As the clock ticks in Illinois for the state to strike a Bears stadium deal, legislators in the Prairie State are rapidly attempting to overcome internal political divisions.
With less than seven weeks left before the May 31 end of the spring legislative session in Illinois, state leaders are still attempting to build sufficient political consensus to advance a long-discussed “megaproject” bill. That proposed legislation would give the Bears, and other large developers in the state, the ability to negotiate local tax rates.
The NFL team has said the bill is crucial to its ability to finance and build a $5 billion domed stadium, mostly with private money, on land it owns in suburban Arlington Heights, Ill.
A key House committee passed the bill in February, but the legislation has not yet met an unofficial 60-vote threshold for Illinois House Speaker Emanuel Welch to bring it to the full floor for a vote.
The latest move involves working with key state Republicans to secure additional support for the Bears’ cause, despite Democrats holding a legislative supermajority. State Rep. Brad Stephens, an assistant House minority leader and also the mayor of Rosemont, Ill., will meet Wednesday with Illinois Deputy Gov. Andy Manar and others on the staff of Gov. J.B. Pritzker to discuss the Bears.
“I’m sure some of my minor development skills can help,” Stephens told The Daily Herald.
City-State Divide
A key split in the Illinois debate, as it’s been for months, is the continued push by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and some members of the state legislature from Chicago to keep the Bears in the city. The team, however, has been clear for months that Arlington Heights is now their only viable stadium possibility in Illinois, and the team’s decision is down to either that or a competing proposal in Hammond, Ind.
Despite that, Johnson has most recently been pushing the Bears to reconsider an already-rejected stadium option at the site of the former Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. The NFL has also said that the hospital site is not viable.
“[The Bears] don’t want to go where [Johnson] wants them to go. That’s their prerogative,” Stephens said of the Reese site.
The team is looking to make a final venue decision by the late spring or early summer—a timetable that roughly lines up with the end of the current legislative session in Illinois. A bill to help fund the project in Hammond has already been approved by Indiana leaders.
“We’ve been working on our stadium and feel very strongly that we are making progress,” Bears president Kevin Warren said at the recent NFL annual meeting in Phoenix. “We are in an excellent position.”
Depending on legislative progress in Illinois in the coming days, though, the Bears’ situation could come to a head sooner than late May.
