The Chicago Bears stadium saga has reached a point where fans are over the drama. They’re tired of hearing updates because it feels like each one offers nothing but veiled bickering between the franchise and government officials. Whatever the case, here is what we know. The PILOT bill, or Megaprojects bill, that the Bears need passed to secure property tax and infrastructure support, is stuck in the Illinois State Senate. Various parties are going back and forth on the changes needed to it to get their vote. By all accounts, the Bears haven’t handled the process well.
A big part of the problem is that they haven’t submitted a traffic study. This is a deeply researched presentation on how the infrastructure funding would be used to upgrade the surrounding area around the stadium to help with increased traffic. Without one, the government has no clue what the Bears will do with that money once they get it. As a result, stalling continues. With one week left before the state legislatures adjourn for the year, Governor J.B. Pritzker made it sound like divine intervention might be needed to push this thing across the finish line.
“I’ve seen miracles happen every year. Every single year,” Pritzker said after an unrelated event in Joliet when asked about his assessment of the legislature passing a last-minute bill to incentivize the Bears in the state. “I feel confident that there will be a bill that gets brought up in the Senate, and then hopefully they’ll pass it and send it over to the House, and that bill will be about whether or not we’re keeping them in the state of Illinois or letting them go to Indiana.”
The Chicago Bears stadium issue is teetering on a knife-edge.
Everybody knows the team has narrowed its choices down to two. Either they build in Arlington Heights as originally planned, or they go to Hammond, Indiana. Both locations are the same distance away from downtown. The Bears own the Arlington property, and Indiana has agreed to provide infrastructure and property tax support. Multiple insiders have insisted that Hammond is not a leverage play or a bluff. The Bears are more than willing to take that route. They’ve wanted to give Illinois time to come around.
Progress seemed promising earlier this year. They’d gotten through the House successfully. Only the Senate remains. Unfortunately, it has turned into a mud pit. Multiple parties are trying to dip their hands into the cookie jar, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has complicated matters further by insisting the Bears should stay in the city. Is it possible that all of this can be resolved in the next seven days? Given how slow this thing has moved for the past three years, Pritzker is right. A miracle is needed.
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We’ll have a definitive answer, one way or another, by June.
If the Chicago Bears stadium bill passes, they’re building in Arlington Heights. End of story. If it doesn’t pass, the team will be left with one of two choices. Either they start the process of moving to Indiana, or they decide to wait it out until the legislature reconvenes. If it ends up being the latter, we’ll finally know that Hammond had always been a bluff after all. Either way, it will be a relief for Bears fans because they won’t have to wonder which direction things will go anymore.
There is a popular saying in sports. Deadlines spur action. It is possible that Illinois politicians knew they had until the 31st to negotiate changes to this bill before finally passing it. Letting the Bears leave the state is not likely to go over well with many citizens, and that could come back to bite them in future elections. The Bears have maintained their stance that Arlington or Hammond are the two choices. They’re willing to wait things out until the end of the month. The ball is in Springfield’s court now.
