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Kevin Warren Confirms Hammond, Indiana Remains the Bears' Sole Focus for a Stadium

George McCaskey and Kevin Warren said talks with Illinois have been minimal, with no formal offer, as the Bears push forward on two Hammond sites.
Gene Chamberlain|
Kevin Warren and George McCaskey held a stadium press conference to announce nothing beyond what has already been said about the project. It's all Indiana at the moment.
Kevin Warren and George McCaskey held a stadium press conference to announce nothing beyond what has already been said about the project. It's all Indiana at the moment. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

Bears ownership announced nothing new about their stadium Thursday beyond making it even more clear Indiana is in the driver's seat for the project and Illinois isn't inside the vehicle.

And the team will retain its name regardless of where they play contrary to silly internet rumors.

"We will be the Chicago Bears whether we’re in Arlington or whether we’re in Hammond," Bears owner George McCaskey said, although this much has been made very clear repeatedly in the past.

A press conference with McCaskey and president Kevin Warren, fitted in just after Ben Johnson's pre-practice presser Thursday, turned up only some more disgust by the organization with how Illinois has treated the franchise and excitement over the two sites being considered near Hammond.

Warren said there has been occasional discussion Illinois officials even though Gov. J. B. Pritzker's latest proclamation is he's still hopefully some kind of agreement can be reached with the Bears, although there is no plan or offer from the state.

"I mean, I guess Governor Pritzker is correct," Warren said. "There is nothing in writing. We don’t have an offer from the state of Illinois. And our focus now is on Indiana."

There have been occasional meetings with Illinois officials, though. They haven't exactly been ground breakers.

"They’ve been minimal," Warren said. "So I wouldn't have any characterization as far as how we would characterize those."

Indiana far more aggressive

Warren did label the Indiana situation as far more positive. In Indiana, the Bears have already explored and tested the soil at the Lost Marsh Golf Course site near Hammond and Warren said they consider it viable. They have also been looking at the Wolf Lake Terminal site south of that one and very close to the border. Their viability studies on this one are not complete but both Warren and McCaskey said they consider these two sites as suitable.

One underexplained aspect of the stadium is why the Bears would want a domed facility when they speak constantly about "Bear weather" in December and January and how they benefit playing warm-weather teams in snow, icy conditions.

"I heard a lot about Bear weather back in January," McCaskey said. "You know, this team from Southern California is coming here and we're gonna expose them to Bear weather, and they wound up with the W."

The Rams won the divisional playoff game in overtime in bitter cold, wind and some snow.

"It's fun to think about snow flurries and braving the elements," McCaskey added. "I was out there myself. But to host the number of events that we could host in a fixed-roof stadium, to be able to attract these major events — which all along, Chicagoland has lost out on — we think that will more than offset the advantages of Bear weather."

The idea is for a stadium to bring a Super Bowl, the Final Four and other big events to the Chicago area, and the Bears do consider Hammond part of Chicagoland.

Any chance for Illinois?

Asked if he's still hoping Illinois might get involved in the hunt, McCaskey trotted out his sense of humor and referred back to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's past visit to Indiana and Arlington Heights.

“Well, somebody mentioned the commissioner," McCaskey said. "He has said to us many times in league meetings, 'Hope is not a strategy.'

"We have to deal with the here and now. We have to deal with real circumstances and these are the real circumstances.”

The circumstances are the Bears see each passing day as making a stadium more expensive tobuild and have received only one offer. It is from the state of Indiana for a stadium they would build together and the Bears would run but not own. They could avoid taxes this way.

While McCaskey is disappointed, he wouldn't say he's ruling out Illinois getting involved. Time is the problem. The Bears have reached a point where they are not willing to wait after five years of committing to get a stadium built.

"We are all adults here," McCaskey said. "We can have constructive conversations and I don't think it has to be who calls who first.

"If there are substantive discussions to be had (with Illinois), let's have them. In Indiana, they have been very proactive, very communicative, very solution-oriented."

Illinois, meanwhile, has failed to pass legislation, then turned its back on the whole situation since the end of May. The veto session of the Illinois legisature doesn't come until November.

The fact the Bear are even considering leaving this state has upset many Bears fans.

"I mean I agree, I mean I understand how a fan could be upset," Warren said. "But I think what's important to recognize is this is important for the fans. It's for us to build a world class stadium. It's time. The time has come for us to do it.

"They deserve a much better game-day experience than we have now. They deserve the opportunity for us to be able to bring world-class events here from the Super Bowl that we would have a chance to bid for, to world cup, to concerts, to college football playoff games, to other professional sports."

Despite all of the positive feelings expressed toward Indiana, Warren said he couldn't set any deadlines. In the early spring, he had set late spring or early summer as a deadline for an announcement. Soon it will be late summer with no announcement.

"My wife told me about six months ago don't give any more target dates so just get the work done," Warren said. "Greta I love you and I'm listening to you and so I think the target is the right time. We'll know when it is.

"But I will say we're making very, very good progress here. We have one site that works, Lost Marsh, and then to have another site is really unique. And we think if that comes together that we will have an absolutely dynamic atmosphere in Hammond, Ind., not only from a stadium, from a mixed-use development from a game-day stadium development overall. "

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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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