The Chicago Bears announced last week that they’ve shifted their focus to building their new stadium in Hammond, Indiana. It came in the wake of Illinois’ spring legislative session ending without a passed bill that would’ve given the team the property tax assistance it needs to build in Arlington Heights. With no signs of a resolution in sight, team president Kevin Warren and owner George McCaskey felt there was no other choice but to shift fully to Indiana. Lots of accusations are getting thrown around about who is to blame for this. That includes Governor JB Pritzker.
People close to the negotiations said his lackadaisical approach to the situation was a major factor in the situation spiraling out of control. Pritzker, for his part, has placed the blame on the Bears for constantly changing their message over the past four years, pivoting from one thing to another and failing to stick to a single, clear approach. Whatever the case, Pritzker knows he’s under pressure to do something. While the man didn’t admit any wrongdoing, a recent press conference saw him extend a lifeline that may rescue the team’s hopes of staying in Illinois.
JB Pritzker opened the door to a special session.
When asked about what he could do to get the Bears back to the table, the governor was careful with his words. He made it clear that the team has to work with its allies to get the state legislature on the same page. If they can do that, he’d be willing to do something that hasn’t happened in Illinois in almost a decade.
Call a special summer session of the legislature.
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“If the legislature can get together on one piece of legislation, we absolutely could do that. But I think that there’s some time. We’ll see. But I think that there’s some time to do that. Of course, we’ll be in a session, as you know, about four or five months from now. And so it may be that.
And as you know, that these things, especially in Indiana, where they haven’t decided even on a location yet in Indiana, and the one principal location they’ve been focused on is one that has a lot of toxic waste and other things that they’ve got to remediate. So none of that is going to happen quickly, and I’m not suggesting that we want to wait. I’m just saying they’ve got to figure out how they can get the legislature, both sides, around the same bill and I would be happy to call a special session.”
The message here is impossible to miss.
Right after the spring bill push failed, it was made clear that no special session was planned. That meant the Bears would have to wait until at least the fall to have any chance of making another push. Even that felt unlikely, hence the pivot to Hammond. JB Pritzker spelled it out as clearly as any politician can. If the Bears can put together a piece of legislation that enough people in Springfield are on board with, the governor will bring the legislature back for a summer session to put it back on the debate floor.
The obvious question is whether the Bears can do that. They haven’t exactly demonstrated the capacity to build a coalition of support. Then again, their threat to leave for Hammond could be enough to bring enough decision-makers over to their side. It’s all about finding the right language in any bill that opponents can live with. If a special session is called, the team would have 30 days to close the deal.
What we don’t know for certain is how committed the Bears are to trying. They did say they’re looking forward to further negotiations, but Indiana leaders sound confident the deal is all but done. JB Pritzker likely sensed the same and knew he’d have to get a message across. Putting a special session on the table is a big deal. That would fall into a timeline the Bears would find more favorable. The last one in 2017 was called on June 21st and ran through July 6th. That is the window they probably want to shoot for.
