The Chicago Bears have become known as the NFL’s comeback kids this season, and not just because of the turnaround head coach Ben Johnson has presided over compared with last year’s lackluster campaign. No team in the league has put together more come-from-behind eleventh-hour wins this season than QB Caleb Williams and the guys in blue and orange.
But when it comes to the prospects for securing state help with the Bears’ new stadium, it appears CEO Kevin Warren and the front office will have to engineer a comeback even more spectacular than the January 10 wild-card victory over the Packers.
The team purchased the old Arlington Park property at Route 53 and Northwest Highway in Arlington Heights as the site of a new domed stadium that would replace Soldier Field as the Bears’ home field. The front office has promised to foot the bill for the stadium’s construction, which executives say will anchor a new entertainment, retail and residential district. And Governor J.B. Pritzker has repeatedly signaled that he’s open to state assistance with supporting infrastructure, just as has been done for countless business expansions in Illinois.
But before breaking ground, the Bears want state lawmakers to approve what’s being called “megaproject” legislation that would let the team negotiate long-term property tax rates with the local governments and school districts that stand to receive tax revenue from the project. The team’s goal is to avoid what could be a $100 million property tax bill.
However, property taxes have become an especially sensitive issue in Cook County. The outrage over soaring assessments for homes in Chicago is expected to spread to the suburbs as properties there are re-evaluated. Plus, hundreds of local governments were forced to take controversial votes last year on whether to maintain a one-cent tax on grocery items after state leaders decided to stop collecting it for them … and they may not be interested in helping the Bears, even if the team did beat the Packers twice this season.
In addition, Democrats who hold majorities in the state House and Senate are loath to do anything that could be seen as giving tax breaks to the millionaire owners of one of the most valuable franchises in American professional sports, especially in an election year. Indeed, state House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch told the City Club of Chicago ahead of last week’s return to Springfield that the Legislature’s focus this year would be “affordability.”
“We're trying to bring down the cost of living,” Rep. Welch (D-7th District) said. “And talking about a brand-new Bears stadium, when this one's not even 25 years old? That's insensitive to what real people are going through right now.”
On top of that, state lawmakers in Chicago are in no hurry to assist a team trying to extricate itself from the city’s lakefront, even if the post-renovation Soldier Field is no one’s idea of an ideal NFL stadium. And despite Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s insistence that the best plan for the team continues to be the Bears’ splashy 2024 proposal to remake the Museum Campus around a domed football stadium, the high price tag and high potential for a bruising and expensive legal fight make its prospects about as likely as the team re-hiring former head coach Matt Eberflus.
Those obstacles have led the Bears to attempt the ultimate option play: conversations with leaders in northwest Indiana. Bringing the Bears and their tens of thousands of season-ticket holders across the state line would be a coup for Indiana’s governor Mike Braun, who told 21-Alive News in Fort Wayne last week “we’re going to do everything to make it happen.” And politicians from Hammond, Gary and other cities along the Indiana Toll Road would be justifiably thrilled to have the economic benefit from a new stadium and its potential to host not just NFL games, but NCAA Final Fours, concerts, WWE matches and monster truck shows.
But after nearly two years of statements from the front office suggesting the team’s focus for a new stadium has shifted from the lakefront to the northwest suburbs back to the city, leaders here seem to be reading the Bears’ latest overtures to the Hoosier State as nothing more than a negotiating tactic. And while Bears fans may have been willing to travel to Arlington Heights for games, it’s not clear that the fan base would be as stoked about a drive to, say, East Chicago.
All of this leaves Bears execs deep in their own territory, financially speaking, with the team’s lease at Soldier Field set to expire in 2033. But the Bears’ performance on the field this season shows the folly of making predictions about future returns; the Packers’ win probability on January 10 was 95% with five minutes to go in the wild-card game. And voters may hate higher taxes, but they seem to love football even more … and state leaders will want to avoid the appearance of turning away the Monsters of the Midway if they seem to be on the cusp of a generational comeback.
It suggests that there may be a lot more than bragging rights riding on this weekend’s showdown against Matt Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams. It could help direct the Bears’ drive for a new home field – and its very future with the state and the city. Bear down, indeed.