Executives at the Chicago Bears have made it clear that their plan for a new stadium is focused on the Arlington Park site that the team bought three years ago, as well as a potential location in northwest Indiana. But long-awaited action in the Illinois General Assembly illustrated that if the Bears want to build in Arlington Heights, the team must go through Chicago first.
The House Revenue and Finance Committee this week approved and sent to the full chamber a bill that would give the Bears the tax breaks they seek on a suburban stadium. The bill crafted by Chicago state House Democrat Kam Buckner would create a path for any "mega-project" developer to negotiate and lock in set payments to satisfy local property tax obligations. It also would provide a sales tax break on building materials for any mega-project.
But about an hour after the bill cleared committee, the full House adjourned until March 18 without taking action on it, even as Indiana's state Senate gave final approval to that state's stadium authority bill. And Rep. Buckner's comments to reporters after the committee meeting in Springfield offered a hint as to why it didn't come to the floor: he wasn't prepared to vote "yes" on his own bill ... yet.
"It would have to be attached to the things that I need for Chicago to be whole," said Rep. Buckner (26th District). "As we talk about infrastructure, as we talk about Chicago 'concessions,' if those are a thing, those have to be part of the conversation."
Rep. Buckner went on to suggest that he and others in the Chicago delegation are looking to the Bears to help pay off the remaining $500 million or so owed on the 2001-2003 renovation of Soldier Field, even though technically the team's portion of that debt has already been satisfied: "They have an obligation in context," he said, noting that the renovation would not have happened had the team not demanded it.
In addition, the lawmaker and former Illini football standout hinted that some kind of goodwill payment to the city would help ease the pain of watching the Bears hie to the suburbs. "The Bears two months ago proposed $25 million dollars as a parting gift," Rep. Buckner said, adding that he called that offer "asinine" and "disrespectful to the people of the city," and drawing comparisons to the Haslam family's $100+ million payment to the city of Cleveland as compensation for leaving the Browns' lakefront home for a new facility in the suburbs.
The bottom line is that House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch - who also represents Chicago - has a longstanding practice of not bringing legislation to the floor unless it has at least 60 votes, and he needs votes from Chicago's sizeable delegation in Springfield to reach that number. And even though Indiana's stadium authority bill has now been signed into law, Rep. Buckner points out that the Hoosier State still has significant work to do before it's ready to put shovels in the ground, including approving what he called a "smorgasbord" of hotel, restaurant and other tax increases to pay off the bonds needed for a stadium. "I don't think we're in competition with Indiana," he said flatly.
In addition, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has insisted that while the state is open to helping with road improvements and other infrastructure projects around an Arlington Heights stadium - which Rep. Buckner says now amounts to about $600 million in requests - he will not approve any public funds to build a stadium. "I won't be shaken down," the governor told a St. Louis television station this week.
Indeed, based on Rep. Buckner's comments, it appears Chicago's House Democrats are the ones doing the shaking, and there will probably be a lot of shaking between now and March 18.