There have been plenty of missteps by the Chicago Bears in their efforts to get necessary legislation passed to help them start building a new stadium. It was team president Kevin Warren pivoting to a downtown push in 2024 that anybody with common sense knew was a waste of time. It was failing to finalize a traffic study that would’ve clarified where all of the infrastructure funding they wanted would go. Not to be outdone, it was also their double-dealing with Indiana, even when it felt like negotiations in Springfield with the Illinois government were progressing positively.
All of it has demonstrated an appalling lack of awareness of how to handle the complicated machinations of high-stakes negotiations. Yet of all these mistakes over the past two years, Illinois House member Kam Buckner believes one stood out above the rest. He told the CHGO Bears Podcast that everything boiled down to the property tax issue. Under the current state law, the Bears would’ve had to pay over $50 million in property taxes annually. That is multiple times greater than any sports team in existence. They needed legislation to let them negotiate a more reasonable rate.
Buckner believes the blunder stemmed from the Bears not offering a clear roadmap for how to get there. They merely said they “needed property tax certainty.” This vagueness led to confusion and disagreement in both the House and Senate, which devolved into competing strategies on how to get there.
Everything goes back to the Chicago Bears’ lack of preparation.
Warren was hired in 2022 to take over the project to build a stadium. Every indication since then is that the man was woefully unprepared at every juncture. He never put together a detailed plan on what kind of legislation he wanted. It was just tell the politicians the overarching goal and let them figure it out. He even hired lobbyists to help facilitate the process, only to completely ignore their advice. George McCaskey was never going to be any help. Though well-meaning, he is the last person you would think of as having political clout.
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The moment the Chicago Bears failed to offer a clear vision, it was doomed. There were too many competing factions within the government, each wanting different things. This inevitably led to infighting. Some wanted the PILOT (megaprojects) bill passed. Others felt it was way too big. Some felt a downsized bill focused just on the Bears would be easier to pass. Too many representatives felt the language was too murky to risk forcing it through. On top of all of that, you still have a bloc of voters in Chicago doing everything in their power to stop the team from moving.
Now the Bears are backed into a corner.
Barring a special session this summer, it’s looking more and more likely the Bears will have to wait until next spring to take another crack at passing the legislation. Waiting another year would be a colossal admission of defeat. Their only other option is the nuclear one. They finally agree to a deal with Indiana to move their new stadium across the state line to Hammond. That would mark the first time in the franchise’s over a century of existence that they would not play their home games in Chicago. A true end of an era.
At this point, fans are exhausted by the entire process. They just want a resolution. Indiana feels like the only certain path forward left. Buckner remains adamant that a solution can still be found in Springfield. It’s a question of getting the details nailed down so they can find enough votes. Given how things have gone to this point, there is no way the Bears have what it takes to do that.
