The White Sox's lease at Guaranteed Rate Field doesn't expire until 2029, but watching several other MLB teams dangle relocation from perfectly functional ballparks this season, it only makes sense that the Sox would start making some preferences known.
Greg Hinz of Crain's Chicago Business broke the seal on Monday, saying Jerry Reinsdorf is considering moving the team out of Guaranteed Rate Field after 2029, and maybe far away from it.
No decision has been made or appears imminent. But among the possibilities are moving to a new stadium in the city or suburbs, or even relocating to Nashville, a subject of recurring gossip on and off for years.
There also is some chatter among team insiders that, at age 87, Reinsdorf may seek to sell the Sox, while keeping ownership of the Chicago Bulls. Reinsdorf's longtime partner at the United Center, Chicago Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz, recently died.
The prospect of a Sox move is serious enough that at least one Chicago developer who asked not to be named is preparing a bid.
There's no reason to take the Nashville idea seriously, because the Music City appears to be the "it" city for teams rattling chains. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel said Nashville or Charlotte would be potential destinations for the Brewers if they don't reach an agreement with the state of Wisconsin over upgrades to American Family Field, while John Angelos' Nashville connections have popped up here and there as he drags his feet accepting a new lease for Camden Yards.
Nashville's playing the role the Tampa Bay area served in the late 1980s, except St. Petersburg was more effective because a major-league caliber facility already existed there. Reinsdorf didn't actually want to move to Florida, and the league's owners blocked the Giants from being bought and relocated. The impact of market size on franchise values generally explain the resistance, and that's why it's hard to envision the league ever moving the White Sox out of Chicago, even if somebody wanted to.
Maybe the Athletics will be able to change the conventional wisdom if and when they complete their move to a smaller market and really small ballpark in Las Vegas, but that would also assume that John Fisher would run the team with integrity afterward, and he deserves no benefit of the doubt.
In the meantime, I can see all options within Chicagoland being on the table, especially since every team wants to duplicate the Atlanta Braves' Battery model. Owners are no longer content with a mere ballpark; they're seeking a real estate development with all sorts of revenue streams, especially since selling broadcast rights isn't the cash cow it used to be. The Royals have been hassling Kansas City to help them find and fund a downtown site for a ballpark development during a seventh straight losing season that's on track to be the worst in franchise history, and now here come the White Sox, warming up in the on-deck circle.
The Sox's timing isn't much better. They're the American League's biggest disaster relative to expectations, so much so that they might actually treat rumblings of relocation as a more favorable topic than the fate of their management.
Bob Nightengale intensified speculation about the latter in his Sunday notebook column at USA Today,
The Chicago White Sox are conducting a series of internal interviews to determine whether dramatic changes are needed inside the front office or the coaching staff. This has been one of the most disappointing and painful seasons in chairman Jerry Reinsdorf’s tenure.
GM Rick Hahn has one year left on his contract while manager Pedro Grifol has two years remaining.
You know tensions are running high when a Jerry Reinsdorf organization reveals the contract statuses of non-playing personnel, and the Sox sought to simmer it down with a bulletin to White Sox beat reporters.
"We do this after every terrible season. Cake is served."
These could be somewhat related developments. If Reinsdorf is truly taking stock of the future, then perhaps he wants a full account of the team's forecast to size up against the various upcoming negotiations, whether for real estate or a new broadcasting/streaming agreement, to decide what kind of appetite he'd have for all the work.
These could also be tied in a more cynical fashion. The White Sox used to turn to fan-shaming when support dried up for an ordinary sort of under-performing team, but they've reached a nadir that nobody should endorse. If you're looking to stave off abandonment, maybe you threaten to abandon first.
Everything is pretty much possible this far out, which is why it's not worth dwelling on any particular outcome. In the meantime, I'll raise the point that I brought up a few years ago, noting that you should appreciate Sox Park for its straightforward, democratic nature before things get more acrimonious, expensive and exclusive. It'd be just be nice if the Sox could actually provide a reason to want to go.
