Bears president/CEO Kevin Warren wrapped his explanation for why the Bears continued to focus on building their stadium in Hammond, Ind., with eight words Thursday: “The Chicago Bears’ fans deserve a new environment.”
They do. And it has nothing to do with a dome or artificial turf.
Bears fans deserve to not have their emotions used as pawns in a game of where-can-the-Bears-get-the-best-tax-breaks. After five years — from the team buying 326 acres in Arlington Heights and declaring it to be their only logical stadium choice, to the team holding a press conference at the Lakefront to declare that site the only true option, to then looking across state lines — Bears fans need their team to make a decision. Moving out of state is becoming, for some, an existential crisis.
Thursday, the Bears kept up the same clumsy dance that was birthed in December, when Warren wrote to fans — during Packers week! — that the team would look toward Northwest Indiana because they were upset with the tax structure in Arlington Heights. Remember when Warren wrote then that talking to Indiana was “not about leverage?” Tell that to Bears fans who feel stuck in the middle.
The Bears on Thursday said they remain committed to building in Hammond, Ind. — but still wouldn’t rule out staying in Illinois. Warren said that their plot of land at Lost Marsh in Hammond is viable — and that they’re conducting geological, topographical and environmental tests to see if nearby Wolf Lake Terminal is, too. The team would then choose one or the other — or combine parts of both.
Arlington Heights, of course, is viable, too — if they could ever strike a deal with lawmakers. Gov. J.B. Pritzker hasn’t ruled out calling a special session of the General Assembly if there’s a deal to get done — but Warren and chairman George McCaskey both described the Bears’ communication with Illinois lawmakers as “minimal.” Pritzker said Thursday that, in two-and-a-half months since last-ditch legislation failed, the Bears still haven’t put exactly what they want in writing. Warren countered by saying they didn’t have an offer from Illinois lawmakers, either.
Asked what mistakes he made along the way in dealing with Illinois, Warren appeared to try to write a motivational poster on the fly.
“I don’t think we’ve made any mistakes,” he said. “As you study these projects, I really look at these as learning opportunities to come together.”
It’s all so exhausting.
Are the Bears hopeful for a deal to stay in Illinois? McCaskey quoted one of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s favorite sayings — that hope was not a strategy.
“We are all adults here,” McCaskey said. “We can have constructive conversations [with Illinois lawmakers], and I don’t think it has to be who calls who first. If there are substantive discussions to be had, let’s have them.”
Let’s have them, make a decision and move on.
The Bears don’t have a public timeline for deciding where to build in Indiana — or even if they’re building there at all. Warren’s wife told him to stop giving them after previous declarations didn’t come to pass. Until then, Bears fans on the Illinois side will have their anxiety leveraged into pressure on their elected officials to get a deal done.
Thursday’s press conference should have been done June 5, when the Bears put out a statement saying their board of directors voted to advance their stadium project in Hammond. McCaskey and Warren didn’t conduct interviews then.
Fans expecting a blockbuster were bound to be disappointed. Their podium appearance was standard timing — McCaskey and Warren speak at training camp each year. Before talking about the stadium, Warren rattled off nine different companies that had become part of the Bears’ “partnership portfolio.” He said the Bears had 99% season ticket retention and made record revenue. Then he got to the stadium, saying the Bears will make a decision once they get clarity on land viability “and have the appropriate capital slack and financing together.” McCaskey plans to borrow to pay the $2 billion the team has pledged for a stadium and surrounding development in Hammond. He claimed the team hasn’t thought about what they’d do with 326 acres at Arlington Heights land if they went to Hammond.
Warren has been wrestling with the team’s stadium issue since he the day he was hired 3 ½ years ago. He said at different points Thursday the Bears needed to take their time to make the right decision — but also had to move quickly, given that each year’s delay costs another $150 million in materials.
McCaskey pushed back on one reporter’s notion that most Bears fans unhappy with a potential move to Indiana, saying the team is conducting its own research. But he understood the tension a move would cause fans.
“We feel that anxiety, we feel that stress … ” he said. “It’s going to require an adjustment. But when I’ve driven that route, other than a sign telling me so, I wouldn’t know that I’ve just crossed the state border.”
Hammond might be in the metropolitan area, but crossing that border means something to certain Bears fans. It did in Missouri, too, when the Chiefs announced they’d leave for Kansas City, Kan.
As with the Chiefs in Missouri, McCaskey thinks the NFL’s stadium committee — of which he’s a member — will grow comfortable with Indiana.
“We see many parallels there,” McCaskey said.
Indiana’s own NFL team beat the Bears in the Super Bowl, though. Kansas doesn’t have one.
And the Bears are the “pride and joy of Illinois,” right?
Right?
“We will be the Chicago Bears,” McCaskey said, “whether we’re in Arlington or whether we’re in Hammond.”
