Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
This hour is brought to you by Cars for Kids. Rahimi Harrison-Grody, 10-2 on 104.3 The Score. Did you hear the way Max Crosby was happy listening to the way Caleb Williams talked about Ben Johnson? He is like a player. He wants to whoop everybody's ass. Cut the rope. Every coach, every defense, and for me, I love it. Oh, the entire podcast, both these dudes, it was love building on love.
Well, humongous man crush, dude. Yeah. Yep, it's officially a bromance. Or was it Caleb Williams selling something and Max Crosby buying what he was selling? Who is this? Hello, this is Michael Scott, regional manager. Well, this is William M. Buttlicker. Hello, Mr. Buttlicker. How may we help you? Michael, I like the sound of your voice. You know what I'm going to do?
I'm going to buy $1 million worth of paper products today. maybe Max Crosby was gathering data on a team that he could play for and maybe Caleb Williams was saying hey if you want to you know come join us over here not death row but death row vibes join me and together we can rule the NFL father and son Layla Rahimi Marshall Harris Mark Grody middays 10 a.m.
to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 104.3 The Score Sorry we're a little late. We want to remind you that Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, the governor of the state from 2009 to 2015, is going to join us to talk about this issue. And we got some breaking news on the Bears Stadium and the meeting that wasn't, that is affecting everybody this morning in Springfield.
It was scheduled by the Revenue and Finance Committee for 8 a.m. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score, by the way. We appreciate you joining us. And I just hope everybody's not wasting our time. Matt Hill just posted this on Twitter. He is the Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications to Governor Pritzker. Illinois was ready to move this bill forward, he says, at 9-11 a.m.
After a productive three-hour meeting yesterday, the Bears leaders requested the ILGA pause the hearing to make further tweaks to the bill. This morning, we were surprised to see a statement lauding Indiana and ignoring Illinois. Why is this giving me WWE vibes? By golly, that's Kevin Ward's music.
And then he comes in with like, hey, by the way, we're going to go talk to Indiana instead of continuing this conversation with you guys because we want to let you know we're serious about leaving town if you don't give us exactly what we want. You're serious about leaving town because you did this all out of order.
And at this point, your dog and pony show either needs to be real or it needs to stop wasting time and therefore money because you've got an empty plot of land in Arlington Heights that has been sitting vacant for three years. And you're not a real estate investment trust. So what do you want to do here?
You decided that you wanted to cancel this meeting, Bears, that according to the state information that we get, that according to Governor Pritzker's office. So what's your plan now? Do you have a statement from the Bears talking about this, Marshall? What's the latest from the Bears? What are they saying right now as they decide to cancel? Cancel this meeting.
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Chapter 2: Why is the Bears stadium proposal controversial?
And just like you, who does not have property tax certainty, neither do they. And we're the bears isn't a good enough excuse. I hope you're serious this time. For real, for real. I need to see some numbers. I need to see more than just diplomacy at this point. If you really want to actually build a stadium there, I understand that certain things have to happen first.
But for example, the Bears purchased Darlington Heights. We know how much money they paid. We know how much money they paid in earnest. So how much money is the state willing to put up?
One of the questions I want to ask the governor, Pat Quinn, who's joining us at 1025, is what is the delta between what the Bears can afford to put up for a stadium and what the NFL can afford versus what the state of Indiana is willing to give them? And make no mistake, just because the Bears can't afford it, if you can find $5 off the street for free, you're probably going to do it.
And in this case, the Bears are also trying to do the same. I understand the sentimental value that the Bears hold for all of their fans and the history of the Bears in Chicago. I'm telling you this just to set up this. If the Bears can get a better financial deal, they're probably going to take it.
The real question here, Layla, isn't necessarily, okay, how much money can we save by moving to Indiana? It's how much money are you willing to pay to stay in Arlington Heights? I feel like at this point we've established this. It's going to be more expensive for the Bears to stay in Arlington Heights as opposed to move to Indiana. But what is the number for the Bears, through their purview,
that they're willing to say, we saved this much money and that justifies the move to Indiana. That's it. So it's kind of like the state of Illinois asking the Bears to cover the cost for the Soldier Field renovations. What is the beneficial cost where buying and selling Arlington Heights will be in their favor?
And you and I would go and try to get the best deal possible if we were responsible for our company. If we're responsible for our house, we try to get the best deal possible. I understand that part of it. But what we do is we do our due diligence, and that's what makes this so incredibly frustrating. I wish I could compare it to a game, except halftime happened before the first quarter.
So this isn't that. This is what is supposed to happen. All of this that I talked about, and I said it last week, all of this is supposed to happen before you buy the land, before you strike the deals. Now, two things on that. It is supposed to be people and municipalities competing for what they can offer you in these cases. You're absolutely right about the out-of-order thing.
But here's the thing. They did that before Kevin Warren came into the picture. And now Kevin Warren is in this cleanup mode. So remember, first he was like, let's just keep it where it is. Let's just build by Soldier Field. Obviously, that hit a very hard brick wall, and he is not the Kool-Aid man, so he could not break through. Now it's, okay, what are the other sites?
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of the Bears' potential move to Indiana?
Well, and I, you know, I understand it from a from an emotional standpoint. But when you hear this news, too, as the former governor, you know, procedurally, what are the questions you have and how can you help us kind of sift through what all of this indicates? Well, I think what Kevin Warren is doing is trying to pit Illinois and Indiana against each other.
He's got a proposal for Indiana and then another one where the Bears own land in Arlington Heights. They bought it for 300 and some odd million dollars. So he's trying to get the best deal he can from each legislature and each governor. And I think yesterday the Bears met with Governor Pritzker for, it said, three hours. So there's something cooking.
I think in Illinois, it's a much better deal for Bears fans and for the people. Our state is willing to provide infrastructure to get to a new stadium. The Bears got to realize, though, that they just can't take advantage of taxpayers. Back in about 25 years ago when they remodeled Soldier Field,
and built the new stadium there, there's still $500 million left to be paid by taxpayers on that remodeling. That's people in Illinois and also Chicago that have to pay for something that happened a quarter century ago. I don't think it's fair for the Bears to just sort of take money for themselves and run away. Governors, that's one of the big things we've been talking about.
Economic times are pretty hard right now for a lot of people in the state, in the city, in this community, Chicagoland area. I'm curious as to your thoughts about, because you said this is old school leverage play, in my opinion, but it feels to me like what seemed like leverage off the top, the idea of building in Indiana now is more of a concrete, viable reality. How much do you think this is...
plan B, something that the Bears could actually do versus something they're just threatening to do? I think it's more of a threat. I really feel that the proposal for Arlington Heights, where they have not only the stadium, but commercial development and retail and housing around it, that's a very good proposal for economic development, far more than Hammond, Indiana. And so I think that...
Ultimately, the Bears want to go to Arlington Heights, but they want to use everything they can to get a huge deal for themselves. They were asking for a 40-year property tax break, a freeze on property taxes in Arlington Heights. That's pretty hard to stomach. This is a franchise that's worth $8.9 billion right now. With a new stadium in Arlington Heights, they could
make even their stadium value or their franchise value be much higher. So I really feel it's all about money right now for the Bears. But what about the fans? What about the men and women who got there this year in the cold to root the team on? Let's think about what's good for fans. And I think the Bears got to remember that.
You know, the proposal in Indiana, by the way, they don't want to use union workers anymore. to build a proposed stadium in Hammond, Indiana. They even passed a law to keep project labor agreements from happening at a stadium there. Well, that's not what the Bears are about, the fans at least. We believe in hard work and getting paid a decent wage for your hard work.
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Chapter 4: How do fans feel about the Bears' stadium situation?
Oh, yeah. Glad to be talking to you guys. And, you know, we're all sports fans. And don't forget, Papa Bear, I think, went to the University of Illinois, which won a big game last night in California and have another one Saturday. So Papa Bear was loyal to Illinois, and I sure hope his descendants.
George McCaskey, he walked from Decatur all the way to Chicago a year or two ago, showing their loyalty to Illinois. Bears fans from Illinois, and I sure hope they understand that today. Yeah, Illinois beat USC 101-65. Before we get back to the Bears talk, you got a prediction for March Madness for the Illini? Well, yeah, Illinois all the way.
We almost made it 25 years ago, and Luther had two shots at making threes. We would have beaten North Carolina for the national title, but we'll just come back this year and do it again. They also ran into a bus on UConn, to be fair. Yeah, it was rough. UConn was bitey. But this year, look at the way the team plays defense and also shares the ball, all the assists, and excellent shooting.
Great coach. So this is our year. We love the enthusiasm. Well, and listen, Governor Quinn, I'm just curious because we were talking about that February 27th day when the legislature shuts down in Indiana. But, you know, special sessions are called. So how hard of a deadline do you see next week being for the Bears to get something done with somebody?
Well, Illinois' legislature goes until May 31st, Marshall. Indiana, I think they can have a special session maybe, although their law requires them to adjourn on the 27th. I think there will be a lot of activity in the coming week. The governor already met, our governor, Governor Pritzker, met with the Bears, they said, for three hours yesterday. And they said they made progress.
So a lot of it has to do with how much money Illinois will, as a state, put up for infrastructure to Arlington Heights. It's about $888 million. That's a lot of money for roads and bridges and all that stuff to make sure people can get in and out of the stadiums. And I don't think Indiana has done anything close to that.
They're talking in the Indiana proposal of raising the tolls on the Indiana toll road. I don't think Bears fans will be excited to hear that. So what we want to do in Illinois is have a good proposal that's fair to the Bears, but most of all fair to the taxpayers. And that's what negotiating is. You can't just give away the store.
if you're fighting for the public interest, then the Bears have to understand that as well. Well, and it seems like, Governor, that they might have somebody who's willing to give away more of the store in Indiana. You know, a lot of times, because our listeners, you know, we talk about the Bears constantly. We understand who benefits from a Bears initiative.
Having covered budgets as a governor and having dealt with them personally, where does that money go? If it's earmarked for a stadium instead of, say, other public projects, who loses when that money goes towards something like a stadium? Well, I think the number one issue is The taxpayers of Illinois should not in any way pay for the actual building of a stadium. Governor Pritzker has said that.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of the Bears' recent stadium discussions?
No. They also traded for Edward Cabrera, which should be part of this discussion. But I don't necessarily know that they did enough offensively or moved enough pieces around. And then there was also the Shota Imanaga qualifying offer, which may have also resulted in the B. So I understand why it became a B. I would say B- because of the last thing you mentioned.
The Shota Imanaga qualifying offer and the way that that went down,
Chapter 6: How do the Bears' trades affect their season outlook?
They had to do the other stuff to make up for that to get above a C. And that's why they end up with a B-.
You could argue that their bullpen isn't quite as strong as it was last year, but we don't know what Craig Council and that pitching staff, Tommy Hodderby in the game, what magic will they work this year amongst aging relievers that you're not quite sure if they're going to make it through a full season. We do know that.
The bullpen that starts in game one will not be the same bullpen that ends the regular season. What will the production look like for Matt Shaw in the various positions he's asked to play?
Chapter 7: What is the significance of the Shota Imanaga qualifying offer?
Yeah, Matt Shaw's cruising around the diamond is pretty much what I understand. Pete Garo Armstrong, first half, second half. What does the 2026 season look more like? So there's questions, and I think B- would have been my grade, but B is a fair grade overall because they did – do enough, I think, to say we are the frontrunners far and away to win the NL Central. Or is it B for be aggressive?
B-E aggressive. B-E-A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E. Aggressive. B-E.
Chapter 8: How does the World Baseball Classic impact player availability?
Aggressive. Even that has made more sense in the events of this morning.
number three this is five on it on 104.3 the score with leila rahimi and marshall harris here's question number three white socks manager will venable announced that munitaka morikami's cactus league debut will take place friday against the cubs at sloan park how seriously are the southsiders taking spring training well i think they're taking as seriously as they need to considering that
World Baseball Classic is not that far away. And we know Japanese players are leaving earlier than the American players. So they want to see him and see what he can do. And if you go back to the last World Baseball Classic when he was launching, we're calling them moonshots now, right? When he was launching moonshots. Thanks, Governor Quinn. We want lots of moonshots. Amazing.
Appreciate that, Governor Pat Quinn. I think it's great to get as much out of him as you can before he has to leave for the World Baseball Classic because Japan, last I checked, they could probably be in it to win it and therefore in it for the long haul. Well, I feel like they needed to develop Munataka Murakami. They said they wanted to and develop is...
That's probably a little bit loose of a term when you consider they just want him to see as much major league pitching as possible. Adjust to your new league. We've seen other people do it pretty easily for their adjustment time period. But I feel like this is a reps thing. You know, just get him as many reps as he can possibly get facing major league pitching of any kind.
Not necessarily ones versus ones here. But I like that for him. I think for Munetaka Murakami, the more you see of that, the more you'll get used to it and the more of an accurate hitter for yourself that you will be. Knowing is half the battle. Murakami, now you know and knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe. Murakami and the rest of the Japanese players, they leave a week from today.
So you got seven days, well really six days to figure it out. Yeah, that World Baseball Classic does mess up the schedule a little bit, in a good way, but it does affect the schedule. Number four. CHSN's KC Johnson asked Bulls guard Josh Giddey about his playing status tonight. Do you plan on being let out of prison tomorrow and playing? Yep, I do. I'm back playing. Okay.
Interesting phrasing there, Casey Johnson. But that's Josh Giddey talking about his playing status tonight, courtesy of CHSN. Additionally, Jalen Smith is playing and Isaac Okoro is off the injury report. Here's the question. How does this affect a possible tank? I think it makes the tank in peril. I think that there's not a parking spot for the tank.
I feel like when you have the intent on playing players and taking them off of the injury statuses whenever there was a break, that losing games is not something that I see you're looking to communicate here. So... It further lets you kind of understand what the Bulls' plan is, doesn't it?
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