directed all inquiries concerning the ‘78’ to Related Midwest when approached for comment.

The club also declined comment on a Wednesday article from The Athletic reporting that White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was open to selling the team. The Athletic article reported Reinsdorf is in “active discussions” with a group led by Dave Stewart -- the former pitcher, front office executive and agent -- who has been involved in Nashville’s pursuit of a franchise.

Reinsdorf, who turns 89 in February, has been White Sox chairman for 44 seasons and has given no public inclination of selling the franchise. He has a passion for baseball, and even joked during a press conference last season about not golfing or playing bridge as hobbies so what else would he do without the team.

But the White Sox are coming off two of the worst seasons in Reinsdorf’s ownership tenure, losing 222 games in total since 2023, including setting the Modern Era single season loss mark (since 1901) with 121 in ’24. Reinsdorf issued a statement at the end of the season talking about the frustration of the 2024 season and the drive to get things right on the South Side.

However, if this new stadium deal cannot be achieved, selling the team might be the next step for Reinsdorf, leaving a decision on where the White Sox will play in the future up to the next owner.

Bossard’s neatly manicured field with a temporary fence around the outfield gives investors an idea of what could be. Ellch mentioned there’s financing of the stadium, which is its own thing, but all the accompanying items would be privately financed with about a $2 billion total development in the first phase and about $7 billion of total private investment across the life of the ‘78.’

South Loop neighborhood kids have used Bossard’s pop-up field, as have players from the White Sox Amateur City Elite program. Plans are set for a Fall Fest at the locale on Oct. 20, and they are looking into next spring to find ways to activate it, as it’s not just for show.

There’s no deadline for the White Sox to officially become a part of the ‘78’ project.

“Still working hand-in-hand and trying to figure out a way to move this forward,” said Ellch of the ongoing nature of the White Sox potential involvement. “Still ongoing conversations and just kind of working with them, working with the city, working with the state, just to make sure everybody has time to understand the proposals and have their buy in on it.

“I’m a lifelong White Sox fan so of course I’m excited. Standing out here, you get a sense of what this could really mean for the city as an extension of downtown. Having a downtown ballpark that people can walk to after work, that tourists can walk over, grab a ticket, concerts, we want to be able to do them here. Activations in the offseason. All of that. It could add a whole new element to downtown Chicago.”