Jerry Reinsdorf

When word broke that Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf was eligible for the basketball hall of fame, team coach Tom Thibodeau gushed praise for his boss.

“Great owner,” Thibodeau told Joe Cowley of the Sun-Times. “From a leadership standpoint, he sets the tone for our franchise. He’s fair, he’s honest, and you can’t ask for anything more than that.”

Well, obviously Coach Thibs is not a Chicago property tax payer. Otherwise, he might have a different view of his employer.

Thanks to a new study written by Sean Dinces, a graduate student at Brown University, and published by the Chicago Teachers Union, we now have a sense of the impact of the property tax break the state gave to Reinsdorf and Rocky Wirtz, owner of the Blackhawks, to operate the United Center.

To put it mildly, it’s a nice deal for Reinsdorf and Wirtz and not so nice for ordinary taxpayers.

Here, read the study yourself.