Are the Bears moving to Indiana? Explaining NFL team's 'done deal' to leave Illinois for new stadium

Nairavoice | Jun 7, 2026 259 0 7 min read
Are the Bears moving to Indiana? Explaining NFL team's 'done deal' to leave Illinois for new stadium

<div class&equals;"wp-block-wptelegram-widget-join-channel aligncenter">&NewLine;&Tab;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;me&sol;nairavoice" class&equals;"components-button join-link is-large has-text has-icon" target&equals;"&lowbar;self" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<svg width&equals;"19px" height&equals;"16px" viewBox&equals;"0 0 19 16" role&equals;"img" aria-hidden&equals;"true" focusable&equals;"false">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<g>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<path d&equals;"M0&period;465&comma;6&period;638 L17&period;511&comma;0&period;073 C18&period;078&comma;-0&period;145 18&period;714&comma;0&period;137 18&period;932&comma;0&period;704 C19&period;009&comma;0&period;903 19&period;026&comma;1&period;121 18&period;981&comma;1&period;33 L16&period;042&comma;15&period;001 C15&period;896&comma;15&period;679 15&period;228&comma;16&period;111 14&period;549&comma;15&period;965 C14&period;375&comma;15&period;928 14&period;211&comma;15&period;854 14&period;068&comma;15&period;748 L8&period;223&comma;11&period;443 C7&period;874&comma;11&period;185 7&period;799&comma;10&period;694 8&period;057&comma;10&period;345 C8&period;082&comma;10&period;311 8&period;109&comma;10&period;279 8&period;139&comma;10&period;249 L14&period;191&comma;4&period;322 C14&period;315&comma;4&period;201 14&period;317&comma;4&period;002 14&period;195&comma;3&period;878 C14&period;091&comma;3&period;771 13&period;926&comma;3&period;753 13&period;8&comma;3&period;834 L5&period;602&comma;9&period;138 C5&period;112&comma;9&period;456 4&period;502&comma;9&period;528 3&period;952&comma;9&period;333 L0&period;486&comma;8&period;112 C0&period;077&comma;7&period;967 -0&period;138&comma;7&period;519 0&period;007&comma;7&period;11 C0&period;083&comma;6&period;893 0&period;25&comma;6&period;721 0&period;465&comma;6&period;638 Z" ><&sol;path>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;g>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;svg>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;Join Nairavoice On Telegram&Tab;<&sol;a>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<figure><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;media&period;zenfs&period;com&sol;en&sol;the&lowbar;sporting&lowbar;news&lowbar;articles&lowbar;584&sol;94ab9fb156d97a7dc677f4d8064dc148" &sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportingnews&period;com&sol;us&sol;nfl&sol;news&sol;bears-new-stadium-indiana-move-explained&sol;eabe229f493917cb2e056b6a&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;yahoo&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;referral&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;appeared&lowbar;on">Are the Bears moving to Indiana&quest; Explaining NFL team&&num;8217&semi;s &&num;8216&semi;done deal&&num;8217&semi; to leave Illinois for new stadium<&sol;a> originally appeared on <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportingnews&period;com&sol;us&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;yahoo&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;referral&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;appeared&lowbar;on">The Sporting News<&sol;a>&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine; Add The Sporting News as a <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;google&period;com&sol;preferences&sol;source&quest;q&equals;https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportingnews&period;com">Preferred Source by clicking here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On Friday&comma; the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportingnews&period;com&sol;us&sol;nfl&sol;chicago-bears">Chicago Bears<&sol;a> made significant headway in their attempted move out of Soldier Field in the Windy City&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The team&&num;8217&semi;s Board of Directors voted in favor of making progress in the team&&num;8217&semi;s new stadium set to be put up in Hammond&comma; Ind&period;&comma; according to Adam Schefter&period; While it&&num;8217&semi;s not fully finalized yet&comma; the team has made significant progress since the idea&&num;8217&semi;s inception&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If the team does leave its long-time post in Chicago&comma; it would become the fourth NFL team this century to relocate to different state&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Here&&num;8217&semi;s the latest on the Bears&&num;8217&semi; move out of Chicago and into the Hoosier state&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>MORE&colon; <&sol;strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportingnews&period;com&sol;us&sol;nfl&sol;news&sol;chicago-bears-schedule-2026-dates-times-prediction&sol;206cabd9604e7ccbabbba4d9" target&equals;"">What is Chicago&&num;8217&semi;s complete schedule for the 2026 NFL season&quest;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Are the Bears moving to Indiana&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Chicago&&num;8217&semi;s Board of Directors held a vote on Thursday regarding whether or not to proceed with stadium progress in Hammond&comma; Ind&period;&comma; for the first time&comma; according to Adam Schefter&period; The vote ended with a successful advancement&comma; and the team appears set to be on the move over state borders&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>The Bears&&num;8217&semi; Board of Directors voted Thursday to advance the stadium development in Hammond&comma; Indiana&comma; with the exact to be selected&period; This is this first time that the Bears&&num;8217&semi; board has voted on any stadium site&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As one source said&comma; &&num;8220&semi;There is more work to do but barring anything… <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;4TQTbeJKrL" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">pic&period;twitter&period;com&sol;4TQTbeJKrL<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>— Adam Schefter &lpar;&commat;AdamSchefter&rpar; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;x&period;com&sol;AdamSchefter&sol;status&sol;2062930409793462312&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">June 5&comma; 2026<&sol;a><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>According to a source from Schefter&comma; &&num;8220&semi;There is more work to do but barring anything very strange&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s a done deal&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>While I&&num;8217&semi;m being told that the Bears announcement on Hammond is &&num;8220&semi;real&&num;8221&semi;&comma;<br &sol;>i&period;e&period; not a leverage play&comma; a league source told me that the Bears leaving the state is not a done deal&period; Per source&comma; Indiana is in the lead right now&comma; but &&num;8220&semi;Illinois can still get back in the race&comma;&&num;8221&semi; granted the…<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>— Courtney Cronin &lpar;&commat;CourtneyRCronin&rpar; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;x&period;com&sol;CourtneyRCronin&sol;status&sol;2062935038384128165&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">June 5&comma; 2026<&sol;a><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Here is NFL insider Tom Pelissero discussing the matter on <em>The Rich Eisen Show<&sol;em>&ZeroWidthSpace;&ZeroWidthSpace;&ZeroWidthSpace;&ZeroWidthSpace;&ZeroWidthSpace;&ZeroWidthSpace;&comma; along with what it will mean for both the areas of Chicago and Indiana&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;x1f4bb&semi; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;x&period;com&sol;TomPelissero&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">&commat;TomPelissero<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Are <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;x&period;com&sol;hashtag&sol;DaBears&quest;src&equals;hash&amp&semi;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">&num;DaBears<&sol;a> really moving to Indiana&quest; What&&num;8217&semi;s the latest coming from Chicago&quest;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;x&period;com&sol;hashtag&sol;NFL&quest;src&equals;hash&amp&semi;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">&num;NFL<&sol;a><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;GHNV3EQxXs" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">pic&period;twitter&period;com&sol;GHNV3EQxXs<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>— Rich Eisen Show &lpar;&commat;RichEisenShow&rpar; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;x&period;com&sol;RichEisenShow&sol;status&sol;2062976678394261828&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">June 5&comma; 2026<&sol;a><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>According to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportingnews&period;com&sol;us&sol;nfl&sol;indianapolis-colts">Indianapolis Colts<&sol;a> insider Joel A&period; Erickson&comma; the team released a statement regarding Chicago&&num;8217&semi;s potential move to their state&period; Here is what the team said&comma; per Erickson&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>Colts statement&colon; &&num;8220&semi;We&&num;8217&semi;re happy for the Bears and wish them the best in their stadium initiative&period; We also hope this will mean great things for community and economic development for our fellow Hoosiers in northwest Indiana&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>— Joel A&period; Erickson &lpar;&commat;JoelAErickson&rpar; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;x&period;com&sol;JoelAErickson&sol;status&sol;2062952066113315118&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">June 5&comma; 2026<&sol;a><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Illinois&&num;8217&semi; governor&comma; JB Pritzker&comma; also shed some light on the potential Bears&&num;8217&semi; move to Indiana&comma; even going as far as stating that the team&&num;8217&semi;s shifting position regarding a future stadium location has &&num;8220&semi;hindered their progress&period;&&num;8221&semi; Here is what else Pritzker said&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;Tr9QCa1adq" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">pic&period;twitter&period;com&sol;Tr9QCa1adq<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>— Governor JB Pritzker &lpar;&commat;GovPritzker&rpar; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;x&period;com&sol;GovPritzker&sol;status&sol;2062967439906807978&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">June 5&comma; 2026<&sol;a><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>A large reason why the Bears may have to move out of Illinois is a &&num;8220&semi;megaprojects&&num;8221&semi; bill failing in the state&&num;8217&semi;s senate last week&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;espn&period;com&sol;nfl&sol;story&sol;&lowbar;&sol;id&sol;48976141&sol;bears-edge-closer-move-new-stadium-northwest-indiana" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">according to ESPN<&sol;a>&period; The bill would have allowed the Bears to negotiate payments instead of paying property taxes on the Arlington Heights&comma; Ill&period;&comma; site they presently own&comma; which used to be the Arlington International Racecourse&period; The Illinois town was also in consideration for the team&&num;8217&semi;s next move&comma; prior to the bill&&num;8217&semi;s decision in the state senate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On Sunday night&comma; Illinois state Senator Bill Cunningham &lpar;D-Chicago&rpar; introduced new legislation that would allow Cook County&comma; the county that houses the greater Chicago area&comma; cities with more than 70&comma;000 residents &lpar;ie&comma; Chicago and Arlington Heights&rpar; to craft their own sports stadium authority&period; In exchange for the site&&num;8217&semi;s land being publicly owned&comma; the Bears would pay for the construction of the new stadium&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The new bill passed the Illinois Senate 37-17 early on Monday morning&period; The Bears have continued in their stance that they cannot build a stadium without property tax certainty&comma; which the state of Indiana passed legislation to guarantee in February&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>MORE&colon; <&sol;strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportingnews&period;com&sol;us&sol;nfl&sol;news&sol;strength-schedule-32-nfl-teams-hardest-easiest-2026&sol;33d0626a54432f2f26785a77" target&equals;"">How hard is the Bears&&num;8217&semi; schedule this season&quest;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Where will the Bears&&num;8217&semi; new stadium be&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>If the team does move out of Soldier Field in Chicago&comma; after Thursday&&num;8217&semi;s team vote&comma; Hammond&comma; Ind&period;&comma; looks like the place to be&period; Nothing is set in stone yet&comma; as there is still a chance Illinois can salvage its state&&num;8217&semi;s lone football team&comma; still playing in its borders&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chicago Bears&&num;8217&semi; Chairman George H&period; McCaskey and President &amp&semi; CEO Kevin Warren released the following statement on early Friday afternoon&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>Statement from Chairman George H&period; McCaskey and President &amp&semi; CEO Kevin Warren&colon; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;HE002RffIX" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">pic&period;twitter&period;com&sol;HE002RffIX<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>— Adam Schefter &lpar;&commat;AdamSchefter&rpar; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;x&period;com&sol;AdamSchefter&sol;status&sol;2062931618440831474&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">June 5&comma; 2026<&sol;a><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Bears chairman George H&period; McCaskey and CEO Kevin Warren said&comma; &&num;8220&semi;connecting Northwest Indiana and the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across the neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;chicago&period;suntimes&period;com&sol;bears&sol;2026&sol;06&sol;05&sol;bears-hammond-indiana-board-directors-vote-stadium-arlington-heights-nfl" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">According to the <&sol;a><em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;chicago&period;suntimes&period;com&sol;bears&sol;2026&sol;06&sol;05&sol;bears-hammond-indiana-board-directors-vote-stadium-arlington-heights-nfl" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Chicago Sun-Times<&sol;a>&comma; <&sol;em>the Lost Marsh Golf Course in Hammond is a potential site for the stadium&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>MORE<&sol;strong>&colon; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportingnews&period;com&sol;us&sol;nfl&sol;news&sol;super-bowl-mvp-winners&sol;qiv51rk0g89a1p071oxit7vxa" target&equals;"">Complete list of Super Bowl MVPs through the years<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Hammond&comma; Indiana<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>If the Bears were to move out of their current Soldier Field&comma; Hammond&comma; Ind&period;&comma; has garnered a lot of attention as a potential landing spot&period; The city is contained within the red dotted line below&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;media&period;zenfs&period;com&sol;en&sol;the&lowbar;sporting&lowbar;news&lowbar;articles&lowbar;584&sol;3c071a82ad425d8c5d2bd441a2dbbca8" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> Google Maps <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If the 2026 NFC Championship participant does make the move to Hammond&comma; they would be moving into a city with 75&comma;712 people&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;census&period;gov&sol;quickfacts&sol;fact&sol;table&sol;hammondcityindiana&sol;PST045225&num;PST045225" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">according to the 2025 Census<&sol;a>&period; Purdue University has a campus in the southern part of the city called Purdue University Northwest &&num;8211&semi; Hammond campus&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The city is also located around 23 miles away from Soldier Field in Chicago&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>MORE&colon;<&sol;strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportingnews&period;com&sol;us&sol;nfl&sol;news&sol;nfl-draft-grades-2026-best-worst-classes-titans-rams&sol;6f04afed90b98fcbb21a96e6" target&equals;"">What grade did the Bears get for their 2026 draft class&quest;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>When are the Bears moving&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>At the moment&comma; it is not definite that the Bears are moving out of the city of Chicago&period; Conversations are currently underway&comma; but nothing is set in stone yet&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This will be updated if further advancements about a potential move are made&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>How old is Soldier Field&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Soldier Field first opened on October 9&comma;  1924&comma; as Municipal Grant Park Stadium&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;isfauthority&period;com&sol;facilities&sol;history-of-soldier-field&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">according to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority<&sol;a>&period; While the site has been renovated a number of times&comma; the home field for the Chicago side is the oldest football stadium in the NFL&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Oddly enough&comma; the Bears did not move into Soldier Field until 1971&period; At the stadium&&num;8217&semi;s inception&comma; it was used by the Chicago <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportingnews&period;com&sol;us&sol;nfl&sol;arizona-cardinals">Cardinals<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;espn&period;com&sol;nfl&sol;story&sol;&lowbar;&sol;id&sol;39395382&sol;what-oldest-nfl-stadium-soldier-sofi-age" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">according to ESPN<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>What state is Soldier Field in&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The current stadium for the Bears is in Illinois&period; The city of Chicago houses one of the first teams to join the National Football League&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chicago&&num;8217&semi;s squad is the only team to play football in the Prairie State&period; If the Bears do move out of the city of Chicago&comma; there will still be one professional sports team that calls Soldier Field home&colon; the Chicago Fire &lpar;MLS&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If Illinois loses the Bears&comma; it will mark the fourth time this century the state has lost an NFL team&comma; as the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportingnews&period;com&sol;us&sol;nfl&sol;kansas-city-chiefs">Kansas City Chiefs<&sol;a> announced their 2031 arrival in Kansas from the state of Missouri&comma; the Oakland <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportingnews&period;com&sol;us&sol;nfl&sol;las-vegas-raiders">Raiders<&sol;a> moved to Las Vegas in 2020&comma; and the St&period; Louis <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportingnews&period;com&sol;us&sol;nfl&sol;los-angeles-rams">Rams<&sol;a> left for Los Angeles ahead of the 2016 season&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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