Emanuel Adds on to “Sweet Heart Deal” with Clear Channel

The Chicago Sun Times reported that Clear Channel was given a contract worth $10.5 million by the Emanuel administration to take over luggage cart management and sell ads on the carts.

“This is a supplement to the five-year master agreement approved by the City Council in 2013,” mayoral spokesman Andres Orellana wrote in an email to the Chicago Sun-Times.

“This … adds luggage cart management services for [O’Hare] to the agreement, as was originally contemplated in the Airport Advertising RFP [request for proposals]. Under the Clear Channel agreement, the city receives 21% of luggage cart gross revenues and, for the first time ever, 71% of any advertising revenue.”

The original 5-year deal of a guarantee of $8.6 million per year, was criticized as turning Chicago into a “sleazy Midwest replica of Las Vegas.” There was also allegations of Emanuel gave the original deal to Clear Channel in exchange for dropping its threat to block another deal. His spokesperson denied those allegations.