Moving On Down?

No, I don't mean the Bulls are heading in the wrong direction (though it may seem like that given the circumstances).  Actually, this is about potentially moving their practice facilities to downtown Chicago, closer to the United Center.  The Bulls have practiced at the Berto Center in north suburban Deerfield for the past 20 years.  Having watched behind-the-scenes tours of the place on TV before, I can say it's as state-of-the-art as an NBA team can ask for.  But this seems to revolve more around eliminating an expense for the team I didn't even know existed until this story broke.  It also answered a question I've had for years.

Deerfield's not exactly what you would call very close to Chicago, so the distance between where the Bulls practice and play their games is ridiculous.  However, there's a way to offset this.  Apparently, the Bulls host their morning shootarounds at the Berto Center on game days and then allow their players to stay at a downtown hotel so they don't have to deal with the evening rush hour.  Having done so for my job over nearly five months now, let me tell you that the experience is not pleasant.  Players arrive at the arena a couple of hours before a game tips off, so assuming most of the players live near the practice facility, there's virtually no way to avoid backups on the expressway.  Kudos to the Bulls for not making the players deal with it.

Of course, somebody's got to fit the bill for over a dozen people at a hotel, so naturally, those expenses fall to the organization.  Move practices downtown and that's one less thing the Bulls have to cover.  It would be better for the players too I think.  The only Bull I know for sure who lives downtown is Derrick Rose, in that Trump building on the land the Sun-Times used to occupy.  I can't speak for the others, but less travel time means less drainage that just getting to their destination causes.  It would take at least a couple years to complete planning and construction, but this is something worth thinking about.  The Berto Center is the only place the players, coaches and medical staff can exclusively call their own, which is why they generally live closer to there as opposed to the United Center.  Don't make everyone commute from one part of the area to another 41 days out of the year, plus any home playoff games.  This would be more efficient.

Don't get me wrong.  The Berto Center is a terrific facility and I'm sure the Bulls could find some use for it were this plan put into action.  Maybe it's just been outgrown sooner than expected, and for different reasons to boot.  We might not hear about this again for awhile, but in any case, let's just think about the best-case scenario for everyone involved.  Folks want to commute less, not more, when they go to work.  I wonder if the players feel the same way.