PHOENIX — Whether the Bears decide to build a stadium in Arlington Heights or Hammond, Indiana, Roger Goodell believes the time has come for them to work out a deal.
“They need to find a solution for a stadium,” Goodell said Tuesday at his NFL annual meeting news conference. “They have looked not only in Indiana but also in Illinois at other sites, and invested in a site. I think they have been responsible in that fact.
“I think it’s really important that they come to a resolution on this relatively soon. … This is an important time to get this resolved sooner rather than later.”
Bears chairman George McCaskey and president/CEO Kevin Warren figure to stress a similar urgency when they meet with the media Wednesday at the Arizona Biltmore. The Bears are seeking property tax cuts on the 326 acres they own in Arlington Heights and want the Illinois General Assembly to allow them to negotiate a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes. The assembly is in session through May 31, leaving just two months to work out an agreement.
Indiana looms. In late February, the state passed a bill that established the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority, which provided the vehicle to finance a Bears stadium in Hammond.
Goodell has toured stadium sites in both states and said he has spoken recently with officials from Illinois.
Asked by the Sun-Times if he believed the Bears should play their home games in a different state, Goodell said the team was “looking at the best resolution,” wherever it may be.
“That’s an important element, as you know, to the success of a founding team,” he said.
Soldier Field has great tradition, he said, but lacks advancements in technology that contribute to the overall fan experience.
Goodell addressed other issues, saying the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which aims to encourage diversity of hiring candidates, isn’t going anywhere, despite threats of legal action in Florida.
Goodell said negotiations haven’t progressed as far as he’d hoped with the NFL Referees Association. The two sides are staring down a work stoppage at the end of May. The NFL passed a rule Tuesday that allows the league to use replay to fix obvious officiating mistakes if a game is being called by replacement referees this season.
Other rule changes passed Tuesday allow teams to declare an onside kick at any point during the game. The kicking team no longer has an incentive to kick the ball out of bounds when it kicks off from the 50-yard line after a penalty. The kick-return team can now align slightly differently.
Goodell said there was no talk of changing the free-agency legal tampering period in the wake of Maxx Crosby’s failed physical. He also said he expects NFL players to participate in flag football at the 2028 Olympics.
The Bears came through with big plays, but were unsteady throughout last season and struggled with basics like stopping the run and pressuring the quarterback. That’s not usually a formula for success.
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In an interview with the Sun-Times at the NFL’s annual meeting, Poles acknowledged all that awaits Williams — and the Bears — in his critical third season. Poles is on the verge of finding out whether the team has solved one of the most vexing problems in franchise history.
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Speaking at the NFL’s Annual Meeting on Tuesday, coach Andy Reid said the team traded for Fields in part because of his experience in head coach Matt Nagy’s system.
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