The Chicago Bears have bounced back and forth on their stadium plans for years now. It started with Arlington Heights when they purchased the Churchill Downs property for just shy of $200 million. However, things took a significant shift when a standoff ensued on property taxes. New team president Kevin Warren made it clear his intentions were to keep the team downtown in the city, preferably on the museum campus south of Soldier Field. Unfortunately, the state government has offered zero support for such an idea.
Warren hasn’t backed down since then, insisting progress is being made despite no outward evidence. Meanwhile, the property tax issue in Arlington Heights was resolved. Word is the Bears are about to take another key step in the process of building the stadium there if that is their wish. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune didn’t bother dancing around the subject. Based on his understanding of the situation, it wouldn’t be surprising if an announcement came sooner than later.
Arlington has the inside track now.
There was a little buzz during the week that the Bears might be making progress on the stadium initiative that has seen very little progress since it began. President/CEO Kevin Warren hasn’t just doubled down on the idea the project will get rolling in 2025 — he has tripled down, saying repeatedly he expects a shovel to be in the ground this year.
The only place that makes any sense is the Arlington Heights property the team owns, and Mayor Tom Hayes told the Tribune’s Robert McCoppin on Thursday that, while “there’s certainly no done deal yet,” the team will submit traffic and financial studies soon.
The Bears have spent a year — and who knows how much money — focused on a lakefront project that has gone nowhere. I’d imagine they’ll do their very best to control the message and timing. I can envision an email on a random Wednesday this spring announcing a news conference at 11 a.m. the next day. It would take something unexpected, in my opinion, for this to happen anywhere but Arlington Heights.
The Chicago Bears have their course.
It might not be what Warren wanted, but nobody besides him cares at this point. Fans just want the team to get started on the new stadium. Arlington Heights is a good location with plenty of potential. It might end the team’s longstanding streak of playing in the city limits, but things change. The park district had jerked the Chicago Bears around for years with their unwillingness to modernize Soldier Field. This outcome was always coming. It was only a matter of when. Arlington gives them the chance to own the entire property for the first time in franchise history. There is zero reason to deviate from that just because you happen to like the skyline shots on national television. No matter what Warren says, it looks like a direction was chosen for him.
