(670 The Score) Outgoing Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot proved to be a difficult individual for the Bears to deal with as they sought solutions for their concerns about Soldier Field, then later as the team purchased the Arlington Park property in suburban Arlington Heights.
But despite Lightfoot’s loss in a bid for mayoral re-election in February, the Bears plan to keep their full focus plans for a new stadium at Arlington Park rather than seeing what a new mayor could offer to keep them in Chicago.
“I live downtown in Chicago, so I look forward to meeting the new mayor,” new Bears president/CEO Kevin Warren told Patrick Finley of the Sun-Times on Monday at the NFL owners meetings in Arizona.“But (we’re) continuing to focus on Arlington Park.
“We purchased the land. And that’s one of things I’m looking forward to, to go to work on that. That was a big step. It showed our commitment to doing the right thing, especially solving a stadium solution.”
The Bears signed a $197.2-million purchase agreement for Arlington Park in September 2021. Since then, the team been exploring its options to build a state-of-the-art stadium on the 326-acre property, though there remains a great deal of work to do in the planning process.
Warren was named the Bears’ new president and CEO in late January, replacing the retiring Ted Phillips in that position. He'll officially step into that role on April 17, he told reporters at the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix.
The Chicago mayoral runoff election will be held April 4 between Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson.
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