Sports Mockery and other outlets have reported escalating tension between the Chicago Bears team president, Kevin Warren, and the McCaskey family. Ownership hired him to guide the organization through its efforts to get a new stadium built in Arlington Heights. More than three years have passed since Warren took over, and the team still hasn’t begun construction. He made many promises, including getting shovels in the ground by 2025. None has come to pass. Even now, the team remains deadlocked on what to do, whether to continue pushing for Arlington Heights or cross the border into Indiana.
All the while, George McCaskey’s frustration with Warren has only grown. He and his family feel the man hasn’t lived up to his end of the deal. He sold ownership on the idea that his experience with U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota made him the perfect candidate for the job. All evidence points to the contrary. It begs the question of when the relationship started to sour somewhat. Adam Jahns of CHGO mentioned what was likely the origins of this mess. It came early in 2024.
I don’t think I’ll ever understand the time, money and energy spent on the Bears’ decision to try and work with Chicago and Mayor Brandon Johnson on their next stadium under Warren. The team already owned Arlington Park – and put a significant amount of time, money and energy into that process.
On April 24, 2024 – just over a year after Warren was hired – the Bears released renderings and their plans for the lakefront in the form of the Burnham Park Project. All of it was impressive…
…But the Bears’ plan received no support from Gov. JB Pritzker or other lawmakers.
Kevin Warren would likely have a deal done already if not for that detour.
Nothing about the strategy of pivoting to downtown Chicago made sense. Warren had to know he would encounter heavy resistance from activist groups aiming to protect public land from private enterprises. It’s exactly why the Bears were never able to make serious renovations to Soldier Field. Never mind that he was asking for serious help from the state, which was already resisting the Arlington Park venture despite the team owning the property. It all felt like a hairbrained scheme cooked up by someone completely ignorant of the forces at play in the state.
One year. That is how long it took for Kevin Warren to finally give up that chase. By then, the Arlington Heights discussions had cooled. It would take time to heat them back up. When Governor Pritzker and his government weren’t willing to move faster, Warren finally engaged with Indiana about a stadium in the northwest region. That was something the McCaskeys had always wanted to avoid. Yet here we are. It’s fair to assume construction might already be underway if Warren had just stayed focused on Arlington.
🔥 Subscribe to the Untold Chicago YouTube channel to hear Chicago legends tell stories you’ve never seen in headlines — real moments, real experiences, straight from the athletes themselves.
That blunder was a key factor in the entire mess that followed. For all his big talk, the Bears president has done little more than waste time and money, which doesn’t sit well with an owner that has less of it to throw around than most in this league.
