Bears are on the verge of making a massive announcement that fans will hate, and Illinois has no one to blame but themselves
All signs are pointing toward the Chicago Bears crossing state lines.
As expected, the Chicago Bears stadium updates are nearing the finish line with the final decision expected to be announced in the coming days on where the new stadium will be located for the future of the organization.
The two-horse race between Arlington Heights in Illinois and a potential location in Northwest Indiana became a three-horse race when Iowa entered the conversation last week. It was a valiant effort by Iowa but it was too little, too late.
The Bears were focused on the tug-of-war between Illinois and Indiana. All signs are pointing toward a victor in that battle, and Bears fans aren’t going to be happy about it.
Bears closing in on new stadium deal to move the team to Hammond, Indiana
Illinois tried to make one final push to keep the Bears in the home state but hit the breaks right at the last moment. The Illinois House committee meeting that was scheduled for Thursday, which was set to discuss the funding for a stadium in Arlington Heights, has now been canceled.
In the meantime, Indiana has the ball and is set up with a first-and-goal situation. Here’s the most recent statement from Indiana Governor Mike Braun.
“Indiana is open for business, and our pro-growth environment continues to attract major opportunities like this partnership with the Chicago Bears. We’ve identified a promising site near Wolf Lake in Hammond and established a broad framework for negotiating a final deal. If approved, the proposed amendment to Senate Bill 27 puts forward the essential framework to complete this agreement, contingent upon site due diligence proceeding smoothly. The State of Indiana moves at the speed of business, and we’ve demonstrated that through our quick coordination between state agencies, local government, and the legislature to set the stage for a huge win for all Hoosiers. We have built a strong relationship with the Bears organization that will serve as the foundation for a public-private partnership, leading to the construction of a world-class stadium and a win for taxpayers.”
According to Adam Hoge of CHGO, who’s been awesome at covering this whole process, the Bears are willing to commit $2 billion to the stadium project near Wolf Lake and the rest of the funding will be similar to Lucas Oil Stadium, which aligns with Indiana pushing through the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority.
As bad as it is to see the Bears leave the state of Illinois, it’s not entirely a bad thing for Bears fans. The Wolf Lake stadium site in Hammond, Indiana is just over 30 minutes away from downtown Chicago, and actually closer to downtown than Arlington Heights is. For context, San Francisco 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara is the furthest NFL stadium from the name-city’s downtown, located 43 miles from city hall in San Francisco.
Now, it’s worth stressing that nothing is finalized, yet. We all know how this saga has gone this far and it’s best not to believe any plan is fully in motion until the shovels hit the ground. Right now it’s still all political strong-arming. Regardless, here’s what this potential plan would mean for the Bears, the league, and Illinois.
Indiana would become the seventh state to have multiple NFL teams
Once this move is official, the state of Indiana will be the home of two NFL franchises in the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago (Hammond) Bears. California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Maryland are the other states that currently have multiple NFL teams.
For more context on what this means for the league and the state of Indiana, here’s what A to Z Sports Indianapolis writer Destin Adams had to say:
“The state of Indiana will always be viewed as a basketball state. So who would have ever guessed we’d be talking about the potential for the state to be the home of two NFL teams? Certainly not me.
I do think it’s important to share the logistics of this situation, though. This is not like the New York Giants and New York Jets, or the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams, where the teams share the same stadium. Indianapolis and Hammond are 162 miles and roughly 2.5 hours apart. If this move goes through, the Bears will still only be a little over 20 miles from Chicago. So, for fans, it likely wouldn’t feel like a big change. The big loser here would be the state of Illinois.”
Illinois has no one to blame but themselves
The Bears were fully content staying in Illinois and keeping the Bears local by moving the new stadium to Arlington Heights, on land the organization already owns. The hiccup was the Bears wanted infrastructure to be paid for by the state and tax relief. Thursday’s meeting was expected to discuss those two sticking points and come to an agreement.
“The legislative sources say Governor JB Pritzker and legislative leaders are on board with a public funding package for infrastructure around the Arlington Heights site, as well as the so-called “PILOT” legislation that would give the team the ability to negotiate property tax levels with the village,” Paris Schutz of FOX32 reported.
Instead, the state is continuing to prove that they do not take the Bears, or Indiana serious, and it’s going to come back to bite them until they wake up and realize what’s happening.
At the same time, it’s worth stressing that these meetings get canceled all of the time. This doesn’t mean Illinois is accepting defeat, but the state certainly has a lot of ground to make up in a short amount of time. This, by no means is, over yet, and like the Cardiac Bears, Illinois could make one last comeback attempt before the clocks hit zero.
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