LAKE FOREST, Ill. (104.3 The Score) – The Bears remain focused on building a new stadium across state lines in Hammond in northwest Indiana, team leaders reiterated in a media briefing Thursday afternoon at Halas Hall.
The Bears have completed due diligence and environmental studies on the Lost Marsh site, which is a viable option, president Kevin Warren said. At the same time, the Bears are still conducting due diligence and research on the Wolf Lake Terminal site as well. The Bears expect the end result to be that Wolf Lake is also a viable option to build a stadium on, Warren said while noting there have been discussions about merging the two sites to build a state-of-the-art stadium and surrounding mixed-use development.
“It’s a lot of work that happens on a daily basis,” Warren said. “We are in regular, almost-daily communication with the state of Indiana working on this. We have an excellent deal, a win-win partnership together. Because of the significance of this decision from a stadium standpoint, we will make sure that we take our time to get this right.”
While the Bears are dialed in on Indiana, they’ve continued to have “occasional meetings” with Illinois lawmakers about potentially reaching a deal to keep the team in state, Warren said.
“Even though we’ve had occasional meetings with the state of Illinois, our sole focus at this point in time is working on a world-class stadium and mixed-use development in Hammond, Indiana,” Warren said.
On June 5, the Bears announced their board of directors had voted to advance a stadium development in Hammond. That came just days after the Illinois spring legislative session ended without the passage of a bill that would’ve made building a stadium in suburban Arlington Heights a feasible option in the mind of the Bears, who have concerns about the property taxes in Arlington Heights. A megaprojects bill that would’ve allowed the Bears to negotiate property taxes was met with strong pushback, and a revised bill to create a stadium authority in Cook County and allow the organization to not pay property taxes wasn’t taken up for a vote in the Illinois House.
The Bears have found it easier to work with lawmakers in Indiana. In February, the Indiana legislature passed a bill – which was signed soon after by Gov. Mike Braun – that will allow the Bears to lease a publicly owned stadium while collecting revenue before ultimately having the option to purchase the property for $1 once the bonds are paid in full. Given that structure, the Bears won’t need to pay property taxes in Indiana.
The Bears began to seriously explore their options in Indiana last December after Illinois state leaders informed them that legislation to assist their stadium pursuit in Arlington Heights wouldn’t be a priority in 2026. Once lawmakers in Indiana passed their bill to support the Bears, Illinois leaders were spurred to action, but a bill still didn’t get passed in Springfield during the spring legislative session.
After Warren spoke Thursday, Bears chairman George McCaskey also met the media. He reiterated much of what Warren said before being asked if he was hopeful that Arlington Heights is where the Bears end up building a new stadium.
“The commissioner, he has said to us many times in league meetings, ‘Hope is not a strategy,’” McCaskey responded. “We have to deal with the here and now. We have to deal with real circumstances. And these are the real circumstances.”
The Bears have owned a 326-acre property in Arlington Heights since February 2023, land they bought at a cost of $197.2 million. The organization initially signed a purchase agreement on that property — previously Arlington International Racecourse — in September 2021, meaning this stadium saga has been going on for five years. The Bears purchased Arlington Park without full financial clarity on what was to come. They hoped to get some taxpayer support and wanted the ability to obtain tax certainty through negotiations with municipalities. Years of squabbles with policymakers have left the Bears without a solution.
The Bears also considered building a new stadium along the lakefront in Chicago, just south of Soldier Field. Renderings were unveiled in a presentation alongside Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson in April 2024, but that plan didn’t have state support as Gov. JB Pritzker and others weren't interested from the beginning.
The stadium bill passed by Indiana will be funded by a 1% food and beverage tax in Lake and Porter counties along with a 5% increase in the Lake County innkeeper tax. Those taxes are projected to generate around $20 million annually. The Bears have pledged $2 billion in private funding for the construction of the stadium, and the organization would be in line purchase the stadium once bonds are paid in full to the state.
“To me, this isn’t a competition with (Indiana) and Illinois,” Indiana state senator Ryan Mishler, who sponsored the bill, said after it passed through the state senate in February. “I mean, for us, the way we look at it or me personally, this is something we worked out with them. We know what we have. If it’s something (the Bears) want, then they’ll do it.
“We got a really good final product out there. For what I understand about this megaprojects bill, it’s basically about property taxes. In Indiana, they wouldn’t even pay property taxes. So, I don’t know where the comparison is there.”
The Bears began their stadium exploration in 2021 under the watch of former president/CEO Ted Phillips, who retired in early 2023. Phillips led the purchase of the property at Arlington Park. Current team president Kevin Warren assumed the responsibility of the stadium project when he was hired to replace Phillips.
The Bears have played their home games at Soldier Field since 1971. The team operates under a lease with the city, which runs through 2033.
Chris Emma covers the Bears and the Chicago sports scene for 104.3 The Score.
