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Bear Digest

Would McCook Interest the McCaskeys for a Chicago Bears Stadium?

Another stadium idea has popped up in a place many haven't heard of because it's so small, but it could be big in terms of appeal to Bears ownership for several reasons.
Gene Chamberlain|
A contingency of locals from the tiny suburban village of McCook went to Halas Hall Thursday to pitch their own stadium proposal.
A contingency of locals from the tiny suburban village of McCook went to Halas Hall Thursday to pitch their own stadium proposal. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Are you ready for another football stadium proposal?

It seems everyone wants to get in on the act, from a Bears stadium proposal on the edge of the Calumet River at Lake Michigan to now a village just outside Chicago with plenty of room and what actually could be an enticing plan if there are no catches.

According to reporter Steve Metsch of the Des Planes Valley News, the tiny village of McCook wants to use an old quarry area as a stadium for the Bears. It's not that far-fetched. It isn't on the Bears' property like Arlington Heights but is in Illinois and the best thing about their idea is it does not include a tax issue.

The newspaper site says village officials hand-delivered the plan to the Bears and were hoping to talk to George McCaskey and Kevin Warren at Halas Hall on Thursday. Village Mayor Terrance Carr, village clerk Ken Lyons, police chief Jeremy Carr, building inspector Brendan Meskill, and fire chief Dave DeLeshe went to 1920 Football Drive at the back of the Conway industrial park where the Bears' home is located. Considering how small the town is, that's roughly 1.8% of the poplulation visiting Halas Hall.

McCook is a village of only 268 people, located just south of LaGrange and Brookfield and north of Lyons Township. It's split by Illinois Route 171. The site is at the corner of 55th Street and East Avenue. The quarry area is for sale.

The mayor told Metsch it should cost about $160 million for the land. The Bears paid $197 million for the Arlington International Racecourse, which is more than twice the size of the McCook quarry. If they did this, they could sell the Arlington Heights property at quite a profit because real estate prices have soared in the Northwest Suburbs since that $197 million bid back in 2021.

The plus and pitfall

The Bears or the village could buy the land. Then the Bears would build a domed a their previously announced cost of $2 billion. They would give it to the village. The village would then charge the Bears $1 a year in rent. Because it's publicly owned, there would be no property tax for the Bears.

"This is prime real estate," Carr told the paper. "If we don’t get the Bears, I’ll get some development there. It’s not a waste of money for me to do this. It’s not a crazy idea.”

Public transportation might be a problem but the site is not far from Interstate 294 and Route 55, so it's accessible. The problem might be the size because 150 acres doesn't really allow much for the commercial area the Bears wanted to develop around the stadium like their plan in Arlington Heights calls for, and there is no mention about infrastructure costs in the story.



It's $855 million in infrastructure costs at Arlington Heights that the Bears need and the state seems to be balking at, even though they regularly do this type of thing for commercial construction.

The plan sounds a little like the Indiana deal the Bears are contemplating, or a cross between that deal and one Lake Barrington Republican Martin McLaughlin has introduced for the Arlington Heights area. Except the Bears already own the property in Arlington Heights and getting around the tax situation is a problem.

It will be interesting to see if the Bears take this seriously and if it does address their idea of a commercial area around the stadium the way they would have in Arlington Heights or in Indiana.

If the Bears do consider it, expect a great deal of howling from Brandon Johnson, Gov. J. B. Pritzker and the Springfield legislators, who could essentially be left out in the cold.

They also would start whining about the Bears being too fickle and not focused on one plan again, even though their own plans never seem to get sufficient support from lawmakers due to tax and other issues.

The Bears are focused on one plan, though. It's in Indiana and not Illinois.

At least McCook would be in Illinois.

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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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