The long-term future of the White Sox staying in Chicago is murky.
The report that owner Jerry Reinsdorf was open to finally selling the Sox was immediately clouded when Dave Stewart was revealed as a potential buyer. The former Oakland A's ace and Arizona Diamondbacks general manager has been linked to Nashville's attempt to bring the MLB to the Music City.
There is speculation he could be interested in bringing big-league baseball back to his hometown area after the Athletics left town.
The Sox leaving Chicago is nothing new in franchise history. The team nearly relocated to Milwaukee in the late 1960s. Reinsdorf nearly moved the team to Tampa in the late 1980s before the Illinois legislature gave him a sweetheart deal to build New Comiskey Park, now Guaranteed Rate Field.
There are reports that if a new stadium is built on a vacant plot of land known as the 78, then there will never be any worries that Chicago will not have an American League team. Jerry is hoping to get that same sweetheart deal from the state to get another new ballpark built.
However, this time, the political environment does not favor Jerry. It does not mean he is not going to try to leverage Nashville to get Illinois to pay $1.7 billion of the estimated $1.9 billion it would take to build his legacy stadium. Reinsdorf is only willing to pony up $200 million of his cash.
He can threaten relocation all he wants or at least try a creative way to distance himself from being the one who uses the threat. It will not matter if MLB does not approve relocation for Jerry or any new owner.