Paul Sullivan: Like it or not, Bears fans, threatening to move usually works for Chicago’s sports teams

Key Highlights

• JB Pritzker was surprised and apparently blindsided by the latest development and now must respond to the threat of losing one of our state’s most precious commodities or risk going down in history as “the jamoke who lost Da Bears.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat’s probably worse than offering to sell a U. S.
• Senate seat or taking bribes for steering state contracts to “insiders,” like some of our other famous governors.
• And unlike Rod Blagojevich, Pritzker won’t get a pardon from President Trump for making an extreme miscalculation. Of course, it’s not over until the full-figured lady sings.
• There’s still a chance Pritzker and Illinois legislators can save the day by caving in to the Bears like their Indiana buddies, ending this saga once and for all and keeping the “pride and joy” in a state that rhymes with the song’s lyrics. Threatening to leave town if the city or state doesn’t provide any financial incentive to stay is a time-honored tradition followed by Chicago’s sports owners. The stadium I’m now writing this from, Sloan Park, was built only after the Ricketts family threatened to move the Cubs spring training site to Naples, Fla.
• Worried over losing its cash cow, the city of Mesa approved a ballot measure in 2010 to build the Cubs their new spring facility, which eventually cost the city $116.5 million, according to a 2015 audit obtained by the Mesa Tribune.