State lawmakers have rolled their eyes for years at the Chicago Bears’ overtures for help building a new stadium, but the team’s threat this week to consider moving to Indiana has widened the fault line in a fraying relationship with Illinois’ top Democratic power brokers.
Bears president Kevin Warren called out a lack of hometown “legislative partnership” as the impetus for exploring the possibility of taking their economic ball across the state line.
Gov. JB Pritzker called that “a startling slap in the face,” and legislators’ reactions Thursday suggested the line of scrimmage isn’t likely to move much by the time they return to Springfield in January.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch said taxpayers are more concerned with higher costs for groceries, health care and utilities.
“Affordability is the concern of Illinoisans, and in the House, we’re working diligently to make their concerns our top priority, not a taxpayer-funded stadium for billionaires,” Welch said through a spokesperson.
The team says Arlington Heights is still their preferred option, but they need lawmakers to pass a bill allowing them to negotiate a discounted property tax rate. They’d also need various government bodies to approve some $855 million in public spending for roads, sewers and other infrastructure to make it work.
Pritzker has said he’s open to both ideas, but insists the Bears need to identify a mechanism to pay off more than half a billion dollars that taxpayers have left to foot from Soldier Field’s 2003 renovation.
State Rep. Mary Beth Canty, D-Arlington Heights, has introduced the type of “megadevelopment” incentive legislation the Bears covet, but she encouraged team brass to change their tack.
“I encourage the Bears to engage with the General Assembly in good faith, without threats, so we can find a path forward to keep the Bears at home in Illinois,” she said.
State Rep. Kam Buckner, the South Side Democrat whose district includes Soldier Field, said the team’s stadium quest “doesn’t crack the top 100 things the people of Illinois are asking for, expecting, or willing to tolerate right now.”
He pointed to the team’s lengthy record of threatening to move, most recently in 1995 when the McCaskeys floated a plan to build a sports and entertainment complex in Gary.
In the 1980s, the team dangled land-buy options in Hoffman Estates and Aurora and even suggested it could play at Notre Dame while negotiating new deals with the Chicago Park District. And they first floated Arlington Heights as a potential destination in 1975.
“This plan has a lot of rushing yards in it. But too few of them are straightforward,” Buckner said, deriding the team for “cutting to the front of the line for a property tax break while families are still fighting to make their own tax bills make sense.”
“Generational projects aren’t built on a hurry up offense or relocation rhetoric. They’re built through balanced, sensible conversations that respect public priorities and fiscal reality,” Buckner said. “Illinois residents deserve a process that’s fair, thoughtful, and grounded in reality. Indiana residents would too.”
Arlington Heights officials took solace in the Bears still considering the village their “best option,” but lamented the “restrictive” situation in Springfield.
“We encourage our Illinois state legislators to move forward with the megaproject bill,” Mayor Jim Tinaglia said. “This legislation will help to keep the Chicago Bears in Illinois, within the limits of Cook County and ultimately in Arlington Heights.”
It’s all music to the ears of officials across the border.
“The Chicago Bears recognize Indiana’s pro-business climate, and I am ready to work with them to build a new stadium in Northwest Indiana,” Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said in a statement. “This move would deliver a major economic boost, create jobs, and bring another premier NFL franchise to the Hoosier State. Let’s get it done.”
Indiana state Rep. Earl Harris championed legislation earlier this year creating a sports development commission, which he credited with prompting the Bears to broaden their stadium horizons to Hammond, East Chicago, Gary and beyond.
“The fan base is already here. The economics of Indiana can make it work,” Harris said.
On the outside looking in is Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who championed the team’s ill-fated proposal to build a new dome adjacent to Soldier Field, which would have required more than $2 billion in taxpayer funding.
“The Chicago Bears belong in the city of Chicago,” Johnson said. “The door is always open for conversations.”