Bear Digest

Halas Hall Would Remain Bears' Home Regardless of Stadium Location

Although the Hammond mayor linked the Bears to a practice facility move if an Indiana stadium gets built, a Sun-Times report says they'll still practice at their Lake Forest home.
Gene Chamberlain|
Bears players take the field for warmups prior to practice at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, Ill.
Bears players take the field for warmups prior to practice at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, Ill. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker criticized the Bears for their Thursday statement about the support they've received with Indiana's stadium House bill moving to the brink of reality

This when Pritzker himself has said more than enough to sink his own ship in the Arlington Heights stadium negotiations at a time when he should simply have kept his mouth shut.

It seems they're not the only ones who can't be quiet when they should. Hammond, Ind. Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. was popping off after the bill to fund a new stadium left the Indiana committee level on Thursday. One comment, in particular, sounded rather goofy. 

McDermott suggested the Bears would leave Halas Hall for a practice site at their new proposed stadium near Wolf Lake in Hammond.

"They're talking about Halas Hall, everything," McDermott said when asked specifically about the practice facility near the end of his press conference on Thursday after word about the Indiana bill moving past committee came out.

Anyone who heard this and knew the Bears realized this was so much garbage.

Bears beat reporter Pat Finley of the Sun-Times confirmed this and reported there never has been intent on the part of the Bears to leave Halas Hall, where they have been since 1997. That's when the facility at the back of Conway Industrial Park near Interstate 294 replaced the former Halas Hall on Lake Forest College's campus.

Just before the pandemic in 2020, the Bears added 162,500 square feet of expansion to their 143,000 square-foot practice facility and spent over $100 million on the improvement.

They added more office space than they can fill and now have one of the NFL's best locker rooms and weight rooms, as was reflected by opinions in the NFLPA poll the union formerly conducted. They also have an elite indoor practice facility with the Payton Center and have even held training camp at Halas Hall since leaving Bourbonnais in 2020, although that hasn't exactly made for a fan-friendly experience.

Halas Hall is located within a short drive of Chicago's major airport and they're able to get new players or potential free agent additions and agents in quickly during free agency. To give all of that up after they paid or it in order to build a new place at the stadium site where they would play a game one day every other week doesn't necessarily make sense and never did.

If the Bears moved to Indiana for games, though, perhaps they could consider looking into relocating training camp to the stadium. Training camp at Halas Hall just isn't made for the fans.

There isn't a large enough viewing area and there is absolutely no parking at their practice site. In Bourbonnais, they could get 10,000 fans in a day at Olivet Nazarene University to watch but at Halas Hall not even 2,000.

Another interesting point to ponder is whether the players would, for tax purposes, be considered employees in Illinois or Indiana. The games decide wins and losses, but there is far more work done by players in Lake Forest than there is on Sundays.

Regardless, the Hammond mayor isn't really helping his own cause with misinformation about where the Bears will be practicing. When you hear that, you have to wonder what else is being greatly exaggerated.

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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.