Fans know where the Chicago Bears stadium saga stands by now. The push to get legislation passed in Springfield this spring fell short. The megaprojects bill was shot down in the Senate, and a revised bill focused on just the Bears did pass, but wasn’t voted on when it was sent back to the House. Left with no immediate hope of getting something done, the team opted to shift its focus to Hammond, Indiana. It was even voted on by the team’s board of directors, which felt like a significant domino to fall.
Some in Illinois have started panicking, believing time is running out to rescue the situation before it’s too late. House representative Kam Buckner is not one of them. He’s been working directly with the Bears for several months on getting the needed legislation passed. While May didn’t end how they wanted, he isn’t sweating their recent pivot. To him, it’s nothing more than another leverage play meant to urge more action in Springfield. How does he know this? Buckner’s own conversations with the team before and after the announcement.
“When you look at statements like this, it wasn’t a press conference in the state of Indiana with a ticker-tape parade. It was a Friday afternoon news dump that really had not a whole lot built around it. So I’m still confident that we’re going to find a way to get this done.”
It’s a fair point. The Chicago Bears still haven’t fully committed.
Even reports right after the announcement went through revealed that team president Kevin Warren had communicated with Illinois lawmakers that he looked forward to continuing negotiations with them. Buckner’s stance carries a lot of weight. The Bears have done nothing to indicate that any final decision has been made. They haven’t even picked a specific sight yet. Reports say they’re evaluating two of them in Hammond, and even if they present problems because of local environmental protections.
The only people who are doing victory laps are Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott and Indiana Governor Mike Braun. Both seem utterly certain that Illinois blew its last chance. It is a foregone conclusion that the Bears are crossing the border. The only thing left to determine is a location. Based on everything we’ve seen up to this point, such an assumption is ill-advised. This is far from over. Buckner has negotiated stadium deals before. He has a strong grasp of how this stuff works. If he thinks the Bears remain hopeful of an Illinois resolution, then that is probably true.
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Many factors are at play here.
Start with the easiest. The Chicago Bears already own the property in Arlington Heights. The sale has long been concluded, and they’ve been negotiating with the local government and school districts about property taxes for over a year. It is believed they have a deal in place. All they need is legislation from the state to make it legal. If that bill had gone through in May, the team would likely already be starting construction. Letting things die right before the finish line feels too much like surrender.
Then there is the moral factor. The Bears have been an Illinois institution for over a century. George McCaskey is the grandson of George Halas himself. Leaving the state they’ve called home for so long doesn’t feel like the kind of legacy that ownership wants to leave behind. This is why the door remains open even now. Buckner, who is a Chicago native himself, likely senses this. It isn’t over yet. A solution is close. All they have to do is get enough people on the same page. That takes time.
