(670 The Score) There has been another shift in tone regarding the Bears' pursuit of a new stadium.
Bears president Kevin Warren on Wednesday acknowledged the franchise is focused on both downtown and Arlington Heights as a location to build a new stadium. That was a departure from Warren's public stance of the past year, as he had claimed the sole focus was on building a new stadium on the lakefront while indicating that Arlington Heights was a secondary option.
“The focus now is both downtown and in Arlington Heights,” Warren told reporters at the NFL owners meetings in Florida. “These are not linear processes or projects. They take time. They take a lot of energy and effort. I am very, very pleased with where we are. I think we collectively as a group are where we thought we would be. I know specifically, I am where we thought we would be at this time.
“The pace will definitely pick up, and we’re fortunate to have optionality.”
The Bears own the 326-acre Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, a purchase they closed on in February 2023 at a cost of $197.2 million. As owners of the property, the team led the teardown of Arlington International Racecourse, which was previously on that land. But in March 2024, the Bears shifted their stadium focus back to the city amid tension with three local school districts in Arlington Heights over property tax assessments.
In April 2024, the Bears and city officials held a press conference at Soldier Field in which they unveiled plans for a state-of-the-art stadium to be constructed on the museum campus. The Bears pledged $2 billion in private funding toward a project that was estimated to be at least $4.7 billion, but they've failed to secure the public funding that’s needed for it to move forward. A publicly funded stadium has been a non-starter for key state legislators.
The Bears and those three school districts in Arlington Heights reached a property tax agreement in November, a key development in the team's pursuit of a new stadium.