PHOENIX — Illinois or Indiana? Arlington Heights or Hammond?
When the wheel on the Chicago Bears’ pursuit of a new stadium finally stops spinning, where will it land? And where will the future game-day home of the Bears ultimately be?
George McCaskey was succinct Wednesday morning with the freshest answer to a question that has been asked in various forms for nearly five years now.
“The fact of the matter is we don’t have a deal to consider right now,” the Bears’ chairman said at the NFL’s annual league meeting at the Arizona Biltmore.
Thus, the tug-of-war continues.
In Indiana, recently passed legislation will create a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority, which would have the power to acquire and finance land for a Bears stadium.
As for the 340-acre site in Hammond that the Bears are considering? Well, significant vetting is still needed to assess infrastructure needs, environmental issues and build-out potential, among other issues.
In Arlington Heights, meanwhile, the Bears own 326 acres of property on the site of the former Arlington International Racecourse — land the team closed on more than three years ago. Still, two big obstacles remain. For one, the team requires assurance of state-driven aid for the infrastructure needed on the property and the surrounding area, with estimates over $800 million.
The Bears have also made it clear they can’t press forward with a stadium project in the northwest suburbs without the passage of a “mega-projects bill” in Illinois that would provide property tax certainty over a long time frame.
“There are prudent and wise and responsible public servants in Indiana working on it,” McCaskey said. “And there are prudent and wise and responsible public servants in Illinois working on it.”
Bears president and CEO Kevin Warren said he appreciates those efforts but has also upped the push for clarity, emphasizing again Wednesday that the Bears would like to fully understand exactly where they stand in both states by the end of the spring or in the very early stages of summer. (Illinois’ current legislative session, for what it’s worth, runs through May.)
“Both of the sites are excellent sites,” Warren said. “And we’re focused on making sure we build a world-class stadium that can create a wonderful fan experience.”
As this week’s league meeting concluded, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell emphasized his push for urgency on the Bears’ stadium exploration.
“I think it’s really important they come to a resolution on this relatively soon,” Goodell said. “I’ve spoken to officials in Illinois that this is an important time to get this resolved.”
Goodell also publicly offered a push that mirrored the Bears’ desire to find an alternative home to Soldier Field, the team’s current stadium.
“(That) has a lot of great tradition,” Goodell added. “But as far as advancements in technology and advancements in the quality of the stadium for the fan experience, I would say it’s not at the top of the list. So they need to find that resolution.”
Whether Goodell’s comments offer even the slightest nudge to Illinois lawmakers remains to be seen, but Warren is hopeful it adds another prominent voice to the discussions.
“Lawmakers in all our states recognize he understands the importance of this and he understands the political ramifications,” Warren told The Athletic. “First and foremost, he’s a businessman. And you can see with the growth of the NFL, a lot of it has been because of the fan experience.
“The stadiums have been able to afford us an opportunity for growth from a fan experience standpoint. Commissioner Goodell’s leadership has been instrumental in the way the league has grown globally. He’s an astute and transformative business person. So when he speaks about a stadium project, it resonates.”
Bears chairman George McCaskey is known for visiting with tailgating fans before games. Will that happen in Arlington Heights or Hammond, Ind., in the future? Stay tuned. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
McCaskey, meanwhile, playfully ordered a moratorium on any hackneyed football comparisons to the stadium project.
“Let’s avoid the trite and tired football analogies that one initiative is ‘on the 5-yard line going in’ and another initiative ‘has the ball down by three, out of timeouts and 70 yards away.’”
That said, the chairman went down that road one more time.
“Just as in the course of a game, things ebb and flow,” he said. “They go back and forth. Sometimes there is great momentum on one side. Sometimes the momentum shifts suddenly to another side.
“I’ve said to our family, ‘We need to be patient and let the deal come to us.’ We think a deal will materialize somewhere. We’re comfortable with either site. We have people at the Bears working with public servants in both Indiana and Illinois trying to get this done.”
How long, though, can such patience last? And would it be fair to say that the clock is ticking on the Bears’ pursuit of clarity?
“As Kevin has said and the commissioner has said, we need to make a decision sooner rather than later,” McCaskey said. “When the process is completed, in one place or the other, and we have a deal to consider, then we’ll look to see where we are with the other situation and we’ll make the decision.”
Given how meandering the stadium project has been since June 2021, when the Bears first submitted their bid for the Arlington Heights property, many have wondered why the team was so aggressive in pursuing that land without nearly enough clarity on how the property tax situation might be resolved.
“Well, we didn’t control the timing of the acquisition of Arlington Park,” McCaskey said. “Churchill Downs was in a position where they were ready to sell. So they largely determined the timing.”
From the outset, the Bears have vowed to pledge $2 billion of private funding to the stadium build itself. As for where that money will come from?
“We’re going to have to borrow it. Because we don’t have it,” McCaskey said Wednesday. “That’s where the risk comes in.”
It’s not the type of risk he and his family are used to.
“Well,” McCaskey said, “I have George Halas’ blood coursing through my veins. So the family is risk-averse, debt-averse. But we feel this is a necessary step to secure the Bears’ future.”
As for Warren’s consistent assertion over his three years as team president that time is money and that, with each day, week, month and year that passes, expenses are added to the stadium project, he shoulders accountability for not accelerating the venture.
“Hopefully, (taking) a little extra time will allow you to get it right,” Warren said. “I mean, we have to get this right. As George has mentioned, this will impact our franchise for decades to come. So this is not ‘Where do you move training camp to?’ This is a decision that will have ramifications for 30, 40, 50 years. So you want to make sure you get it right.”
