The Bears’ pitch for a new domed lakefront stadium came with a $4.7 billion price tag. In reality, though, Chicago and Illinois taxpayers would end up paying $5.9 billion to help the Bears build and finance the stadium and retire existing debt used to renovate Soldier Field and Guaranteed Rate Field, where the White Sox play. Add to that the $1 billion already paid to revamp Soldier Field and Guaranteed Rate Field, and the overall cost to taxpayers is $6.9 billion, says Frank Bilecki, of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.

“It’s really sad,” one instructor said. “It’s something that we feel bad about because we know how important those summer camps are for people, especially people who have limited income or they cannot afford the other private camps.”