The report of the White Sox's move to a network headed by Standard Media has what the report of the White Sox moving to Stadium never did: corroboration.
The Chicago Tribune's Phil Thompson backs the reporting of The Athletic's Scott Powers and Mark Lazerus by saying the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks plan to begin broadcasting games with the new network in October, assuming the teams clear all hurdles with their respective leagues.
While there's more substance here, it's somehow more vague. Say what you will about Stadium -- most people might say "I don't know what that is" -- but at least it had some distribution, programming and studio talent, whereas Standard Media has an out-of-date website and no detectable physical presence.
However, if you replace "Standard Media" with "Standard General," the hedge fund that is trying to take Bally's private, it makes a lot more sense, especially when you see the latest twist in the Oakland A's ballpark saga.
The Oakland A's ballpark is supposed to sit on the 9-acre lot where the Tropicana currently sits, but the master plan that ultimately will determine the placement of the ballpark is up in the air:
When it comes to building a new hotel-casino on the same Strip land, Bally’s Corp. Chairman Soo Kim said he is open to partnering with another resort operator to make the project come to fruition sooner.
“A partner that could help us accelerate, I would be open to,” Kim told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
This isn't entirely novel, because Mark Cuban sold a majority portion of the Dallas Mavericks to the family that owns the Sands Casino in hopes of building a casino/arena destination resort.
Specific to the White Sox, Bally's is also attempting to build a $1.7 billion casino in River West after previously exploring The 78, the South Loop site that is currently the favorite of the White Sox for a new ballpark of their own. There's been a reported $800 million funding gap there, so perhaps you'll see a similar kind of scrambling toward a real-estate partnership. Both the White Sox's and Bears' stadium proposals have fallen flat with state leaders, so you can't rule out any bedfellows at the moment, especially if Jerry Reinsdorf would take a substandard media deal if he thinks he can reinforce the franchise value with a new ballpark.
A couple days ago, Rob Manfred said at the 2024 Associated Sports Editors Commissioners Meetings that baseball was "dragged into legalized sports betting" because the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to prevent states from legalizing sports betting at a federal level. That may very well be true, but between rampant gambling tie-ins on broadcasts and in ballparks, and now the potential for gambling resorts that include ballparks, Major League Baseball and its teams have been willing partners for just about every possibility since.
