Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he's disappointed by a new statement from the Chicago Bears which suggests the team's focus on a new stadium is on the other side of the state line.
The governor told reporters Thursday during an event near St. Louis that members of his office spent three hours in talks with representatives of the Bears and Illinois state lawmakers on Wednesday, and mostly agreed on a bill to let the team negotiate long-term property tax rates on the Arlington Heights property where they want to build a new stadium.
"They asked us not to move forward with it ... because they said they wanted to tweak a couple of items in the bill," said the governor, who noted that it was set to be considered that day by a state House committee in Springfield.
In the meantime, members of a House committee in the Indiana General Assembly on Thursday advanced a measure that could lead to the Hoosier State building a stadium near Wolf Lake in Hammond for the Bears to rent with an option to buy.
And after that vote, the Bears released a statement that in part called the Indiana vote "the most meaningful step forward in the team's stadium planning efforts," and committed to completing "due diligence" on a potential Hammond stadium.
Gov. Pritzker says he was "surprised, dismayed (and) very disappointed" by the statement, and the fact that it said nothing about the negotiations taking place in Illinois. He also suggested that the Bears have tried to walk back the statement in communications with his office.
"The Bears ... have said, 'well, we didn't really mean that they're moving to Indiana,' which is kind of the implication of it," the governor told reporters in the town of Collinsville. "They're saying to us that that statement is not some confirmation that they're moving to Indiana."
The governor, who has said he's open to supporting the property tax measure as well as needed infrastructure around a privately-funded stadium, said he still believes Illinois is the best place for the team.
"We're waiting to hear from the Bears what they'd like to do next," said the governor.