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Now Bears Must Also Fight Bernie Sanders in Bid to Build Stadium

It wasn't enough for Springfield and Chicago politicians to tie up Bears hopes for a new stadium, and now federal help is being used to trap them at Soldier Field.
Gene Chamberlain|
Sen. Bernie Sanders is now involved in the Bears stadium controversy.
Sen. Bernie Sanders is now involved in the Bears stadium controversy. | Josh Morgan-USA TODAY

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Chicago Bears

A proposed federal bill could greatly curtail Chicago Bears efforts to relocate in Indiana, or even Arlington Heights.

Sen. Bernie Sanders from Vermont and Rep. Greg Casar from Texas have introduced a bill that would require a sports team owner to provide one year of notice before moving to a new state or possibly sell their team. It's called "The Home Team Act."

It seems obvious this is a federal law directly targeted at the McCaskey family and the Bears, as the entire stadium saga unfolds. It is intended only to give the city of Chicago leverage to keep them in the city limits.

It's being put forth at a time when the Illinois legislature has failed so far to step up with its own law designed to keep the Bears from relocating in northwest Indiana by allowing them to build a stadium on their own property in Arlington Heights.

Why is this urgent now when nothing was done after the Giants and Jets moved to New Jersey, the Colts went in the dead of night to Indianapolis, the Browns to Baltimore, the Rams to St. Louis and then L.A. again, the Raiders to L.A. and Las Vegas, and numerous other teams in other sports as well?

The bill would be something numerous fans in the Chicago area might love at first glance because it's a possible way of removing the Bears from the hands of the McCaskeys, a family that has proven since the early 1990s to have little ability to own and operate a professional sports franchise.

The Bears have had only eight playoff berths and five postseason wins since the McCaskeys fired coach Mike Ditka following the 1992 season. Yet, the Bears just announced a ticket hike of about 13% after scoring their first playoff win since the 2010 season, a 31-27 victory over Green Bay.

It's a terrible idea

This bill has real problems that go beyond a football team and a stadium issue.

It's another example of politicians wasting the time and money of taxpayers, but why should this be any different than any other time in history?

The basic problem is how it targets this one specific business group with restraint not forced upon other businesses. Why should sports owners be told they can have the team taken away and given to someone else? Why are they legally different than the owner of a dress shop or a bolts factory?

In this case, the Bears aren't even leaving the market if they move to Indiana or Arlington Heights. The only ones who suffer are politicians in Chicago who should have never funded Soldier Field's 2002 reconstruction in the haphazard way they did it. Now they're upset they'll be left holding the bag, but it's bag in the form of a huge unpaid bond that they alone were responsible for creating.

When government decides to interfere in business to any extent it usually is a problem, unless they have the public safety directly in mind. There's nothing dangerous to anyone with the Bears' potential move to Arlington Heights, or even Hammond for that matter.

This bill has the distinct fingerprints of local Chicago politicians angry about the Bears trying to move to Arlington Heights stamped all over it. Obviously it keeps the Bears from going to Indiana but it also keeps them from going to their own suburban property because Chicago politicians can already keep legislation needed for the Arlington Heights stadium bottled up in committee forever.

Without the threat of a move to Indiana, the Bears have no recourse.

Springfield, and mainly the Chicago politicians, are holding up passage of the megaproject bill that seems stalled in the state's House just to keep them from leaving the city for Arlington Heights. They want the Bears trapped in the NFL's smallest stadium until at least 2033, when the Soldier Field lease expires, and beyond.

They would have no control over the Bears at all if they move to Indiana, so they tapped their buddies like Sanders and Casar to propose a national bill that would essentially let them tell the McCaskeys they must stay in Soldier Field.

This is unfair interference in business. It's not something anyone in Illinois needs but it's what has made the state a place where business goes to die for years now.

The state already loses businesses to other states at a rate lower than only two other states over the past five years and letting the Bears stay in Illinois on their own property would prevent those jobs from going to Indiana. They're only seeking tax certainty and customary payment for infrastructure, as they'll build the stadium themselves.

It means graft and corruption

Another problem with the bill is that during the year before the owners' proposed relocation, the franchise would be available for purchase by other potential owners at a "fair and reasonable price." Who's to say what's a reasonable price. The law leaves it to a team of appraisers to determine that price.

This has tremendous potential for graft and corruption. If someone else wants take the property—the team—they can simply pay off some of the appraisers.

There's one other aspect of this law to scoff at, and it's timing. It seems awfully convenient from the city standpoint considering the legislature in Illinois will break April 1 before coming back again later this spring. Arlington Heights' mayor has said the Bears will not be patient to continue this saga after the end of the month. The chances they'll head to Indiana increase greatly after March 31.

This bill wasn't seriously thought through by the politicians involved, but considering who those politicians are it shouldn't surprise anyone. Like it or not, sports teams are privately funded properties and this is not a situation easy for socialists like Sanders to grasp.

This bill is all merely a show of support for the politicians in Chicago, who failed to come up with a way to keep the Bears, and now are firing out in desperation to prevent a move to Arlington Heights or Indiana.

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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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