SOLDIER FIELD (WBBM Newsradio) -- The Republican challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzker in November has launched what may be a hail-Mary intended to re-energize his supporters: a plan he says will help keep the Chicago Bears from bolting to northwest Indiana.
A light drizzle fell Friday afternoon outside the north gate at the stadium as former state Sen. Darren Bailey and running mate Aaron Del Mar stood along McFetridge Drive and called on Gov. Pritzker to bring lawmakers back to Springfield before the election, to work out a deal to keep the Bears in Illinois.
Bailey accused the governor of inaction: "J.B. Pritzker will tell us that he tried, but the truth is he sat on his hands while Indiana took our team. Stop running out the clock."
Bailey and Del Mar also announced what they called the "I-Formation Plan" intended to keep the Bears from moving to northwest Indiana. It would give the Bears property tax certainty by letting the team negotiate long-term property tax payments with local governments. It also would, in effect, borrow money to pay for upgraded roads and services around a privately-funded stadium, to be paid off with taxes from an entertainment district around the stadium.
Once those bonds are paid off, Del Mar says the money generated by those entertainment taxes, would go into a fund to benefit communities across Illinois: "The stadium district would become a long-term statewide economic asset," Del Mar said.
The governor has said it's up to the Bears to tell lawmakers what they want in an incentive bill. Bailey called that a lack of leadership.
Bailey's announcement is the latest attempt this week by a political candidate to attract attention by talking about the Bears' search for a new stadium.
Chicago mayoral candidate and millionaire businessman Dr. Willie Wilson discusses his proposal to keep the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.
Geoff Buchholz - WBBM Newsradio
One day earlier, Chicago mayoral candidate Dr. Willie Wilson rolled out his own plan to let the Bears build a dome over Soldier Field if he's elected, in exchange for giving the team a year-round lease to book concerts and other events at the stadium.
"We don't want (the Bears) to be anywhere else but in Chicago," Dr. Wilson told reporters during Thursday afternoon's announcement at his 49th-floor apartment in the St. Regis Tower, 363 E. Wacker Dr. "We're not gonna sit around and let them just slip out of Chicago."
His advisers, who include former Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin and former state Sen. Rickey "Hollywood" Hendon, acknowledged they're still working out details of the plan, but insist it would involve no taxpayer money.
It's not clear that either plan has the support of the Bears board of directors or the McCaskey family that owns the team. Dr. Wilson's advisers said they shared their plan with the McCaskeys, and received a "polite" response. Sen. Bailey told reporters he had not discussed the "I-Formation Plan" with the owners of the team: "I've asked for a seat at the table, and here I am again. McCaskey family, invite us."
A Bears spokesperson told WBBM Newsradio that the team's focus continues to be on securing a stadium site in northwest Indiana, and that the only viable site in Illinois is on the old Arlington Park property the team purchased in Arlington Heights.
