MOORE’S SUMMARY: Despite Bears President Kevin Warren’s claim earlier this month that the organization’s “sole focus” is building a new stadium in Northwest Indiana, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed that he recently met with Illinois lawmakers and that the team is still “looking at” the 326-acre land it owns in Arlington Heights.
IMPORTANT DECISIONS: “Listen, I’m involved in a lot of stadium efforts,” Goodell told reporters outside an owner’s meeting in Atlanta on Wednesday. “It’s not unusual for me to be involved in conversations with either public officials or others, or our staff. They’re important decisions not just for the communities or the team, but the NFL.”
Goodell said there’s “no specific timetable” on when a decision may come, but he confirmed any reports of the Bears’ exodus from Illinois to Indiana are premature.
“We want to make sure that Arlington Heights and Illinois have an opportunity, as well as Indiana, to put their best foot forward,” Goodell said.
WHY IT MATTERS: The Bears’ road to a new home has been long and winding. After years of failed efforts to advance legislation in Springfield that would grant the organization tax certainty on a stadium project in Illinois, it’s led to Indiana’s door.
The Hoosier State has promised the team more than $1 billion in public subsidies for construction of a football palace near the state line in Hammond. The Illinois House and Senate passed competing packages this spring that would have given the team tax certainty in Illinois, but the chambers couldn’t agree on the same bill.
Warren said earlier this month that due diligence work is done on the long-discussed Long Marsh Golf Course site and is ongoing on an adjacent industrial site known as Wolf Lake Terminal in Hammond — about one mile from the Illinois-Indiana border. He also cast any conversations with Illinois lawmakers as “minimal.”
But it’s notable that the two sides are still talking and that Goodell is involved. For some, this will fuel suspicion that Indiana is a leverage ploy to spur Illinois lawmakers into action. After all, the only property under consideration that the Bears actually own remains the former Arlington Park site. At the very least, it’s a reminder that a lot of work remains to be done on the Indiana side and the deal there is far from a sure thing.
PRITZKER: Gov. JB Pritzker told Capitol News Illinois on Thursday that he’s had conversations with Goodell as well. The governor’s said throughout the summer the onus is on the Bears to put together legislative language that can pass both chambers of the Illinois legislature.
“I have not had the sense that Commissioner Goodell has a dog in the hunt, as they say, that he’s chosen one state or another, or a place for the Bears,” Pritzker said during a campaign stop in Urbana. “I think what he’s trying to do is get the best outcome for the Bears. And so, if he’s talking to legislators and talking to me, he’s not doing it without the Bears’ understanding that he’s having those conversations.”
LEGISLATIVE TALKS: State Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, told Capitol News Illinois that lawmakers have “continued to talk to representatives of the Bears and the NFL about stadium issues throughout the summer.”
“The talks have been constructive, but they have not resulted in anything substantive,” Cunningham said. “I expect the discussions will continue into the fall.”
LOOKING AHEAD: Illinois lawmakers return to Springfield in late November for their fall veto session. With the election closing in, that appears to be the earliest action can be taken. Early January might be worth keeping an eye on too, assuming there will be a lame-duck session ahead of the new General Assembly being sworn in.
But as Pritzker noted a few weeks ago, legislative language on a new bill hasn’t been exchanged between team representatives, lawmakers and the governor’s office. They’re not all that close to the endzone at this point. But things can move fast in the Capitol.
Ben Szalinski contributed to this report.
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