Billboard Insider By Staff Writer November 4, 2016
The Sun Times is reporting that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is proposing a four year extension of a 20-year billboard agreement in his 2017 budget.
The original agreement called for JCDecaux, partnering with Interstate Outdoor Advertising, to put up 34 digital signs on city property adjacent to the Kennedy, Dan Ryan, Stevenson and Eisenhower expressways and the Chicago Skyway and Illinois Tollway.
In exchange, the two billboard operators guaranteed Chicago taxpayers $15 million in 2013 and $154 million over the 20-year life of the contract.
The city hoped to generate as much as $270 million over 20 years through a revenue-sharing arrangement that starts with 50 percent of the first $25 million in advertising revenue raised.
The deal was originally scheduled to expire in June 2032. It would now be extended under the same terms until June 2036.
The need for the proposed extension is related to delays with getting the digital billboards in place, a process that has still not been completed four years after a divided City Council approved the original contract.
The causes of the delays included weather, getting IDOT permits and fabrication of the signs.