Pro-team license plates earn $13M for Illinois schools
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Specialty license plates promoting Chicago and St. Louis professional sports teams have contributed $13 million to public schools.
Secretary of State Jesse White says there are 71,299 license plates on the road in Illinois featuring the logos of Chicago's NFL Bears, hockey Blackhawks, NBA Bulls and baseball's Cubs and White Sox as well as the baseball Cardinals of St. Louis.
Available for order online at a premium of $69 each, $25 goes to public schools in the program made law in 2002. Since taking effect in 2010, the program has produced just over $13 million for schools.
Cubs fans will be disappointed to learn that White Sox plates are far outpacing those for the north-sider, and tags for the Bulls haven't kept pace with the out-of-state Cardinals.
The scorecard reads: White Sox, 21,890; Blackhawks, 19,848; Cubs, 13,970; Bears, 8,620; Cardinals, 3,555 and Bulls, 3,416.
White noted that Cardinals' purchases in Illinois have topped those in the Redbirds' home state of Missouri, which has distributed 1,214.