Bulls Donate $1 Million for Youth Courts

The Bulls, seeking to give disadvantaged kids an alternative to drugs and gangs, are donating $1 million to the Chicago Park District to renovate more than 100 aging basketball courts.

“We view this as an investment in the youth of the city of Chicago,” team Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said Monday at a news conference.

Park District officials said they know of no other professional sports team in the nation to sponsor such a program for a municipal agency.

“We applaud the Chicago Bulls for doing something that is totally unprecedented,” said William Bartholomay, the district’s president. “This professional sports organization is putting something back into the system.”

The money will be used for new surfaces, backstops, rims and nets, and to make other repairs at more than 100 courts--about half of them outdoors--over the next five years, said Jesse Madison, executive vice president of the Park District.

“Chicago’s inner-city youth deserve an alternative to drugs and gangs,” Reinsdorf said. “It is our hope that this contribution will go a long way toward providing that alternative.”

Madison said that the district would have eventually done the repairs but that budget constraints would have delayed the work for at least 10 years. The donation from the NBA team will allow renovations to begin in April.