Bears remain committed to Indiana stadium plan — though they won’t rule out Illinois

Bears president/CEO Kevin Warren reiterated Thursday that the team is remained focused on building a stadium in Hammond, Indiana — but once again stopped short of fully committing to moving the Bears across state lines.

The Bears have finished their due diligence at the Lost Marsh site in Hammond and deemed it “viable,” Warren said. The team is currently evaluating the nearby Wolf Lake Terminal site. The Bears could decide to merge parts of both sites together. Warren would not give a timeline for when the Bears could make a decision.

He said the Bears have had “minimal” conversations with Illinois representatives since the team’s board of directors said June 5, they announced the team’s board of directors voted to “advance our stadium development project in Hammond.” About three weeks later, the team confirmed it began environmental testing at Wolf Lake Terminal, which is west of Interstate 90 and near their original proposed plot in Hammond.

Earlier Thursday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker told reporters that the Bears have various desires they’ve communicated to the state but that they’ve yet to put them in writing. Late last month, he said he presumed the Bears would tell him “in short order” what exactly they need in a stadium funding bill. The Bears have talked at length about needing a property tax break to build on the 326-acre Arlington Heights plot they own in the northwest suburbs.

Asked about why the Bears have only had minimal discussions with Illinois lawmakers, chairman George McCaskey said that “if there are substantive discussions to be had, let’s have ’em.”

Pritzker hasn’t ruled out calling a special session sometime before the regular October session to vote on a stadium funding plan.

As for the team name: they will remain the Chicago Bears, McCaskey said, whether their next stadium is in Hammond or Arlington Heights.

Thursday marked the first time that Warren and McCaskey had spoken at length since the June announcement, which was merely a press release presented without further comment. McCaskey and Warren typically give a press conference during training camp each year.