Everybody knew something was going to happen once it became clear that the Illinois state government had failed to push through a bill that would give the Chicago Bears the infrastructure and property tax assistance they needed to build a new stadium in Arlington Heights. Would they wait to see if a summer session is called or the House could take another crack at it in the fall? Apparently, that wasn’t something team chairman George McCaskey was willing to risk. On Friday, he and the team’s Board of Directors officially voted to advance stadium development in Hammond, Indiana.
This comes after several days in which Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson insisted that the team had engaged with him and City Hall to renew efforts to build a new lakefront stadium. Governor J.B. Pritzker countered this, stating Johnson had no plan to offer. Despite all of this, things came very close to passing. The Illinois Senate introduced a new bill that would have allowed large municipalities in the state to establish sports authorities. This would enable the Bears to negotiate a site, fund the construction, and not have to pay property taxes since the complex would technically be publicly owned.
It got through the Senate. Unfortunately, the House refused to vote on it.
How Indiana became inevitable for George McCaskey and the Bears.
That failure in Springfield put the franchise in a completely compromised position. They had two courses of action open to them. The first was to wait and see if supporters in the capital could generate movement toward still getting the bill passed, either by calling a special session or by reconvening the legislature in the fall. That possibility looked unlikely from the beginning as lawmakers offered zero indications a special session would be called. That meant the overwhelming probability was that this issue would not be revisited until next spring, meaning the Bears would have to wait another year.
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If George McCaskey did that, he would lose what little leverage he had left. Illinois will have called his bluff and he would’ve admitted it was exactly that. The other option was accepting that the fight wasn’t worth it anymore. He’d already spent tons of time and money that hadn’t brought a decision. Indiana was ready and waiting with everything prepared, including infrastructure and property tax legislation. All he had to say was yes. This is the closest step to zero hour as it’s ever been.
Illinois is down four with seven seconds left.
A field goal won’t help them. The state needs a touchdown to convince McCaskey and the Bears that something can get done. No more hemming and hawing about needing more time. Something concrete that would assure the team that a resolution is close. What isn’t clear is how motivated people down in Springfield are to do that. Some reports have insisted that decision-makers aren’t willing to risk alienating taxpayers by caving to the Bears, even if it risks the team leaving.
More than ever, this is a game of chicken where both sides aren’t willing to blink. Arlington Heights is ready. The problem is that Chicago is actively sabotaging any effort to pass a bill that would aid building there because it would rob the city of precious revenue from commuters. Yet doing this threatens to push the team out of the state entirely, ending over a century of partnership between the two entities. It’s sad, but that is what happens when politics and money get involved.
