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Bears Heading to Indiana and It's Obvious Who Is Most to Blame

The state of Illinois will be without an NFL team for the first time and it's time to let the finger pointing begin.
Gene Chamberlain|
Mayor Brandon Johnson apparently has won and forced the Bears to move to Indiana.
Mayor Brandon Johnson apparently has won and forced the Bears to move to Indiana. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The Bears are headed to Indiana, although the site is yet to be determined and not necessarily the Wolf Lake site.

George McCaskey issued a statement about the boar dvoting what direction to take in the wake of the defeat of the legislation in Illinois earlier this week:

“Yesterday, the Chicago Bears Board of Directors met and voted to advance our stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana, with the exact site to be selected. We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city. It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.”

There were many who called Hammond a negotiating tactic even after the defeat of the Illinois legislation for an Arlington Heights Stadium. They were dead wrong.

The Bears' board needed to be unanimous behind this for action. That board consists of George McCaskey, Brian McCaskey, Pat McCaskey, Ed McCaskey Jr., Ed L. McCaskey, Kevin Warren, and Pat Ryan.

So who's to blame?

Some are taking an article by reporter Justin Laurence in Crain's Chicago Business as evidence of bad faith negotiating by the Bears. The article cited six calls by the Bears to the city about a city idea for a stadium on the lakefront prior to May even while saying they were focusing only at Arlington Heights and Hammond.

Both can be true, though. They weren't really considering Chicago but were only looking into this as a courtesy, and the city still didn't rank as options with the other two sites in their minds.

In that case, Bears statements were entirely true. Their statements never said they had not listened to what the city was saying, only that they were considering two sites. Just because they listened doesn't mean they considered.

These were not meetings with Warren or McCaskey. It was an underling, a general counsel. In other words, a lawyer. It's more like, "Go hear what they have to say and give us a report," type of thing. So then the report could be put in the "circular" file.

One man's considering is another man's providing a semi-attentive ear while keeping his eyes straight ahead on the road.

In fact, if the Bears hadn't at least listened to what the city said they should have been accused of conducting business poorly. You never know when something great can pop up, but history has shown it's probably not going to be worthwhile if it has anything to do with the city, the park district or Illinois.

Either way, those calls with Chicago meant little when it came down to brass tax in Springfield in the wee hours of Monday morning. Now the Bears are going over the border.

The city and the state have had three years to take the Bears seriously and only now realize they should have.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is the chief culprit here. He drove the Bears to Indiana by insisting it had to be Chicago or he wasn't supporting it.

Illinois and Chicago chasing both business and residents away is a very common theme. This is just another example. If not, then why did Indiana have no problem getting their plan in order to add a second NFL team?

Nashville, Buffalo and Cleveland all eventually got stadium situations resolved one way or the other. Illinois' legisators and Chicago chose to take the route Kansas City, Mo. and New York City took. They let business leave.

It's all been going on in Illinois since before the Bears even batted an eyelash at Arlington Heights. And how is that kind of general approach toward business working out, by the way?

llinois' credit rating ranks two levels below Indiana's and it's not surprising.

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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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