THE GOLD COAST (WBBM Newsradio) -- Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he's heard nothing from Chicago's mayor about a new idea aimed at keeping the Bears on the city's lakefront, and suggested the proposal was too late in the process.
Mayor Brandon Johnson has reportedly proposed having the city of Chicago take over the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which operates Rate Field, as a way to provide a mechanism for building a publicly-owned stadium in the Museum Campus.
"The mayor ... has come up with no plan at all about how the Bears would end up in the City of Chicago," the governor told reporters Monday morning before the Chicago Cares Leadership Breakfast at the Four Seasons Hotel, 120 E. Delaware Ave. "We've seen almost nothing from the mayoral administration about this issue or any other, really."
Mayor Johnson has repeatedly said the only fully-realized proposal for the Bears' next stadium is the one he and team CEO Kevin Warren presented two years ago to remake the Museum Campus around a domed stadium. However, the Bears have since said their focus is on the Arlington Park property the team purchased three years ago, as well as a potential site in northwest Indiana, and team executives are expected to reiterate that to NFL leaders this week at a meeting in Orlando.
The governor suggested that the mayor's eleventh-hour proposal is part of a trend for the city's lobbying efforts in Springfield.
"The mayor has shown up every spring at the end of session to pronounce what he'd like to see happen," Gov. Pritzker said, noting that the budget process begins in November, and talks with lawmakers begin after his presentation in February. "To show up in may and have a bunch of demands seems late in the game and it's unfortunate that's happened most years," Pritzker said.
Lawmakers are set to adjourn the spring session on May 31.
Johnson proposes takeover of stadium authority; gov says mayor 'has no plan'
Johnson proposes takeover of stadium authority; gov says mayor 'has no plan'
