The Chicago Bears have been slogging their way toward a new stadium, like the Allies during the Battle of the Somme. For every step they take, it feels like they suffer multiple setbacks. Remember, this saga began in 2021 when they placed a bid on the Arlington Park property. In the five years since then, the only thing they’ve managed to accomplish is securing ownership of it and working out property tax issues with Arlington Heights. Everything else has been one ongoing headache. All the while, team president Kevin Warren, the man running this show, has been hesitant to provide anything close to a hard deadline on when a decision will be made.
That finally changed on Wednesday at the NFL owners meetings in Arizona. The Bears have finally reached a point where they seem to have options. Illinois’ state legislature is willing to put the PILOT bill, which would provide the property tax clarity the team needs to start building, on the floor for a vote. On the flip side, the state of Indiana has prepared all the necessary legislation and a prime construction site in Hammond. All the Bears need to do is make a decision. Warren believes the date is almost at hand. Courtney Cronin of ESPN pinpointed it.
“We’re in an excellent position,” Warren said Wednesday at the NFL’s league meetings. “I recently said that the target is to make sure that we have a decision made by springtime here soon. Late spring, early summer would be that from a target.”
The Bears are waiting to see if the PILOT bill passes during the Illinois general assembly’s spring session, which ends on May 31. State lawmakers introduced the proposed legislation, which would freeze property tax assessments on the sites of “megaprojects” and allow developers to negotiate a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) with local governments.
Kevin Warren likely always knew it’d come to this.
Once it became clear that the government wouldn’t reach a decision last October during its fall session, the Bears had a decision to make. Do they go to Indiana immediately, or wait for the spring session, which runs from March through the end of May? After discussions with Governor J.B. Pritzker, it was felt that waiting could produce the results Warren and the McCaskeys hoped for. The family has never wanted to leave Illinois. They merely sought reasonable options on infrastructure and property taxes.
However, there has been persistent resistance in Springfield on this issue. Some of it is people not wanting the Bears to leave Chicago, preferring they stay in the city. Others aren’t eager to give a billion-dollar corporation tax breaks when they should be focused on helping people who actually need it. That has made getting the necessary votes difficult. Two months remain until the legislature adjourns for the summer. If they can’t reach a decision by then, the Bears sound more than comfortable with starting the move to Hammond.
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Patience is wearing thin at Halas Hall.
Kevin Warren has been in charge since 2022 and hasn’t had much to show for it in Chicago. He was hired primarily to close the stadium deal, having earned experience in a similar venture with Minnesota. Yet for four years, he hasn’t gained much ground. It wasn’t until he brought Indiana into the situation that Illinois finally started having serious discussions. Even now, though, they are dragging their feet, unable to get over the last hurdle despite what many experts agree is a pretty solid deal for the state.
They’ve been testing the limits of the Bears’ patience for the past several months. If they decide to push their luck by not holding a vote in May, that will be the breaking point. The McCaskeys don’t sound hesitant about going to Indiana. They cited the Giants’ move to New Jersey in 1976. There was an adjustment period, but fans eventually grew to accept it. They believe it will be the same for Bears fans, and they’re probably right.
