As the Chair of the Board of ISFA, I am thrilled to serve the people of the State of Illinois as we continue our focus of maintaining Guaranteed Rate Field (GRF) as the home of the Chicago White Sox and as a premiere multi-use facility.
It has been a pleasure to serve with the remarkable individuals who comprised the board of directors this past year: Rosemarie Andolino, Norm Bobins,Tarrah Cooper Wright, Michael Forde, Trisha Rooney, and Coco Soodek. I would like to offer my sincere thanks and appreciation to every board member and the committed ISFA staff for keeping the Authority focused and moving forward.
ISFA was created by the General Assembly in 1987 for the purposes of constructing and renovating stadiums for professional sports teams in Illinois, most notably the construction of a new Comiskey Park, now named Guaranteed Rate Field. Our duties were expanded by the General Assembly in 2001 to include bonding authority and associated responsibilities to finance the renovation of Soldier Field and the surrounding parkland. We are very proud of the fact that we have a 30-plus-year track record of meeting our fiscal obligations and helping to support two outstanding sports and entertainment facilities.
This past year we continued the tradition of hosting the 22nd Annual Chicago Police Department vs. Chicago Fire Department Charity Baseball game with a tremendous turnout. We were also proud to host to the 12th Annual Les Turner ALS 5k Run/Walk. We hosted the BMW Ride and Drive event, a collegiate baseball game, and our parking lots were rented by movie and television show production companies.
We thank the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago, the Chicago White Sox, the Chicago Park District, and all our partners for their continued support.
Sincerely,
Leslie M. Darling