Bear Digest

Bears need out-of-state options for leverage in stadium standoff

Analysis: Expecting the Bears to pay off a public Soldier Field debt mismanaged by city politicians before they can start building an Arlington Heights stadium requires a proper response.
Gene Chamberlain|
The governor thinks the Bears should pay off the remaining debt on Soldier Field even though they've paid their share of the bill.
The governor thinks the Bears should pay off the remaining debt on Soldier Field even though they've paid their share of the bill. | Jon Durr-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The Monday afternoon statement the Bears released before the opener talking about a new stadium was nothing more than a rehash of what team president Kevin Warren said Aug. 8 at Halas Hall during training camp.

No one with an ounce of gray matter could have really thought they were going to build a stadium in Chicago at this point. Everything is pointed for and prepped for Arlington Heights and has been for some time, twice via the Bears president saying so publicly

As he said in his letter this week for season ticket holders, and in the Aug. 8 press conference, they're waiting for the state legislature to pass a law that lets them negotiate tax rate freezes with area taxing bodies. They have the money and ability to build the stadium themselves.

What is new in all of this is the statement made by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday. It would appear he has decided to throw his weight behind city politicians who are upset at the thought of the team moving to the suburbs.

"We need the Bears to pay off what's owed on the existing stadium," Pritzker said. "That's going to be a really important feature of whatever happens."

Pritzker's comments on this ended with "...if they want a ... bill or some other help, we're going to make that a pre-requisite."

The Bears shouldn't be paying off anything other than the balance of their lease. They don't own that too small and inconveniently located stadium. They rent. The landlord shouldn't be able to force a tenant to pay for their dumb decisions.

The construction of the new stadium inside the outer wall of old Soldier Field was a stupid idea anyway, but the NFL and Bears each pitched in their $100 million apiece as the agreement said. The remaining $398 million was a bond issue through the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.

It's the city who owns the stadium and that ISFA bond situation is their problem. It's an even bigger problem because they mismanaged the entire thing so over $500 million is still owed.

There was a restructuring with deferred payment using balloon amounts that make the unpaid debut higher and higher until bond expiration in 2032.

The whole thing was to be paid off through a convention and tourism tax that hasn't produced enough money for various reasons.

It's not the Bears' problem. Pritzker needs to do his homework if he thinks the Bears owe that money.

However, Pritzker is making it their problem by trying to force them to clean up the financial mess the city made before he'll let them have what they need to pay for their own new stadium.

There is a problem here. George McCaskey and the McCaskey family doesn't have something they need.

They need a threat. They need options. They need more leverage.

When Gov. Thompson saved the White Sox for the city, Jerry Reinsdorf could have taken them to Florida.

The Bears should look into some land just over the border in the Pleasant Prairie, Wis., only a short drive north of Lake Forest where they're headquartered. It's about twice the distance from the city as Arlington Heights but still an easy place to reach via interstate.

They should also take a serious look at northwest Indiana, which has actually been trying to lure a team there. It pays to have alternatives. It won't look good for the governor to force yet another business out of Illinois and Chicago.

There would not be another NFL team brought into Chicago if the Bears moved to a spot just outside the state, because such a team move requires approval by the 24 of the 32 teams. No one is going to vote to let another team come into Chicago and challenge an original NFL team in their own area, even if they do move to suburbs or a nearby state.

After all, the Giants and Jets aren't New York teams. They are in Jersey. The Commanders/Redskins aren't in Washington.

George Halas had alternatives in 1980. He always seemed at odds with the city and park district over rundown old Soldier Field, had talks to move the Bears to Notre Dame, and also considered Comiskey Park, as well.

In the end, the Bears got some improvements they needed at the old Soldier Field and 23 years later they gutted the old garbage dump and put the current outdated, smaller stadium inside the old stadium's outer wall.

None of it is satisfactory, and the park district still can't even handle the grass properly, as Monday night's fiasco with new sod proved.

McCaskey needs to get himself some other options that don't allow politicians to throw around threats even though the team, as well as the taxing bodies in and around Arlington Heights have decided to settle their own tax differences.

The city is out of this picture, and has been.

It's time Pritzker and other city political hacks finally acknowledge this by passing a law that gives the Bears and the northwest suburban taxing bodies the right to fix tax rates for a given period at the beginning of the construction project.

At least in Arlington Heights they are still in Cook County. It's sure better for the state than having them move to Indiana or Wisconsin.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.