One of the primary arguments Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot made was that the Chicago Bears had no realistic way out of the lease they signed on Soldier Field. One that remains in place until 2033. In reality getting out of a lease in any situation is just a matter of money. How much would it cost the Bears to get out of it early if they wished to? Nobody knows that for certain.
Thanks to Bill Ruthhart of the Chicago Tribune, we finally have an answer. Presuming the Bears win the bid for Arlington Racecourse International, they’d want to build a new stadium there. To do that, they’d need to get out of their lease before making such a move. As it turns out, the price tag would be pennies compared to building the new stadium. Less than some of the player contracts the Bears have handed out in recent years.
“If the Bears were to break the lease five years from now, in 2026, the team would have to pay $84 million in damages to the city, the analysis found. That estimate assumes the Bears’ inflation-adjusted payments to the city would continue to rise at a pace similar to increases since the lease’s inception in 2003. If the team waited beyond 2026 to leave Soldier Field, the financial penalty would be less.”
Money like that is pennies to the Bears.
For an idea of how insignificant that is? They’re paying over $136 million in base salary alone to their players in 2021. That doesn’t even include bonuses. So this defiant stance by Lightfoot about the lease preventing them to leave if they want to? It is an empty gesture. More than anything, what will really keep the Bears at Soldier Field for years to come is more the logistics of building the new stadium itself.
“The Bears’ landlord at Soldier Field is the Chicago Park District, whose board is controlled by the mayor. If the team sought to break its lease before its conclusion at the end of 2033 season, the two sides likely would enter into negotiations to reach a financial settlement, Park District officials said…
…Acquiring a site, designing a stadium and building it likely would take at least five years, making a Bears move before 2026 unlikely.”
First they have to win the bid for the property, which isn’t a guarantee. Then they have to get designs started on a new stadium. Once that is done, then comes the truly difficult part. Finding the money to pay for it. The McCaskeys are rich but even they can’ foot the bill for a new stadium by themselves and it’s unlikely they will get much in the way of public money from the state. So yeah. This might take awhile.
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City has at least five years to keep Chicago Bears from leaving
That is good news for fans who were afraid the team was getting to leave immediately. This is a long process they just started. Five years can go by quickly, but it can also be enough time if the city officials use it wisely and don’t drag their feet. The goal is obviously to keep the Bears in Chicago. Their departure would be a huge revenue loss. It would be a landmark moment too since they’d be the first of the five major sports teams to leave the city limits.
The Blackhawks and Bulls are at the United Center while the Cubs and White Sox sit on the north and south sides. The Chicago Bears would go from the literal heart of downtown to a 50-minute drive outside the city. Is that really the sort of history they want to make? As the saying always goes, money talks. If the revenue possibilities are high enough, there is no amount of history that will prevent the McCaskeys from making the smart business decision.
It’s unfortunate but hardly a surprise.
This happens with sports all the time. Fans should be grateful they aren’t experiencing what Browns fans did back in 1995 with the team leaving the city for an entirely new one. The Bears will still represent Chicago. Just from a stadium that they own and control entirely. Something they’ve sought for a long time. The odds are fans would get used to it before too long.
