Should Chicago Play Ball?

The University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy has selected the finalists for the third annual Harris Policy Innovation Challenge, a competition which tasked student teams to devise bold, actionable solutions to this question: What should be the city of Chicago’s policy toward supporting professional sports teams and facilities?

The three finalist teams will present their proposals at a live event on April 23, where a panel of experts will pick the winning team based on how their solutions incorporate neighborhood development, equitable access to facilities and events, fair tax sharing, and public sector ROI. The winners will take home a $10,000 prize.

This year’s contest takes place amid a historic era for Chicago and professional sports, as teams including the Bears, the Fire, the Sky, and the Red Stars are all re-envisioning their relationships to the city itself.

The members of this year’s HPIC finalist teams are:

Some of the innovative ideas proposed by this year’s finalists include:

• No new public subsidies without a public referendum and a long-term restructuring of Soldier Field’s ownership structure
• Creating a new Stadium Securitization Corporation modeled after the city's Sales Tax Securitization Corporation, untangling stadium liabilities from the City’s general credit
• Requiring pro sports teams to sell a small, minority equity stake to the city, via the establishment of a new Chicago Sports Authority

The judges for the April 23 live pitch session are:

• David Wells (former CFO, Netflix)
• Bill Conway (Alderman, Chicago’s 34th Ward)
• Mike Parker (Principal, Parker & Co.)
• Derek Douglas (President, the Civic Committee and the Commercial Club of Chicago)
• Tovah McCord (Executive Director, Nicor Illinois Community Investment)

The Harris Policy Innovation Challenge, launched in 2023, encourages students to apply their insights and creativity toward solving critical real-world urban issues.  Previous years’ competitions have challenged students to find novel and workable solutions to reviving downtown Chicago and addressing the city’s pension crisis. Winning teams from the contest’s first two years garnered media coverage in outlets including WBEZ, Crain’s, and Bloomberg CityLab, and presented their ideas to local leaders at the Civic Committee.

“The first two Harris Policy Innovation Challenges set their sights on urban issues of major importance and this year’s contest around the city’s pro sports teams is no different,” said Research Professor Justin Marlowe, who directs the Center for Municipal Finance and leads this year’s competition. “In fact, it’s arguably the most widely discussed topic we’ve chosen for HPIC so far. As they do every year, our student participants delivered novel and deeply considered approaches to this issue. I am excited to see them present those ideas next month, and I know the judges will feel the same way.”

Prof. Christopher Berry, the Harris School’s William J. and Alicia Townsend Friedman Professor and an expert in municipal finance and urban issues, had this to say about the finalists’ proposals:

“Public-private partnerships are a hotly debated topic at all levels of government. When you add to those conversations the intense local connections forged by sports fandom, the issue takes on an even greater urgency for cities. It’s clear that the current models for sports stadiums need major rethinking, which is why this year’s HPIC topic couldn’t come at a better time.”

Final Pitch Event

• Time: April 23, 2025, 4:00pm – 6:00pm CT, followed by a reception
• Location: The Keller Center, 1307 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637

Register for the April 23 Final Pitch