(Written by kencraw)

Word is coming down from two sources (Rich Lieberman and Okanes) that the deal has been finalized on where the Bears will play in 2011:

AT&T Park

As we all know, this is where the Giants play in San Francisco and where the Emerald Bowl is held, and it has the upside of being the nicest facility of the candidates (Oakland Coliseum, Candlestick and AT&T), but has the downside of small capacity, playing with a dirt infield in September (and maybe October if the Giants make a playoff run) (which the Coliseum has the same downside via the A’s), plus the weird sideline/odd corners problems that squeezing a football field onto that baseball field has. (UPDATE: It appears Cal will re-work the field so that both teams will not be on the same sideline like in the Emerald Bowl.)

Personally, this was my last choice of the 3, and it wasn’t even close. I wanted the Coliseum and actually waffled with wanting Candlestick as my #1 because there would NEVER be any baseball conflict issues. Part of that is I travel from a long way away no matter what so where it is in the Bay Area doesn’t matter much to me. Part of it is that I don’t care about nice amenities (even the Stick is a HUGE improvement over Memorial, so what do we care?). Add in the low capacity crowd and AT&T just doesn’t speak to me.

But I’m just one guy and lots of guys feel differently. It’s not a horrible situation, in fact it’s anything but. The way I see it, the headline should read something like this:

“Bears confident enough that renovation of stadium will actually happen in 2011 to enter into contract with replacement stadium for that season!”

For me, the prospect of sitting in a renovated Memorial stadium in just 28 months from now is something that will keep me smiling all day, even if AT&T park wasn’t on the top of my list.