Mayor Brandon Johnson has “no plan” to keep the Bears in Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday, declaring Johnson’s long-shot hope for city control over the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority “typical” for a mayor he says has accomplished little in Springfield.
The governor’s remarks about the way the rookie mayor does business with the Illinois General Assembly revive early tensions between Pritzker and Johnson that the two men had seemingly tried to downplay in recent months.
“He has no plan. He’s come up with no plan at all about how the Bears would end up in the city of Chicago. So that’s problematic. I’d love them to be in the city, but we are three years in now, and he still has no plan,” Pritzker told reporters at an unrelated event in Chicago. “This is kind of typical in fact. … The mayor has shown up every spring at the end of session to pronounce what he would like to see happen.”
When the NFL holds its quarterly meeting in Orlando Tuesday, the Bears plan to reiterate to the other 31 teams that the only two viable sites they are considering are Arlington Heights and Hammond — and nowhere else, a source told the Sun-Times Monday. The team has said it plans to decide between the two in late spring or early summer.
Pritzker’s claim that Johnson has had no plan to keep the Bears in Chicago is not quite accurate. Two years ago, Johnson joined Bears president Kevin Warren in unveiling plans for a domed lakefront stadium adjacent to Soldier Field that would have required $2.4 billion in public support.
Pritzker and Democratic legislative leaders were conspicuously absent. The mayor’s plan went nowhere in Springfield. Since then, Chicago has been missing in action from stadium negotiations — until early May, when Johnson made a two-day trip to Springfield to, among other things, attempt to tank the Bears’ move to Arlington Heights.
On Monday, Pritzker conducted an abbreviated tutorial — for reporters and for the Johnson administration — about how Springfield does business.
The state budget “gets put together starting in November” and is introduced by the governor in February, Pritzker said.
“That seems like a good time period to come talk to the governor’s office. Then there is February to May. There is all that time to come talk to the Legislature, which has my budget in hand, or the governor’s office,” Pritzker said. “Again, we’ve seen almost nothing out of the mayoral administration here — on that subject or really any other. So to show up in May and have a bunch of demands seems late in the game. And it’s unfortunate that this has happened most years.”
Last week, Johnson touted to Crain’s Chicago Business the possibility that the city could take control of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, created in 1987 as a funding mechanism for the construction of Rate Field where the White Sox play, and the 2003 renovation of Soldier Field.
That would give the city new clout in the wrangling over a new Bears stadium, but it’s unlikely control of the authority would change hands anytime soon. The governor appoints four members of the seven-member authority’s board, while the mayor appoints three.
The following day, senior mayoral adviser Jason Lee insisted to the Chicago Sun-Times that there’s still a chance to keep the Bears in Chicago because there are major hurdles with stadium proposals in both Arlington Heights and Hammond, Indiana — the two sites on the Bears’ short list for a new stadium.
Pritzker and state lawmakers are focusing exclusively on Arlington Heights. The megaprojects bill that would allow the Bears to negotiate discounted property tax payments with local school districts is now before the Illinois Senate after passing the House. Major changes are needed to make property tax relief for suburban homeowners more than just a token break.
Pritzker said Monday he anticipates changes, and he expects the bill to pass both chambers and land on his desk before the Legislature adjourns its spring session May 31.
“The Bears have said publicly, and I think they said so last Friday, again, that they have now only two options — and that’s the state of Indiana or Arlington Heights. We would like them to stay in the state of Illinois, and so I’m fighting hard to make sure they can do that,” Pritzker said.
The governor reiterated that his “north star” is protecting Illinois taxpayers by making certain that no public money goes toward stadium construction.
It’s important that “we are being fair with other businesses who want to come to Illinois or expand here — that we’re being fair in the allocation of support for a business expanding in that state while also protecting taxpayers across the state,” he said.
Reacting to Pritzker’s remarks, Johnson’s office released a statement saying, “For the past two years, the City has continued to advocate for a publicly owned stadium and has not supported the advancement of a privately owned stadium. The City’s proposal remains the only plan centered on public ownership alongside a funding mechanism that does not burden property taxpayers while keeping the Bears in Chicago.”
In the three years since Johnson took office, the mayor and the governor have clashed over the migrant crisis, Chicago crime, leadership of the Democratic National Convention and the parade of tax increases and mandates that Johnson has imposed or attempted to impose on Chicago’s business community.
After a January 2025 run-in with the mayor over the governor’s stalled hemp regulations, Pritzker complained the mayor and his team “don’t have good relationships in Springfield, in part, because they don’t do the outreach that’s necessary.”
The friction continued a few months later, when Pritzker threw cold water on the mayor’s demand for increased funding for the cash-strapped city and the Chicago Public Schools.
During an interview with the Sun-Times and WBEZ last week, Johnson said he felt he had a “solid working relationship” with Pritzker. “We don’t agree on everything. Why am I expected to agree with everyone on everything?” Johnson asked. “That’s just not humanly possible. And when there’s tension and friction, that’s what makes us stronger. We have to push one another.”
Contributing: Pat Finley, Matt Trunfio from Springfield.