White Sox decline comment on reports that Reinsdorf is ‘open’ to sales team – NBC New York

A bombshell report says Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf is “open to selling” the team as his push for a new stadium in the city faces resistance.

According to the report by Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic, Reinsdorf is in “active discussions” with a group led by former MLB player Dave Stewart about a possible sale.

The White Sox declined NBC Chicago’s request for comment on the report, saying they “would not comment on rumors.”

Reinsdorf, 88, has pushed for public funding to facilitate construction of a new ballpark in the South Loop as part of a development known as “The 78.” The White Sox even went so far as to build an entire diamond on the site, with a picturesque view of the Chicago skyline in the background.

The proposed ballpark could come with a price tag of up to $1.1 billion in public funding. The venue would also need Tax-Increment Funding to help facilitate infrastructure projects around the stadium, including a new CTA stop and rerouting of existing Metra tracks.

The team proposed paying for the park by renewing a hotel service tax that has been used to pay bonds on Guaranteed Rate Field, the team’s current home.

The proposal faced significant opposition from Springfield, with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker calling himself “very reluctant” to approve the spending.

“Unless there’s an argument that the investment will provide a long-term return to taxpayers that we can somehow justify, I haven’t seen that yet,” Pritzker said earlier this year.

Estimates indicate that more than $50 million in bonds still need to be repaid to build the Guaranteed Rate Field, which opened in 1991. That ballpark was built through a public financing deal pushed through by former Gov. Jim Thompson amid speculation that the team would move to Florida if it didn’t get a new stadium.

In August 2023, Crain’s Chicago Business reported that the White Sox would consider moving out of Guaranteed Rate Field, with a move to Nashville mooted as a possibility. That was followed by a meeting between Reinsdorf and Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell during last year’s winter meetings in November.

Nashville is one of the markets known as a potential candidate for an expansion franchise, with Stewart part of a group pursuing a team. Stewart also participated in efforts to purchase the city of Oakland’s interest in the Oakland Coliseum in the years before the athletic organization announced it was leaving the city.

Any move or change in ownership would have to be approved by Major League Baseball. The league would likely prefer an expansion team in Nashville, with a potential $2 billion expansion fee going into state coffers.