The Chicago Bears made the curious decision to unveil their new plans for a lakefront domed stadium 24 hours before the draft. Some felt it was a dodgy attempt to avoid too much media attention because there would be backlash. However, it appears team president Kevin Warren, chairman George McCaskey, and Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson knew what they were doing. The plan for this new project is extensive and appears highly detailed. The Bears have big plans for this future property including year-round activities for patrons, football games, soccer games, college basketball, and more.
Johnson was front and center, answering questions about what to expect regarding funding the stadium. He made it crystal clear there would be no new taxes or raising taxes in the efforts to build it. The Bears will contribute $2 billion of their own money, including assistance from the NFL itself. This is undoubtedly a relief for many people in the city who feared more money getting drained from their pockets.
Once that was done, the Bears delivered the knockout blow with a video rendering of what the stadium and property would look like once completed. Needless to say, it’s breathtaking.
The Chicago Bears have plenty of hurdles ahead.
While there won’t be any new taxes for the stadium, it still needs help from public funding. Estimates say it will take around $900 million. The Bears and NFL will handle the rest, which is around 72%. They’d do this by extending the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority bonds that were used to fund Soldier Field’s renovation for another 40 years. One reason the team is moving so fast on this is knowing the cost for such a project will keep going up each year. Starting next year would mean an additional $150 million.
A healthy chunk of the money will go towards building up local infrastructure and improving traffic congestion, among other things. The Chicago Bears are on a mission to get this done, even though there is plenty of opposition from public land preservation groups and Illinois Governor Pritzker. Warren has a lot of tough negotiations ahead of him, but nobody expected him to get this far. It feels like this stadium will get done. If things go as planned, the Bears may soon be the envy of the league.
Garbage plan. Why spend a dime on another stadium that will be the same size? This plan will cost way more than their estimate. It always does in Chicago. All the work will be done by union loafers like the last soldier field remodel. That causes cost overruns. The unions are the only ones happy with this plan. Otherwise it makes 0 sense. Location sucks, already takes a 10 hour day to get in, go to game and get out. Stuck in parking lots for 2 hours. Downtown traffic sucks. The entire plan needs to be scrapped. If this is… Read more »
Buckle up it’s going to be a bumpy ride! I know the Bears and NFL want to fast-track this but this won’t be resolved promptly. FOTP has already expressed concerns and opposition a lawsuit might be forthcoming. The Governor and House Leader are against taxpayer dollars to fund this project at least for now. Not to mention what the hell do they plan on doing for parking? It appears to be off to a rough start. I hope the Bears have a plan B because there’s a good chance they will need it.
They won’t get any money from the State on this. It will all have to come from sales tax in Chicago. But they are closing schools, still owe 700 million on the renovations done on Soldier Field, so really you can draw up anything you want, if the cash isn’t there that’s all it will be is a drawing.
@nonobaddog….exactly what im talking about. Like you said, no tailgating in a parking garage and it looks very limited. A huge part of the fun going to the game is the tailgate experience. Once again it will be taking shuttles and not being able to grill out and have a few “sodas” before the game. Maybe they do it on purpose to sell more concessions inside the stadium but who knows
Unluckyirishman, if you expand the pics you can see what appears to be a parking garage in the lower part of the screen. On the down side of that, can you just see fans tailgating in a damn parking garage?