Rosemont wooing Chicago Bandits with promise of stadium

It's no secret that Rosemont mayor and sports aficionado Bradley Stephens would like to see the village become a mecca for regional sports teams.

Home to the DePaul Blue Demons, the Chicago Wolves and, as of this season, the Chicago Sky, Rosemont may soon become the stamping grounds for the Elgin-based Chicago Bandits professional fastpitch softball team.

Stephens suggested building a stadium for the team and is having an artist's rendering drawn up, he said.

Though unwilling to divulge the details just yet, Stephens said the proposed location for the stadium is an empty lot on the northwest corner of Bryn Mawr Avenue and Pearl Street, west of the Tri-State Tollway.

The Bandits, one of four teams in the National Pro Fastpitch League, have 16 home games remaining this season on their home field at Judson University in Elgin.

The Bandits, league champions in 2008, are in their third season at Judson.

With declining attendance, and Elgin's budget woes shelving plans for a new stadium, it was time to consider other options, Bandits' principal owner Bill Sokolis said by phone from Lubbock, Texas, where the team is playing a five-game series against the USSSA Pride.

"The first year we were in Elgin, there was a lot of interest," Sokolis said. "A lot of people seemed to want to have us there. Things changed, and the money stuff changed, and the stadium that was promised really kind of fell apart. Once that didn't happen, it really does not make sense for us to be at Judson, which really is a small college and off the beaten path."

The Bandits were used to average crowds of 1,500 when they played at Benedictine University in Lisle. Lately, attendance has been around 600, Sokolis said.

Elgin city officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Bandits' owners are considering two other undisclosed sites, but Rosemont seems to be the preferred choice.

"Rosemont, if it would work out, is a great location because it would be the closest the Chicago Bandits would have ever been to Chicago," Sokolis said. "The mayor of Rosemont has a desire to make Rosemont the mini-Chicago, and sports teams help to do that, so he wants us there as bad as we'd like to be there."

Sokolis said proposed tollway ramp improvements and Rosemont's plans for a 550,000-square-foot, high-end outlet mall abutting the Tri-State Tollway just south of Balmoral Avenue, should make it "a happening area."

"I think (the location) has phenomenal highway access," he said. "The airport is right there, so (for) teams coming in and out it would be really ideal."

Sokolis said the Bandits will finish this season in Elgin and likely open the 2011 season in Rosemont.

The proposed Bandits' stadium won't be quite as big or have the seating capacity of a minor-league baseball team such as the Schaumburg Flyers, but it will be "top drawer" quality, Rosemont spokesman Gary Mack said.

"I think the sport is growing in popularity and I think it will do quite well," Mack said. "Millions of people are going to see these games when they drive by. The location itself will probably spur a lot of attendance and interest in it."

Rosemont also will do its part to market the Bandits, he said.