SPRINGFIELD — Lawmakers’ drive for legislation intended to keep the Chicago Bears in Illinois stalled out late Saturday with barely a day left in Springfield’s legislative session, as a key Senate negotiator conceded his chamber’s caucus won’t support the property-tax incentive bill the team says it needs to prevent their move to Hammond, Indiana.
State Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, said legislators were still hammering out alternative economic incentives to keep the Bears from jumping the border, and to put Chicago back in the mix “to compete for a stadium.”
“The city has made it clear they would like to be considered for a new stadium as well,” said Cunningham, who expected alternative legislation to be filed Sunday morning. “We’d like to come up with some sort of proposal that would put them on an equal plane.”
But with little more than 24 hours left on the legislative clock, it wasn’t clear what alternative incentives the state might offer, or how Chicago could figure into the mix. The team has insisted its only two viable stadium destinations are in Arlington Heights and Hammond, though Cunningham said city officials had met with Bears representatives multiple times in recent months.
The South Side Democrat suggested his colleagues wanted to expand the dome debate even further, potentially creating a scenario in which “maybe other municipalities would be on equal footing to compete for the stadium.”
The late-session drama unfolded as the state’s supermajority Democrats wrangled over a roughly $56 billion spending plan that also needs to be approved by midnight Sunday. Lawmakers were considering potential new taxes on digital advertising, prediction markets, cryptocurrency and fantasy sports to help make ends meet.
Earlier in the day, Cunningham met with Gov. JB Pritzker and state Rep. Kam Buckner, who sponsored megaproject legislation that passed the Illinois House last month that would give the Bears massive property tax breaks over the next four decades.
Pritzker’s office didn’t immediately comment on the apparent breakdown in Bears talks, nor did the team. Sources close to discussions were holding out hope of finding a new deal, potentially one that could provide the “tax certainty” the team covets along with funding for infrastructure around a stadium development.
Bears’ PILOT bill crashes
For over three years, the team has sought legislation that would allow them to negotiate discounted payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) with local governments in order to slash property taxes that could top $100 million on the dome they’d like to build in Arlington Heights.
The House bill would’ve diverted half of PILOT payments to broader tax relief programs for average homeowners, though analyses suggest benefits would be scant.
The Senate was expected to overhaul that bill, which would apply to any company investing in a “megaproject” valued at $100 million or more. But after a two-hour caucus meeting, Cunningham said it was back to the drawing board.
“From day one, there has always been a Chicago problem with the Bears proposal,” Cunningham said. “The Bears had a proposal on the table for a couple of years that asks Chicago members of the Legislature to vote for a tax credit that would encourage a business to leave Chicago.”
As for what incentives the Bears and senators might find palatable, “we haven’t landed on anything yet,” Cunningham said.
One long-shot proposal being batted around was the idea of a potential stadium in Arlington Heights being publicly owned, a source said, though the mechanics of that were far from concrete.
“Legislators want to be comfortable with something that protects the taxpayers, something that their constituents can live with,” Cunningham said. “Whether or not the Bears are supportive of it is very much a secondary concern.”
Previously, lawmakers had considered narrowing down the PILOT legislation to only apply to the Arlington Heights site the Bears closed on in 2023 — a tough sell for Chicago lawmakers who, at the very least, are seeking investments in Soldier Field and the Museum Campus in exchange for signing off on the team’s suburban migration.
“We have to make sure that the city of Chicago is getting something out of this,” said state Sen. Robert Peters, whose South Side district includes the Bears’ current home.
A rendering of an aerial view of the stadium site in Arlington Heights.
Provided by Chicago Bears
Minority Leader John Curran, R-Downers-Grove, said his side of the aisle was ready to support “the right” bill, but the only late-session option would be a narrow bill applying only to the Bears, not statewide PILOT incentives.
Bears president Kevin Warren has said the team will name its destination by “early summer.” When the clock strikes midnight Sunday, the vote threshold for bills that take effect within the next year rises to 60% for passage, leaving some wiggle room for further negotiation — unless the Bears commit to Indiana.
“I don’t know that it’s a deadline,” Cunningham said. “We would like to get something completed before we leave town tomorrow night.”
New taxes on the table
Democrats filed their roughly $56 billion spending plan at about 9 p.m. Saturday, little more than a day before a constitutional deadline to pass it. A bill for the taxing end of the budget had yet to surface.
Democratic caucuses were still weighing a menu of new potential tax revenue streams, including Pritzker’s proposed tax on social media companies and other new taxes on digital advertising, prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, plus cryptocurrency and fantasy sports.
Those ideas, vehemently opposed by numerous business and industry interests, would figure to face court challenges like the city-level social media tax levied in Chicago has, so revenue estimates wouldn’t be inked into the budget.
Lawmakers were also considering upping sales taxes on candy, soda and tobacco, while decoupling from federal business tax breaks among other options to generate more money.
Republicans opposed the new tax proposals, saying it would stifle the state’s growth.
“Healthy states don’t need new taxes,” said Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, “Why? Because they’re growing.”
Time was running out for other bills, including further regulations on artificial intelligence companies, limits to local zoning regulations in an effort to bolster affordable housing, and a moratorium on introducing new data centers to the state.
