The Chicago Bears head back to Springfield this month looking to get a bill across the goal line to help them build a new stadium in Arlington Heights.
The team has been stuffed at the legislative line of scrimmage ever since they bought the old Arlington International Racecourse site four years ago, but they’re hoping lawmakers can be convinced by lofty economic projections released this week touting the benefits of a new dome.
After failing to generate momentum behind a lakefront proposal, the Bears are pushing to pass megadevelopment legislation that would freeze property tax assessments for massive projects like theirs at a negotiated payment level with local taxing bodies.
Critics call that a handout for a franchise valued at $8.9 billion, while proponents call it an investment that would pump billions of dollars into the state economy for years to come.
Here’s a look at the numbers driving the Bears dome-funding debate.
Full development cost: $5 billion
If the Bears get their bill, construction could start next year and be completed by 2029 — but the stadium would take up less than a third of the 326-acre Arlington site.
The team wants to fill out the rest of the space with 1,150 residential units, 300,000 square feet of retail options, 200,000 square feet of office space and two hotels with a total of 400 rooms.
The full mixed-use development would be completed over in phases for seven years after the stadium is done, according to economic reports commissioned by the team and village of Arlington Heights. The Bears paid for both reports.
Stadium cost: $2 billion
The team has committed to covering the full cost of building an enclosed stadium with a capacity close to Soldier Field’s 63,500, a price tag of more than $2 billion that team brass expects to land closer to $3 billion due to rising supply costs.
The event calendar at their new home could include 10 Bears games, eight concerts, two college football showcases, two high school football games and an international soccer match, plus some 350 private events every year, consultants say. Eventually it could host a Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four and other big national events.
Taxpayer bill: $855 million
Most of the Arlington plot has been untouched for the last century and would need sewers, water mains and utility infrastructure to accommodate a stadium district, not to mention adding highway ramps from Route 53 and configuring the nearby Metra stop.
Team consultants pegged that cost at $855 million, which would have to be covered in some combination among the village, Cook County and state.
Lawmakers also have to consider the amount of property tax revenue that local bodies would miss out on if the Bears are allowed to negotiate a set, discounted rate. Other states use such megadevelopment incentives to incentivize companies to make big investments.
Outstanding debt on Soldier Field: $534 million
As the McCaskey family pushes for a new stadium, taxpayers are still footing the bill for Soldier Field’s oft-ridiculed 2003 renovation — and more than $534 million is still outstanding.
A 2% city hotel tax has backed the bonds issued for those upgrades, but city taxpayers have been forced to cover the difference when revenue has fallen short of projections.
Gov. JB Pritzker has signaled he’s open to signing megadevelopment legislation only if the team pays off the Soldier Field debt.
“What we won’t be is an unending hole full of money that is feeding it to a stadium when we have so many other valuable things that the state should be investing in for the people,” Pritzker said Wednesday.
Economic impact: $1.3 billion
A new stadium would inject some $220 million annually into the state economy, and the completed stadium district “will contribute an additional $1.3 billion in net annual statewide economic impact.”
That’s according to the economic impact report from HR&A Advisers commissioned by the Bears. Arlington Heights hired Hunden Partners to vet that report, a cost the team will reimburse to the village.
Consultants say the project would create about 9,000 permanent jobs on top of 56,500 construction jobs, and that state tax revenues eventually would “exceed the funding request by over $400 million.”
Economists are generally skeptical of such economic impact reports, which don’t account for other potential uses of land and public funding.
Votes needed: 107
Bills have a higher threshold to passage during the fall veto session that starts Oct. 14, requiring majorities of three-fifths in both the Illinois House and Senate to make it to the governor’s desk.
That means getting 36 senators on board along with 71 representatives— no easy feat, since the team has been stonewalled in Springfield even when legislation has required simple majorities.