The Chicago Bears could leave Chicago — but for where?
Where are the Chicago Bears going to play football in the long term? That question doesn’t seem to have a direct answer at this point, but chances are it won’t be in Chicago.
The team’s owners want a new stadium in a suburban Illinois town. But state lawmakers adjourned without passing tax breaks to help pay for it.
The city of Chicago has made another pitch to keep the Bears in the city they’ve called home for more than 100 years. But that might require too big of a financial commitment from the owners.
The city of Hammond, Indiana, also wants the team to call its city home. But locating a Chicago team in a neighboring state wouldn’t sit well with fans.
What happens next for one of the two original NFL franchises? Only Da Bears really know.
Arlington Heights
Led by the Halas-McCaskey family, the Bears have made it clear they want a new stadium in Arlington Heights, a suburb about 25 miles northwest of Chicago.
The Bears already own land there, but that’s not enough to seal the deal. The team sought tax breaks from the Illinois Legislature that would finance the proposed stadium.
The state Senate passed the bill. The state House did not.
The legislative session ended with no final action, meaning the Arlington Heights stadium may be dead.
“Politicians weren’t all that keen on doing it, because their constituents weren’t all that interested in doing it,” J.C. Bradbury, a professor of economics at Kennesaw State University in Georgia who studies sports economics, told Straight Arrow.
In a poll, a majority of people in Illinois said they want the Bears to stay in-state — but they don’t want public funds going toward a new multibillion-dollar stadium.
The McCaskey family has a net worth of $1.3 billion.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who himself has a net worth of $4.3 billion, has constantly voiced his opposition to this plan.
“The reality is that I wasn’t willing to give up billions of dollars of taxpayer money in order to give it to a billionaire-owned family, or team,” Pritzker told the Chicago Sun Times.
Hammond, Indiana
Hammond, Indiana, is just as close to Chicago as Arlington Heights, but on the other side of a state line.
Indiana lawmakers have already passed legislation to help finance a new stadium for the Bears in Hammond. The legislation that created the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority would collect hotel and restaurant taxes to help fund the stadium.
“If we land the Bears, that’s a game changer for our city,” Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott told the “Mully & Haugh Show” on Wednesday.
McDermott said he expects to hear a decision from the Bears by the end of the month. He said a 300-acre site, which would include parking lots, is ready for construction.
He also said the project would bring more jobs, restaurants, and economic development to Hammond. But Bradbury, the sports economist, says the benefits to new stadiums are often overstated.
“When you’re talking about a billion-plus-dollar stadium that taxpayers are subsidizing, this is a net physical loser, and it’s not even close,” Bradbury said.
As for moving one of Chicago’s iconic sports teams to Indiana, the Bears’ owner has said fans will get used to the team being in another state.
Chicago
But right now, Bears fans are used to the team playing at Soldier Field, which the team has called home since 1971. While the Bears seem to be in a rush, that’s totally self-imposed because their lease doesn’t end until 2033.
Mayor Brandon Johnson has put forth a new plan to try to keep the team in the Windy City.
“Taxpayers would not be responsible for the construction of the stadium,” Johnson said.
The Bears, he said, would cover 72% of the cost of a new stadium in the city. The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, a state agency, would pay for the rest by issuing revenue bonds backed by a 2% tax on Chicago hotel stays.
But this plan might not be financially feasible for the Bears’ owners, Bradbury said.
“The team is basically owned by a family,” he said, “and all their wealth is tied up in the team, and so I think it’s a little bit harder for them to have the means to have to borrow against their asset to build a new stadium.”
Building new NFL stadiums without government or taxpayer help is not unprecedented. In Los Angeles, the Rams’ owner, Stan Kroenke, whose net worth is more than $20 billion, and his development group paid for and built SoFi Stadium.
For now, there is only one certainty in Chicago: The Bears open their home season on Sept. 20 against the Minnesota Vikings, and the game will be played at Soldier Field.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
