Despite Mayor Brandon Johnson’s top adviser insisting Friday there’s still a chance the Bears build a stadium in the city, the team still considers Arlington Heights and Hammond, Indiana, the only two viable sites.
The Bears will reiterate that point Tuesday when they update the 31 other NFL teams on the status of the Arlington Heights and Hammond sites — and nowhere else. The briefing will take place at the NFL’s quarterly meeting in Orlando, a source said Monday.
The Bears updated the NFL Stadium Committee on the two sites in a virtual meeting three weeks ago. Then, as is the case now, the Bears stressed that Arlington Heights and Hammond were the only two realistic locations for their domed stadium.
The team has said it plans to decide between the two in late spring or early summer.
The Illinois General Assembly is set to adjourn at the end of the month, so the clock is ticking for the Senate to pass the mega-projects bill that would allow the Bears to negotiate a property tax break with Arlington Heights. The team owns the 326-acre former Arlington International Racecourse site.
Indiana has proposed building a stadium for the Bears near Wolf Lake and allowing the team to keep all event revenue. The Bears wouldn’t have to pay rent for at least 30 years and could buy back the stadium for a $1 after 40.
On Friday, senior mayoral adviser Jason Lee shot holes in both plans and told the Sun-Times that “there’s always the realistic possibility that you have to make a pivot” back to the city of Chicago. Monday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said that Johnson has “come up with no plan at all” to keep the Bears in the city.