MOORE’S SUMMARY: The Chicago Bears executive leading the organization’s effort to build a new stadium met with Gov. JB Pritzker’s top economic development official in August, according to emails obtained by Capitol News Illinois via a public records request.
The records show that Bears minority owner and board member Pat Ryan also was included as a late addition to at least one of the meetings.
EMAILS: Deputy Gov. Andy Manar, who oversees the state’s budget and economic development efforts, emailed Karen Murphy, the Bears’ executive vice president of stadium development and chief operating officer, on Aug. 11 requesting a 30-minute “check in” via phone or video conference sometime in the following weeks, records show.
Murphy agreed to a cellphone conversation on Aug. 20. About an hour before the scheduled meeting, Murphy emailed Manar’s executive assistant requesting that Ryan be added to the invitation and to inform Manar that the billionaire and former Aon CEO would be joining. And she said they’d “likely need to switch to WebEx.” Manar’s assistant quickly sent Murphy and Ryan an invitation to connect via the video conferencing service.
It appears Manar and Murphy had at least one additional meeting in August, with records showing an undated WebEx invitation with the subject line “Infrastructure Meeting with Karen + Andy” also sent to and accepted by Murphy that month. While Illinois officials have long ruled out public funding for direct stadium construction, the state is expected to kick in hundreds of millions of dollars in capital funds for surrounding public infrastructure.
“As we’ve said, we continue to have conversations with the Bears about their plans in Illinois,” Pritzker spokesperson Andres Correa said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to work with them.”
The Bears declined to comment, and neither the organization nor Pritzker’s office divulged what was discussed in the meetings.
WHY IT MATTERS: Murphy’s meetings with Manar are further evidence that despite Bears President Kevin Warren’s claim that the organization’s “sole focus” is building a new stadium in Northwest Indiana, the team is still engaging Illinois officials.
Murphy and Ryan’s check-in with Manar came a week after Warren said conversations are “minimal” with Illinois officials. The following week, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed that he recently met with Illinois lawmakers and that the team is still “looking at” the 326-acre site it owns in Arlington Heights.
The Bears’ board of directors, which includes Ryan, Warren and five members of the McCaskey family, in June “voted to advance” a stadium project across the state line in Hammond. It came after a spring legislative session in which the Illinois House and Senate passed competing packages that would have given the team tax certainty in Illinois but couldn’t agree on the same bill.
Hoosier lawmakers, by contrast, passed legislation that would give the team more than $1 billion in public subsidies for construction of a publicly owned stadium in Hammond.
Warren and Bears Chairman George McCaskey have cast any conversations with Illinois officials as “minimal.” Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, told Capitol News Illinois last month that talks had been “constructive, but they have not resulted in anything substantive,” adding that he expected conversations to continue in the fall.
RYAN: Ryan, 89, has a net worth of about $9.1 billion, according to Forbes. He owns roughly a one-fifth stake in the Bears. The Ryan family has a history with stadium projects, most notably serving as the primary funders of construction for Northwestern’s new Ryan Field, which will host its first football game Oct. 2. Ryan’s son, Pat Ryan, Jr., was the developer of the $870 million, 35,000-seat stadium.
WHAT’S NEXT: Pritzker has said throughout the summer that the onus was on the team to put together legislative language that can pass both legislative chambers. While the team has downplayed their engagement with Illinois, likening it to a courtesy more than actual movement towards a deal, it’s clearly happening.
The organization, notably, still retains the services of three Springfield lobbying firms as opposed to just one in Indiana. They had contracts with six Illinois firms during the spring session. Hammond has two lobbying firms on contract in Indianapolis while Arlington Heights recently reupped its agreement with lobbying firm Mac Strategies to represent its interests in Springfield relating to the Arlington Park property.
Based on where the Bears are spending their lobbying money and Goodell’s comment last month that the league wanted “to make sure that Arlington Heights and Illinois have an opportunity, as well as Indiana, to put their best foot forward,” it seems Illinois is still in the running to keep the Bears.
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