MOORE’S SUMMARY: Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren confirmed Thursday that the organization’s “sole focus” is building a stadium in Indiana, though the team has had “occasional” talks with Illinois officials since it shifted its focus across state lines.
But Warren and team owner George McCaskey both characterized those conversations as “minimal,” maintaining that the organization’s focus is on developing a mixed-use stadium project in Hammond, Indiana. Warren said due diligence has been completed at the long-discussed Long Marsh Golf Course site and is ongoing on an adjacent industrial site known as Wolf Lake Terminal.
“While we were working on the Lost Marsh site, we discovered a potentially new site that could even be as good or better than the Lost Marsh site,” Warren said. “So we’re in the middle of that due diligence. It’s a lot of work that happens on a daily basis. We are in regular, almost daily communication with the state of Indiana working on this.”
Warren said a merger of the two Indiana sites is possible.
NO MISTAKES: The Bears’ road to a new domed stadium has been long, starting with the $197 million purchase of the 326-acre former Arlington Park site in 2023. But the latest bend towards Hammond came after years of failed efforts to advance legislation in Springfield that would grant the organization tax certainty on a stadium project in Illinois.
The Illinois House passed a bill in April that would have allowed the Bears to negotiate and lock in their property payments with local governing bodies for up to 40 years, but the team said they wanted to see changes to that bill. In the waning hours of the spring session, the Illinois Senate approved legislation that would have allowed the creation of local stadium authorities — a public ownership model that would’ve allowed the Bears to avoid paying property taxes altogether. But the two chambers weren’t able to agree on one bill.
“I don’t know why it hit a dead end in Springfield, but we’ve been very clear for the last couple years the things that we’ve always needed is property tax certainty, we need infrastructure certainty,” Warren said. “That’s what we’ve needed. So that has not changed.”
‘IT IS ON THEM’: Pritzker has said the onus is on the team to put together legislative language that can pass both chambers of the legislature. But the team hasn’t yet provided bill language to his office, he said Thursday.
“We’re talking to them about various provisions and things that they may need, things the state might be able to provide for them, and answering questions in the process,” Pritzker told reporters in Springfield. “But it is on them, just as it on any organization, a business or otherwise that wants help from the state of Illinois, to come to us and tell us exactly what it is now that they know what parameters are acceptable to the legislature, how they want that bill to look.”
‘FUMBLES’: In early June, Pritzker said the team committed a series of “fumbles” in Springfield, including a 2024 pivot away from Arlington Heights to a lakefront stadium that would have required more than $900 million in public subsidies — a nonstarter for state lawmakers.
The governor also said the team lacked a legislative plan, and its backchanneling with Chicago officials backfired as it led some state lawmakers to believe the city was still a viable location for a new stadium.
When asked what mistakes the organization made along the way in its dealings with the state, Warren declined to name any.
“I don’t think we’ve made any mistakes,” Warren said. “As you study these projects, I really look at these as learning opportunities to come together.”
Despite Pritzker’s directive, Warren and McCaskey appear to be taking a passive approach to conversations with Illinois officials. Warren said, “we don’t have an offer from the state of Illinois.” McCaskey said, “we were waiting to see whether there would be some substantive action taken” before making the pivot to Indiana. Neither man visited Springfield in the session’s waning days.
Still, McCaskey said he’s not necessarily waiting for Illinois lawmakers to come to him.
“I mean, we’re all adults here,” McCaskey said. “We can have constructive conversations, and I don’t think it has to be who calls who first. I mean, if there are substantive discussions to be had, let’s have them. In Indiana, they’ve been very proactive, very communicative, very solution-oriented.”
WHAT’S NEXT? Acknowledging the self-imposed deadlines the team has already blown through, Warren declined to provide a new target date for getting shovels in the ground. But, he said, “it’s time to bring this to a close,” noting that construction costs rise an estimated $150 million per year.
McCaskey did confirm one thing: the Bears won’t be changing their name, putting to bed speculation that had spread online.
“No, we will be the Chicago Bears whether we’re in Arlington or whether we’re in Hammond,” McCaskey said.
Illinois lawmakers aren’t scheduled back to Springfield until the end of November. Don’t expect a special session, especially as Election Day draws closer.
