Iowa Bears? Lawmakers Propose Bill for NFL Team

A third state has entered the Bears stadium sweepstakes.

As the NFL franchise continues to entertain proposals for a new venue in Indiana and a number of cities in Illinois, Iowa politicians are making a push to entice the team to move west.

Senate File 2252, a new bill in the Iowa Legislature filed by seven state senators, aims to modify Iowa’s MEGA (major economic growth attraction) program to “include incentivizing the building of a professional sports stadium by a National Football League franchise in the state.” 

Currently, MEGA provides economic development incentives designed to attract capital investments from businesses that invest at least $1 billion in the state and are primarily engaged in advanced manufacturing, biosciences, or research and development.

Sen. Kerry Gruenhagen (R., Iowa), in a statement, said the bill was filed to “show a team in our neighboring state that we are ready for them if their home state doesn’t want them. While Illinois and Indiana squabble over this issue, we are ready to get off the sidelines and into the game.”

Sen. Scott Webster (R., Iowa) said, “After years of Bears fans seeking refuge across the Mississippi River from the incompetence, corruption, and punitive tax and regulatory climate in the state of Illinois, it is time for the team to join their fans on the west side of the river.”

Des Moines is the biggest city in Iowa, with a population of roughly 750,000 in its greater metropolitan area. But the 470,000-person Quad Cities on the Iowa-Illinois border is the state’s closest major metropolitan area to the Bears’ current home in downtown Chicago. Davenport, Iowa—the largest of the Quad Cities—is about 175 miles from Soldier Field.

Iowa does not have a major men’s or women’s professional sports team, but it does have minor league clubs in baseball, hockey, basketball, and soccer. 

Stadium Tour

Iowa’s push to lure the Bears across state lines comes after the city of Gary, Ind., last month released renderings of potential stadium concepts described as “plug-and-play” locales for a new, domed stadium and a mixed-use development. Gary, situated in Northwest Indiana, is about 30 miles away from Soldier Field.

In Illinois, the Bears have had serious discussions about a new stadium downtown and in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights. Other in-state bids have come from Aurora, Naperville, Richton Park, and Waukegan.

The long-standing issue at hand for the Bears has been the team’s desire for public funding. Before the recent developments in Indiana, the Bears had reduced their ask of public-sector help from roughly half of the total project cost of more than $5 billion to $855 million for infrastructure.