Bears Stadium Saga Enters Critical Stretch With Illinois, Indiana

The long-running Bears stadium saga is likely entering its highly anticipated endgame over the next several weeks as critical moves are being made in both Illinois and Indiana.

After previously failing to advance a stadium bill in the spring Illinois legislative session, state leaders are preparing new legislation for the state’s fall veto session that begins Nov. 17 and will conclude on Dec. 3. 

The latest effort involves creating a local stadium authority that would own a new domed venue for the Bears. The team would fund the stadium construction, with public money going to infrastructure such as new roads surrounding the facility. Crucially, that change would mean that the Bears would not need to pay property taxes on a venue in Illinois, and likely be responsible for a defined lease payment instead. 

Industry sources, however, said there still may be some late movement among Illinois leaders to make that stadium authority a state-level entity instead. That approach would more closely mirror the regulatory structures that oversee many other NFL venues. Indiana’s competing bill to lure the Bears, approved in February, similarly aims to create a state-level stadium authority for a new venue there.

The rising legislative push in Illinois is happening after state Gov. JB Pritzker recently met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss the Bears’ stadium situation. The team has also become an issue in a state gubernatorial election that Pritzker is expected to win easily on Tuesday. With that victory, Pritzker will have additional political capital he could use on the Bears stadium issue. 

“I believe that in November, we’re going to be able to get something done to keep the Bears in the state of Illinois,” Pritzker said recently. 

While there still has been interest among some local leaders about trying to keep the Bears in Chicago, despite the team’s insistence otherwise, the focus among state legislators will likely remain on placing the stadium on team-owned land in suburban Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Tonal Shift in Indiana

As the Illinois legislative efforts develop, there has been a noticeable change in tone in recent days among some Indiana leaders. For months, elected officials there have been all but certain of the Bears moving across the border, with the sentiment fueled by the team’s own statement in August that a new facility in Hammond, Indiana was their “sole focus.”

Since then, some Indiana leaders have begun to hedge their public comments somewhat.

“There’s some days when you talk to me and ask, ‘Mayor, are the Bears coming,’ and I’ll be 100% positive, and there’s some days that I’m not as positive, OK,” Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott said after a Northwest Indiana Business Roundtable event. “And that’s because it’s changing every second.”

Despite that, the Bears continue to perform site evaluations on two prospective stadium locations in Hammond, and that process is set to finish in the coming days. Once that happens, it’s expected that McDermott, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, and others will escalate pressure on the Bears to make a decision, backed by the weight of having approved stadium legislation and vetted sites in that state. 

The team, meanwhile, is asserting itself as a bona fide contender on the field after last season’s breakthrough to reach the divisional round of the playoffs. Chicago handily beat defending Super Bowl champion Seattle on Monday Night Football, 34-17, to improve its record to 6–2 on the season.