The Illinois General Assembly adjourned its abbreviated fall session in the wee hours last Friday. It approved a clean-energy bill and $1.5 billion in funding for mass transit during the three-week session but did not introduce any measures related to the Bears’ pursuit of a $3 billion stadium in suburban Arlington Heights.
So the wait goes on as the team tries to find the necessary funding for needed infrastructure upgrades and assurances on property taxes.
The legislature will return to Springfield on Jan. 13, and the latest delay suggests the team will remain at Soldier Field at least through 2029.
Team president Kevin Warren had been pushing to begin construction before the end of 2025, with three years needed to complete the project. But the franchise has not been able to push past opposition from Governor JB Pritzker and legislators determined to keep the team in Chicago.
“I love the Bears, and I love them even more when they win,’’ Pritzker recently said at the Economic Club of Chicago. “But that has nothing to do with my decision making about what the state will do with building stadiums.”
The Bears’ push for public funding comes at the same time the White Sox are seeking a move away from Rate Field, which opened in 1991. The Chicago Stars of the National Women’s Soccer League had sought funding for a stadium before announcing a move to Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, a 12,000-seat venue built for Northwestern University football while its Ryan Field is being upgraded.
Among Pritzker’s concern is the Illinois Sports Facility Authority’s outstanding debt of $534.4 million tied to renovations of Soldier Field completed in 2003. He has said the team should first eliminate that debt before seeking another round of funding.
During the October legislative session, the Bears sent a letter to Chicago-based state rep Kim Buckner and senator Bill Cunningham offering a payment of $25 million to benefit the city and Chicago Park District as well as an annual payment of $250,000 beginning in 2028.
Without directly addressing Pritzker’s statements, the team denied being responsible for the Soldier Field debt.
“There seems to be a misconception that the Chicago Bears are responsible, or should be responsible, for some of the debt,” the team said in the letter, as reported by Crain’s Chicago Business. “Repayment of the bonds is entirely the obligation of the ISFA and not dependent on the Chicago Bears playing at Soldier Field. The team has paid its contractual share toward the 2003 stadium renovations and has no obligation to repay the existing obligations of the ISFA and does not have the legal authority to direct the ISFA’s fiscal management.”
The Bears’ focus on a 326-acre stadium site that was previously the Arlington Park horse track — purchased by the team in 2021 — followed the dream of building a $4.7 billion complex on the lakefront, adjacent to Soldier Field. Warren and the team’s ownership seemed hopeful they would face fewer obstacles on a less ambitious project in the suburbs but that isn’t proving the to be the case.
The team’s letter to Buckner and Cunningham addressed the failed efforts to build in the city of Chicago. While the team was committing $2.3 million through ownership and a grant from the NFL, the lakefront project called for $900 million in stadium funding and another $1.5 billion for infrastructure needs.
“As we shared the Museum Campus plan, state elected leaders voiced their opposition to any public money for stadium construction, including additional bonding authority for construction of a publicly owned stadium,” the letter said. “For many reasons, our focus narrowed, and it was determined Arlington Heights was the only viable Cook County site for the stadium project.”
Warren has said the team will privately finance the suburban stadium, through its ownership and the NFL contribution from the NFL. But it needs $900 million for infrastructure as well as a freeze on property tax increases, which would be addressed in what is being called a mega-projects bill. The team has been unsuccessful in getting introduced on the floor of the legislature.
The team hasn’t commented on the lack of action in the fall session.
The clock is running and costs are likely increasing. The Bears, it seems, are stalling inside the red zone.