Chico: Chicago Can Host Super Bowl

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 31, 2011 3:39PM

Now that he has the endorsements of Chicago policemen and firefighters who don't want to live in the city, and found a slogan he can beat Rahm Emanuel over the head with, Gery Chico's next stop in his late push for second place in next month's election is to pander to football fans. The Chico campaign responded to an article by the Tribune's David Haugh in which Haugh laid out the chances of Soldier Field hosting a future Super Bowl with a press release that said, if elected Mayor, Chico would work to bring a Super Bowl to the Windy City.

"With just a week to go until the Super Bowl XLV, mayoral candidate Gery Chico today said he would work to bring the Super Bowl to Chicago. The Super Bowl can produce a major local economic boost, including thousands of jobs and millions in revenue for local businesses.

"As another northern city New York prepares to host the Super Bowl in 2014, Chico said Chicago 'should be next.'

"'We should pursue every possible avenue to bring America's greatest sports competition to America's greatest sports city,' Gery Chico said while campaigning at Lume's Pancake House in the Beverly Neighborhood. 'If New York can do it, Chicago can do it.'

"Historically, low temperatures and a 70,000 seating requirement have prevented Chicago from eligibility to host the Super Bowl. But that changed when the NFL recently voted to break the 50 degree temperature barrier as a hosting requirement. All that now separates Soldier Field - the smallest stadium in the NFL- from Super Bowl contention is the addition of 8,500 seats.

"Chico, who as mayoral chief of staff worked on rehabilitating Soldier Field for the 1994 World Cup Soccer games, says it could be done.

"'We should never allow the status quo to prevent our city from reaching for new heights,' Chico said. 'A Chicago Super Bowl would be good for our economy, good for our spirit and good for Chicagoans. It should be pursued.'

"The potential economic boost that a Super Bowl could bring to Chicago is tremendous. North Texas area experts anticipate an economic impact as high as $400 million for Super Bowl XLV. A lifelong Bears fan, Chico campaigned and tailgated at Soldier Field last week and discussed the possibility of a Super Bowl in Chicago with Bears fans, who loved the idea."

As Haugh pointed out in his article, the NFL saw New York as a special circumstance as a two-team town in the nation's largest media market. While the architects responsible for fitting the futuristic looking new Soldier Field between the historic colonnades said adding the 8,500 extra seats for the attendance requirement can be done, there's nothing we can do about the weather. Chico's press release is just another case of leaving no undecided vote go unnoticed in the last month to the election.