The Chicago Bears are a founding NFL franchise. They’ve been around for over a century now. Such a legacy comes with many traditions, some of which the McCaskey family continues to embrace. However, as Bob Dylan famously sang, “The times they are a-changin’.” While traditions are nice, they also tend to stand in the way of progress. For years the Bears have leaned on running the ball and playing great defense to win. That worked fine 40 years ago, but it’s done little for them in the past decade. The NFL is a quarterback league.
That is why the organization has spent so many resources trying to fix it. Sadly another tradition was officially put on death row. Team president Ted Phillips and chairman George McCaskey conducted a Q-and-A session in Arlington Heights to discuss their early plans for a new stadium at Arlington Park. Plenty of details were discussed. One of the most important was that the building would be enclosed. Some clung to the possibility that this could mean a retractable roof, keeping the idea of Bears Weather alive.
As Josh Schrock of NBC Sports Chicago clarified, Phillips ended those hopes.
However, Phillips did discuss the issue of whether the new stadium would be enclosed.
Should this plan proceed and be completed, there will be no more Bear Weather.
Phillips said the stadium would be fully enclosed, and a retractable roof would not be in the cards. The Bears have done their homework on retractable roofs and believe the costs are “prohibitive” and “the return isn’t there.” Phillips used U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota as an example of a fully enclosed stadium that makes you feel like you’re outside even though it’s enclosed.
The Chicago Bears are looking to maximize profit.
From a business perspective, the decision makes perfect sense. The organization will be able to host all sorts of events with a domed stadium, including college basketball, professional wrestling, concerts, and maybe even a Super Bowl down the line. An outdoor stadium was never going to give them those opportunities. At the same time, one can’t help but feel George Halas would be disappointed by this idea. Bears football has always been tied to the weather.
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Think of the bitterly cold 1963 NFL championship, the snow-swept 1985 NFC title game, or the Fog Bowl in 1988. There was the insanely windy game against San Francisco in 2005, the mud-drenched win over Baltimore in 2013, and the frigid primetime drubbing of the Rams in 2018. All of those memories don’t hold the same appeal without the weather. Now the Chicago Bears are going to be just another domed team.
Granted, it will make the viewing experience for fans in the building far easier. Still, it’s hard not to feel like this change will remove some of the team’s soul. Alas, change is inevitable. One trade-off could be the new stadium makes crowd noise a far bigger factor. Bears fans are always loud. Being able to weaponize it would be a nice change.
Phillips is doing his best to create another 20 years of crap with that pathetic stadium plan. The stadium should be placed on the East side of the property. There should be 2 lane direct exits built from Route 53 directly into the property from the Northbound as well as south bound directions. The Stadium should be built to hold 100,000+ people and should be a destination party that would extend to not only football but college, normal monster truck, concert, WWF/WWE, soccer etc. That was the most UNINSPIRING stadium plan I have ever seen and being in the flight… Read more »
Funny how Ted Phillips is suddenly an expert on NFL stadiums. Had the Bears, under Ted’s accounting mentality, not blown the Soldier Field makeover in 2004, they would most likely be at the top of the NFL in team value instead of 5th…weird given that they have the biggest single market in the NFL. I saw him and George at the Liberty Christian High School (hoping God would make them appear smarter) answering the same dumb questions being tossed at them with ignorant fans, an residents, along with politicians who have jumped from which parks have Little League fields, and… Read more »
2022, let move on!! Bears been getting beat when warm weather teams come into Chicago when it was freezing. So, who are you crappin!!
To my last comment I will also add – domes have not appeared to help the Vikings and Lions win a Super Bowl so let’s stop the whole Dome = Winning argument and focus on other more relevant topics that may sway your opinions.
The whole “Bears weather hasn’t helped them” argument is very stupid and shortsighted. The Bears haven’t won because of inept management and having below average rosters. It has nothing to do with the weather.
Look at the winningest teams in recent NFL history – Patriots, Giants, Ravens, etc. – all cold weather teams.
Stop blaming the weather for the Bears lack of winning. It’s an irrelevant argument.