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Bear Digest

Bears Now Need Their Own Illinois Stadium Bill and Time Is Running Out

Gov. J.B. Pritzker says the Bears are helping craft a new Illinois stadium bill, a move that could revive Arlington Heights as Indiana waits for answers this summer.
Gene Chamberlain|
J.B. Pritzker has said it's up to the Bears to come up with their own stadium legislation for consideration, after the legislature couldn't do it.
J.B. Pritzker has said it's up to the Bears to come up with their own stadium legislation for consideration, after the legislature couldn't do it. | Jasper Colt / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Chicago Bears

The Bears' involvement in coming up with a way to use their own land for a stadium is greater than describing exactly what they want to legislators.

Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker said they are actually crafting a law themselves to submit for legislators to consider and it would combine elements of bills passed in the spring by the legislature.

A Politico report earlier this week had said they were working with legislators more closely to get a stadium plan, but apparently it's more than this.

“They’re looking at both of the bills that passed, the one in the House and the one in the Senate, hoping to put the provisions of each of those together in a form that they think will pass," Pritzker told reporters in Chicago on Tuesday, according to Christopher Placek of the Arlington Heights Daily Herald.

A different plan was passed by each half of the legislature but neither one held up to scrutiny by the other as the spring legislative session closed June 1.

Pritzker has said before there is no reason why a special session of the legislature couldn't be convened this summer to pass a stadium bill, but also said none will be called unless there is a plan that has enough support to pass.

What would Bears' own bill be?

The interesting part of all this is what the mix the Bears would come up with would actually be. The two plans were a bit diametrically opposed. One plan allowed for public ownership with the Bears renting and paying no tax money. The other idea allowed the Bears be owners on their own property with tax certainty. This was the so-called PILOT bill, or payment in lieu of taxes.

Both plans could fund infrastructure needed in the Arlington International Racecourse area, land the Bears bought in 2023.

The public ownership plan also would have allowed for Chicago to enter into bidding to keep them in the city limits because it gave larger Cook County communities the right to create stadium boards for a public-private ownership structure.

The Bears have publicly turned their attention to building in Hammond, Ind., while this all goes on behind the scenes, and haven't announced their minds are changed. They have had no comment on any of this discussion about Illinois trying to keep them within the state border somewhere.

Pritzker once again claimed to be looking out for Illinois taxpayers' best interest in whatever is or isn't accomplished. but took the opportunity to fire a shot at Indiana.

“I don’t think Indiana is a whole heck of a lot closer than we are," he told reporters.

Indiana has already passed required legislation. They're still working out exactly where the stadium would be built, although it's narrowed down to Hammond.

Indiana also ismeeting with pushback from Porter County over restaurant and hotel tax hikes there and in Lake County necessary to pay off the bond for stadium infrastructure. The stadium would be in Lake County and not Porter County.

Pritzker was asked by reporters if expedience on the legislation is critical.

"Of course, of course, are you kidding?" he told them. "We want to get it done as soon as possible."

The Bears have wanted it done as soon as possible for three years, if not longer because they put in the bid for the Arlington Heights property in 2021. Now they're going to have to create the legislation themselves besides convincing the legislators to pass it or pass something resembling it.

None of this sounds like a rapid process.

The next regular session of the legislature begins November 17. The Bears wanted to make their final announcement on begin construction in late spring or early summer. Perhaps mid-summer will have to do, or even late summer.

The amount of discourse on this topic is huge and it definitely doesn't get better when places like McCook and the southeast side of Chicago try to put their two cents worth in with plans, as they have within the last week. State Rep. Curtis Tarver had proposed a vacant property near the mouth of the Calumet River as a site and in an article written for the Sun-Times said he would rather have the team go to Indiana than support Arlington Heights legislation.

McCook is a 268-person community just southeast of LaGrange and they proposed building at a 150-acre former quarry, with the Bears leasing property for $1. No taxes would be involved in this instance. They delivered plans for this to Bears owner George McCaskey and president Kevin Warren last week.

Whether those influence the Bears or provide any sort of alternative in case crafting legislation fails is yet to be determined but the team will have a great deal of difficulty getting Chicago legislators to support anything you letting them relocate in the northwest suburbs on their own property. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson seems to have a stranglehold on the team in the form of city legislators who will block any attempt to give the Bears tax relief.

The Soldier Field lease expires in 2033 and the Bears have said it will take about three years to complete construction of a stadium they want to construct with about $2 billion of their own money.

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun had his own comments about the situation and referred back to the Bears' announcement about focusing on Indiana.

"When they made that announcement unanimously from their board that they were focusing on Hammond, Indiana, that was after six years, 5 1/2 of which they had a deaf ear from their own state governor, legislature, city of Chicago," Braun said. "That's what happens when you have a deaf ear to the customer.

"I come from the world of business — we moved at the speed of business, and here we are."

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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.

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