(70 ILCS 3205/2) (from Ch. 85, par. 6002)

Sec. 2. Definitions; general provisions. In this Act the following words have the meanings indicated:

(A) "Authority" means the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.

(B) "Facility" means:

(1) Stadiums, arenas or other structures for the holding of athletic contests and other events and gatherings, including, without limitation, baseball, football and automobile racing; musical, dramatic and other artistic, cultural or social events; public meetings; and other public events; and

(2) Practice fields, or other areas where professional sports teams and other sports teams may practice or perform.

(3) "Facility" also means the following types of property if that property is related to or located near an item listed in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (B) of this Section:

(i) Offices, parking lots and garages, access roads, streets, intersections, highway interchanges, pedestrian walkways, tunnels, and bridges, transportation facilities, monuments, restaurants, stores, and other facilities providing goods and services to persons attending meetings, contests, gatherings or events at the facility;

(ii) Other recreation areas and recreational facilities;

(iii) Other property or structures including all fixtures, furnishings, and appurtenances normally associated with such facilities; and

(iv) Landscaping, parks, and open spaces.

(C) "Governmental Owner" means a body politic, public corporation, political subdivision, unit of local government, or municipality formed under the laws of the State of Illinois, including, without limitation, the Chicago Park District, that owns or is to own a facility located within the corporate limits of the Authority described in Section 11 of this Act and to which the Authority provides financial assistance. Where the title to all or any part of a facility is held by a public building commission because the public building commission has financed, under the authority of the Public Building Commission Act, the acquisition of real estate or the construction, acquisition, or enlargement of improvements to real estate, or both, for any body politic, public corporation, political subdivision, unit of local government, or municipality formed under the laws of the State of Illinois, the term "governmental owner" when used with respect to that facility means the body politic, public corporation, political subdivision, unit of local government, or municipality rather than the public building commission.

(D) "Management Agreement" means a legally binding contract between the Authority and a tenant of a facility owned by the Authority, which contains at least the following provisions:

(1) a provision requiring the tenant to conduct its complete regular home season schedule and any home playoff events in the facility;

(2) a provision requiring the tenant to provide routine maintenance of and to operate the facility with its personnel or contractors;

(3) a provision requiring the tenant to advertise and promote events it conducts at the facility;

(4) a provision requiring the tenant to operate or contract for concessions for the patrons of the facility, including a stadium club and restaurant where food and beverages will be served; and

(5) a provision permitting the Authority or its designee to hold other events in any such facility owned by the Authority at such times as shall not unreasonably interfere with the use of that facility by the tenant.

(E) "Assistance Agreement" means one or more legally binding contracts, with respect to a facility for which the Authority is to provide financial assistance as provided in this Act, to which the Authority and a governmental owner of a facility or its tenant, or both, and any other appropriate persons are parties, which may be in the form of an intergovernmental agreement.

(F) "Financial Assistance" means the use by the Authority, pursuant to an assistance agreement, of its powers under this Act, including, without limitation, the power to borrow money, to issue bonds and notes, to impose an occupation tax as provided in Section 19 of this Act and to receive and expend the proceeds of that tax, to assist a governmental owner or its tenant, or both, with one or more of the following: designing, developing, establishing, constructing, erecting, acquiring, repairing, reconstructing, renovating, remodeling, adding to, extending, improving, equipping, operating, and maintaining a facility owned or to be owned by the governmental owner.

(G) "Tenant" means any person with which a governmental owner or the Authority has entered into an agreement for the use by a professional sports team or other sports team of any facility. Such an agreement may be a management agreement or an assistance agreement or may be a lease of or a license, permit, or similar agreement with respect to the use of a facility by such team for such period as shall be agreed upon by the person and the governmental owner or the Authority, as the case may be.

(Source: P.A. 91-935, eff. 6-1-01.)