Buffalo Bills Put Chicago Bears to Shame With Their Beautiful New Stadium

Chicago Bears fans didn't need another reason to be embarrassed by the seemingly endless saga surrounding their new stadium, but the Buffalo Bills just gave them one anyway. The Bills officially cut the ribbon on Highmark Stadium, their new home, on Tuesday, just five years after declaring that they would be building a new stadium. Yes, it would seem that most NFL franchises are able to plan, build, and open a new stadium in relatively short order.

Meanwhile, the Bears still can't even say for sure where their planned stadium will be located. Talks of Arlington Heights becoming the Bears' new home have loomed large ever since the Bears purchased a 326-acre piece of land out there in 2023, but the plot remains empty. Indiana sent a message of clear intent back in January to help the Bears build a stadium in the city of Hammond, a naked attempt to pull the Bears across the border, but neither team president Kevin Warren nor chairman George McCaskey seems eager to pull that trigger.

Now, even McCook is drawing interest for a Chicago Bears stadium. To their proposal, I say, "Why not?" Everyone else and their mother have declared themselves open for the stadium-building business, so why not a teeny-tiny village of less than 250 people?

The Bears have to bring an end to this humiliating saga this summer

Chicago Bears president Kevin Warren at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

As I've written before, this stadium debacle should be a professional embarrassment to everyone involved, and the blame game no longer feels even remotely relevant. Some will blame Kevin Warren for even opening the door to a move to Indiana, while others point to the stupefying incompetence of the governments of Illinois and Chicago. Both sides are right, and there is plenty of blame to go around.

I would suspect that most Bears fans no longer even care where the planned stadium is built, be it Arlington Heights, Hammond, under Lake Michigan or on the moon, just as long as the seemingly interminable saga finally comes to an end. The wait to discover where the Bears will eventually build a stadium is quickly becoming like the wait that "A Game of Thrones" fans are experiencing with the next book in the series.

The worst part of all of this is how avoidable it seems. The Bills built themselves a beautiful new home in a brisk manner, so why can't the Bears? What exactly has stopped them making this happen? I'm not saying that they have to get shovels in the ground before the regular season starts, but confirming the site of construction by then shouldn't be too big of an ask.

The Bottom Line

General view of Soldier Field and the downtown Chicago skyline. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Last month, the Cleveland Browns broke ground at Brook Park, the site of their new stadium that is expected to be ready by 2029. They have some issues of their own before they'll be ready for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, but even the most incompetent franchise in the NFL seems to have no problems selecting a site for a new stadium and getting shovels in the ground, which makes for another damning comparison against Kevin Warren and the Bears.

The fans don't deserve this farcical ordeal. They deserve a state-of-the-art stadium of which they can be proud. A world-class home for a team that, by all accounts, is nearly ready to join the ranks of the Super Bowl contenders. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes at this point, but I would urge Kevin Warren to make a deal happen sooner rather than later. At some point, your team's reputation matters more than the dollars and cents involved.

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