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Bear Digest

Chronicling Bears' Stadium Quest as Possible Conclusion Nears

A look at where it all started and where it has all gone as Chicago's NFL team sought out a new permanent home.
Gene Chamberlain|
Soldier Field could eventually become the former Bears home if Springfield takes action in the next day.
Soldier Field could eventually become the former Bears home if Springfield takes action in the next day. | Gene Chamberlain Photo: Chicago Bears On SI

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Chicago Bears

It could all be over sometime tonight and Bears owner George McCaskey could be holding the ceremonial shovel with the dirt in it at the former site of Arlington International Racecourse in coming days.

Or it could be headed where few in Illinois would want and that's over the border to Hammond, Ind.

A solution to the Bears-Springfield standoff over stadium legislation could come down in time for the end of the spring legislative session. It's just a matter of convincing a few politicians to give them the tax certainty they want.

To be sure, the Bears have long sought their own stadium and a way out of Soldier Field.

Since they tore out the outdated old Astroturf in 1988 and put in grass, the Chicago Park District had done a horrendous job of maintenance. Insufficiently watered sod often turned up seams on the grass. During the Lovie Smith era, a Family Night practice was canceled only hours beforehand as the fans had begun to gather because the grass hadn't been watered properly.

It seemed almost every year they put down sod that got torn up by concert fans, or the park district would allow high school or college games to be scheduled a matter of days before the Bears were set to play. The field became known around the NFL as one of the worst playing surfaces. Kicker Robbie Gould was among those ridiculing it at one point and teammates echoed the sentiment.

Eventually Matt Eberflus helped them correct the grass situation with a new strain of cold weather Bermuda grass in the new stadium, maybe his only real contribution in two-plus seasons as coach.

It was the need for a better facility itself that led to the reconstruction of the building in 2002, a season when they were forced to play in Champaign. It didn't take long after the 2003 opening of what lakefront lovers called a flying saucer dumped in the middle of Soldier Field to realize the project left them short on seats and other amenities teams around the NFL with new stadiums have.

They didn't look far enough down the road when they gutted the old stadium and used it as a facade outside of the new seating area.

All along, Soldier Field along the lakefront was known for beautiful lakefront scenery and fans really got to enjoy it as they sat for hours in their cars trying to get out of the parking lots or get into them. When you put a stadium next to a lake, you've eliminated one half of the directions fans can take to leave the area. Doah!

Back in the 1920s that was fine, but without a real public transportation option right to the stadium it meant using up an entire Sunday to go to a game.

There are other bad situations in the NFL for traffic, like the Patriots' stadium. Soldier Field is right up among the worst.

However, the current standoff in Springfield over helping the Bears had its beginning not long ago. Actually, at this point it only seems like decades ago but wasn't. Here's a Bears/Arlington Heights anthology.

April, 2020

Seeing the legalized gambling trend and hoping to add to what they could offer fans, the Bears sought to have a sports book built at Soldier Field during the Lori Lightfoot mayoral era. A letter was sent to the park district boss, Ed Kelly, by former Bears president Ted Phillips about meeting over their desire to get a sports book built.

Crickets.

The letter later became public. It took seven months before Kelly responded in writing by saying at the time "...“it would not be productive to pursue the opportunities outlined in your letter.”

Phillips kept writing. In June, 2021 the Tribune reported he sent back another letter

June, 2021

Another letter went ignored by Lightfoot and the park district.

Over the course of the previous year, Churchill Downs closed down Arlington Park, Chicago's longtime thoroughbred racing facility and a property George Halas, himself, once coveted for a stadium. In June when they had enough of being ignored and even ridiculed by the mayor, the Bears put in a bid for the 326-acre racetrack property.

Lightfoot put out the public statement that sent the entire process of a new stadium rocketing into orbit as she condemned the Bears for doing this during "negotiations" on improvements to Soldier Field. She then ridiculed them for their losing, although they had just made the playoffs the previous season.

“In addition, this announcement from the Bears comes in the midst of negotiations for improvements at Soldier Field. This is clearly a negotiating tactic that the Bears have used before," she wrote. "As a season ticket holder and longtime Bears fan, I am committed to keeping the ‘Chicago’ name in our football team.

“And like most Bears fans, we want the organization to focus on putting a winning team on the field, beating the Packers finally, and being relevant past October. Everything else is just noise."

It wasn't just noise.

July 2022

Lightfoot proposes putting a dome on Soldier Field. That idea met with the kind of response from the Bears that the mayor's office gave them when they sent the letter about the sports betting facility.

Sept. 2022

The Bears held a public forum at Alington Heights' Hersey High to address residents' concerns and inform them of stadium plans. They want to build a stadium and will pay a little over $2 billion for it themselves while seeking public funds only for infrastructure.

As BearsOnSI reported at the time, McCaskey told everyone then, "The Bears will seek no public funding for direct stadium structure."

February, 2023

The Bears closed on the Arlington Heights property after winning the bid at $197.2 million, while Lightfoot claimed to be working to "...keep the team in Chicago. As I have said numerous times, our door in City Hall remains open."

Lightfoot that month became the first elected Chicago mayor to lose re-election in 40 years when she lost a primary. Brandon Johnson would emerge the mayor.

The Bears' work had only just begun, though. They had to get their tax situation settled in negotiations with three school districts or none of their plans could come to fruition.

June, 2023

The Bears tore down the grandstand of Arlington International Racecourse and began demolishing everything there in order to be taxed at a rate for a vacant property rather than at the rate the track had while in operation.

April, 2024

The big announcement that Mayor Brandon Johnson had a plan for a $5 billion lakefront dome on the parking lot near Soldier Field and the Bears are buying into it. So long Arlington Heights. The Bears would keep renting from the city rather than own their stadium.

"I believe in Mayor Johnson," Bears president Kevin Warren said. "I believe in his staff, his vision; I believe in this city. I don't look at it as being a renter. I look at it as being able to develop a relationship, to be able to come together."

However, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the state legislature is not convinced about giving money for this project.

The Bears are keeping the Arlington Heights property just in case. It's a good thing.

December, 2024

The Bears reached agreement with Arlington Heights and their property tax for the vacant horse track was set at $3.6 million a year. They had been battling with local school districts and the county about assessed value of the land in order to keep their taxes down, but it was agreed to be $125 million for assessed value, or $72 million less than the county tried to squeeze out of them.

March, 2025

In his state of the village address, former Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes predicted the Bears’ relocation to Arlington Park is “going to happen" even as the plans are still for a $4.7 billion dome on the lakefront. The plan never got off the ground in Springfield.

April, 2025

Warren tells reporters at the owners meetings that the team is now considering both Arlington Heights and the lakefront, as progress toward funding from the state for the lakefront project has not materialized.

"The focus now is both downtown (Chicago) and Arlington Heights," Warren said, according to the team website. "These are not linear processes or projects. They take time, they take a lot of energy and effort. I am very, very pleased with where we are. I think we, collectively as a group, are where we thought we would be. I know specifically I am where I thought we would be at this point in time."

May, 2025

The payment in lieu of taxes bill, or megaproject, does not even get considered in Springfield but the Bears have a May 16 announcement.

They are abandoning the Chicago lakefront location and are focusing on Arlington Heights. Although the mayor and others keep trying to interject the possibility the Bears could remain in Chicago, it is never part of the team's plans after this month.

August, 2025

The Bears begin their first training camp under Ben Johnson and owner George McCaskey says ownership has its own work to do with regards to the Arlington Heights stadium.

“It’s on us to convince the governor and the state legislators that this is a good idea for the people of Illinois, and we need to do a better job at that,” McCaskey said, which means Warren needs to get to work.

September, 2025

Pritkzer hadn't been in on the lakefront stadium move but also isn't bending on the Bears heading out to Arlington Heights. He insists during an interview that the Bears must pay off some of the debt owed on about $500 million for Soldier Field.

However, the Bears have already paid their portion of that agreement. The $500 million is a city part of the debt, and was mismanaged by funding the bond with a hotel/entertainment tax during the pandemic.

December, 2025

County board president Toni Preckwinkle weighs in, and wants the Bears to reconsider the lakefront, but south of Soldier Field and McCormick Place at the old Michael Reese Hospital. The team has already rejected that site as too small of an area for a domed stadium.

Meanwhile, the legislature never champions the megaproject bill during the legislative session and everything remains in limbo after Warren is told it won't be a priority in 2026, either.

As a result, in the middle of the month the Bears make an announcement: They are now considering a move to Hammond, Ind.

January, 2026

During the NFL playoffs, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell came to Arlington Heights and to Hammond, Ind. to tour the sites to see which was better than good, and which was best.

Faced with the possibility of being the governor who had an NFL team leave the state, Pritzker for the first time sings a different tune about the team still owing Chicago for Soldier Field's renovation.

“The Bears don’t owe that," Pritzker finally admitted. "That is a decision that government leaders made years ago to borrow that money to create the Bears stadium. The actual fiscal responsibility, the financial responsibility for that debt, does not fall on the Bears.”

Suddenly, the Bears appear to have a possible ally in the governor and all it took was a little push from Indiana.

February, 2026

Indiana aggressively comes after the Bears and the House passes legislation 95-4 for helping fund a domed Hammond stadium in the Wolf Lake area. Indiana's idea is to own the dome for 40 years while the Bears rent it and run it. Then the Bears would take over ownership. The Senate then follows suit and Gov. Mike Braun signs it into law. The Bears have a standing offer from their neighbors. Hammond is actually about 16 miles closer to Soldier Field than Arlington Heights.

According to the Sun-Times, the Bears would continue practicing at Halas Hall in Lake Forest even if they did build the  Hammond stadium.

April, 2026

Warren sets a deadline. He says at the owners meetings that the team hopes to make a stadium decision between Arlington Heights and Hammond by "late spring, early summer."

The Illinois House keeps Illinois in the running by passing the megaproject bill 78-32 and gives Arlington Heights a chance, but it still must pass the Senate and there are opponents across the state who fear this legislation might shortchange school districts in tax revenue in construction projects over $100 million.

May, 2026

Chicago's Mayor Brandon Johnson tries to bring up the possibility of building again on the lakefront for the Bears.

A bit of a pubic argument between Pritzker and Johnson ensues and the governor says Johnson has "...no concrete plan."

The Senate considers the megaproject but will need Chicago support and even some from elsewhere in the state that doesn't seem to be there.

As a result, compromise plans have been in the works that slim down the legislation and aim it only at the Bears and Arlington Heights. Offering some money for projects to Chicago is one of the ways the governor and backers of the Arlington Heights dome hope to get Chicago political pull behind it as the May 31 end of the spring session approaches.

If there was an extension of the spring session for a vote after the planned deadline, the Bears would need a bigger a majority for legislation to become law but if they had Chicago backing they probably wouldn't have a problem with passage even then.

The session ends at midnight Sunday. If passes, the Bears still must decide between Arlington Heights or Hammond. The $855 million for infrastructure would be a potential source of disagreement in Illinois, still.

Stay tuned for late-night legislation Sunday.

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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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