Rethinking Stadium Development
Win/Win: The New Game Plan for Urban Stadiums
Multiple professional sports teams in Chicago are pursuing new development simultaneously. This is a unique moment for our city, and a chance to rethink how we might craft a win-win for our teams and our communities. Economic development is the hallmark of a thriving city and Chicago sports, and their stadiums can play a huge role in this. This is an opportunity we must not squander.
The Chicago Architecture Center brought together civic leaders, business executives, architects, and urban planners to understand what this convergence of new stadium planning means. We partnered with research experts in economics, sports-related development, tax policy, and public policy who provided critical analysis. We interviewed team officials and representatives, as well as developers, designers, and consulting firms with experience in this specialty industry.
Over three months, we studied stadium developments nationwide, analyzed what worked and what failed, and kept returning to something we already have: Wrigley Field and Lakeview. Not because it’s perfect, but because it demonstrates a level of integration most stadium districts don’t achieve—the ballpark and the surrounding neighborhood genuinely make each other better.
That insight became our foundation. Instead of treating stadiums as standalone facilities requiring public support, we propose thinking about them as anchors for thriving neighborhoods. We are terming this “The Chicago Model” and it follows a simple recipe: teams we love, playing in stadiums we love, anchoring communities we love.
This report, “Win/Win: The New Game Plan for Urban Stadiums” explains what that means in practice and why the next 18 months could determine Chicago’s development patterns for decades to come. The decisions involved are complicated, the money substantial, the timeline compressed. But the opportunity is extraordinary.
Stadium Working Group:
- Robert S. Rivkin * SVP and Chief Legal Officer, United Airlines (Working Group Chair)
- Kara Bachman, Executive Director, Chicago Sports Commission
- Kemena Brooks, Chief of Staff, Chicago Housing Authority
- Andre Brumfield * Cities Sector Leader, Principal, Gensler
- Erin Lavin Cabonargi, Managing Director, Urban ReSolve
- Philip Clement, President & CEO, World Business Chicago
- Marilynn Gardner, President & CEO, Navy Pier
- Sean Garrett, President & CEO, United Way of Metro Chicago
- Christy George, President & CEO, Intersect Illinois
- Jack Lavin, President & CEO, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce
- Dan Lurie, President & CEO, Metropolitan Planning Council
- Juan Gabriel Moreno * President/Founder, JGMA
- Farzin Parang, Executive Director, BOMA/Chicago
- David Reifman, Partner & Chair of Real Estate Practice, Croke Fairchild
- Jonathan Safron, Attorney, Swanson, Martin & Bell
- Adam Semel * Partner, Skidmore Owings Merrill
- Jeff Shapack * Founder & CEO, Shapack Partners
- Danielle Tillman * Managing Principal, bKL Architecture
- Tom Tunney, Former Alderman
- Bill Williams * Founder, KMW Communities
- Ernie Wong, Founding Principal and President, site design group ltd.
*Trustee of Chicago Architecture Center
Chicago Architecture Center Facilitators:
- Eleanor Gorski, President & CEO
- Julie Burros, Director of Executive Affairs
- Michael Wood, Director of Civic and Industry Affairs
- Jeff Leitner, Facilitator, Leitner Insights
