Agency that runs Chicago's convention centers "in deep financial hole"

Two afternoons ago I wrote that another major trade show was considering abandoning Chicago for a cheaper place to do business. Arcane and onerous union work rules are a large part of the reason the Plastics Show may mold itself a new home in Orlando.

From the Chicago Tribune:

The agency that runs McCormick Place and Navy Pier is in a "deep financial hole" and will have to rethink every aspect of its operations, its new chairman said Tuesday.

"It's not an insurmountable hole, but we can't operate as business as usual," John Gates Jr., chairman of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority board, said during the board's monthly meeting.

The deep recession has rocked the tourism and convention businesses, he noted. The taxes produced by those industries are a major revenue source for the agency, used to pay back various expansion bonds.

And the agency should rethink those work rules, which the Tribune did not cite as a cause for the revenue slump.

Related post:

Union extortionists may drive another trade show from Chicago

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