Several options are emerging for the future of Jerry Reinsdorf’s White Sox: a new stadium, a new owner, and a new city.
The second-longest tenured MLB owner is in talks with a group called Smoke34 led by former-player-turned-executive Dave Stewart, according to multiple reports. It’s significant because, despite fans’ pleas to “sell the team” throughout one of the worst seasons in MLB history, Reinsdorf, 88, has long said his intention is for his family to sell the team after he dies.
Stewart has been publicly pining for a team for years. In 2021, the Oakland-born pitcher, who won the 1989 World Series with the A’s, made a $115 million bid to buy the city of Oakland’s half of the Coliseum site. Stewart has also been tied to expansion team bids for MLB and NWSL teams in Nashville.
This isn’t the first time Reinsdorf, who also owns the Bulls, has toyed with the idea of Music City. The owner met with Nashville mayor Freddie O’Connell in December, after he had shut down the idea of moving the team there in September.
Of course, talking to Nashville-loving Stewart could be a strategy to pressure city and state officials into allocating public funding for the team’s proposed new stadium a few miles north in an area called The 78. Like the Bears, the Sox are hoping for a mix of public and private dollars to build a new home, but Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has continuously opposed the notion, saying last month that “right now, there is no building any new stadiums.”
For any prospective buyer, it would be a curious time to take Reinsdorf’s roughly 19% stake off his hands. Not only is the stadium a looming question mark, but so is the media situation. This fall, Reinsdorf launched the Chicago Sports Network for the Bulls, Sox, and Blackhawks, three teams struggling in mediocrity or worse. The new venture still doesn’t have a deal with Comcast, the primary cable provider in Chicago, leaving many fans unable to watch Blackhawks games since the season started more than a week ago.
If any of this were to happen, it likely wouldn’t be anytime soon. The White Sox are locked into their lease at Guaranteed Rate Field through the 2029 season.
