Bears may not move to Indiana but likely won't stay in Chicago, either: What we know

The stadium-move/">bears" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Chicago Bears will be relocating to a new stadium. Soon. Whether or not it will be located in Illinois remains an open question.

The historic NFL franchise’s immediate future once again came to the forefront on Friday, June 5, when the team announced its plan “to advance our stadium project development project in Hammond, Indiana.”

A fundamental change for an organization that’s played its home games in the Windy City since 1921 (minus that 2002 season, when the Bears were downstate in Champaign while Soldier Field was renovated)? A leverage ploy as the team jockeys with Illinois lawmakers for a new venue?

Here’s what we know – and what we don’t – about the situation to this point:

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Maybe? The rhetoric about a potential relocation on game days from Soldier Field in downtown Chicago to Hammond, which is roughly 30 miles south of the city in northwest Indiana, continues to grow. Team president Kevin Warren told season-ticket holders in December that the Bears would indeed expand the search to the neighboring state after being told by Illinois politicians that their stadium “project will not be a priority in 2026.” Warren and chairman/owner George McCaskey doubled down on Indiana with Friday’s announcement that the team’s board of directors had voted to further focus its stadium efforts on Hammond. However no specific site has been selected.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson issued something of a dismissive statement following the team’s announcement.

“Over the last several years the Bears have stated their intentions in multiple jurisdictions, today’s announcement is not surprising,” Johnson said. “It’s also not surprising the Bears officials have stated this vote does not mean a move to Hammond is a done deal.”

Johnson added: “Without a final site selection, until we see shovels in the ground in Hammond, the City of Chicago will continue to engage in discussions grounded in the interests of our residents.”

Unsurprisingly, Hammond’s mayor framed the day’s news much differently and as a decisive win for his constituents:

“The Chicago Bears chose Hammond, Indiana because they see what I have said for years: Hammond is a successful city of opportunity and possibility, an excellent choice for such a significant investment,” the Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., said in a statement that followed the Bears’.

“The city of Hammond and the entirety of Northwest Indiana will benefit from this transformative investment. I am proud to have partnered with our state leaders to secure this win; I’m grateful to Gov. Mike Braun, Speaker Todd Huston, Sen Ryan Mishler, and our local legislators who pushed this deal over the goal line!”

Though McDermott is celebrating a touchdown, the score is very much subject to further review.

A person familiar with the situation told USA TODAY Sports that the Bears will ultimately move to Hammond or Arlington Heights, Illinois, which is roughly 30 miles northwest of the Soldier Field site. But remaining in downtown Chicago is not viewed as a viable alternative. The person requested anonymity due to the matter’s sensitivity and evolving nature.

It’s a position the Bears signaled in a public statement last month.

“The Chicago Bears have exhausted every opportunity to stay in Chicago, which was our initial goal,” the team said. “There is not a viable site in the city. As a result, the only sites under consideration are in Arlington Heights and Hammond.”

It’s also fair to characterize Indiana as the clubhouse leader to land the team − at least until further progress between the team and Illinois legislature materializes. Emanuel Chris Welch, the speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives said Friday that, “Illinois has focused on the needs of working families who want relief at the gas pump, at the store, and on their insurance bills − not taxpayer-funded stadiums.”

Welch also noted: “Illinois remains open to ongoing efforts to secure the Bears in Illinois.”

Yet while Indiana is willing to provide the financial assistance the Bears are seeking for the project, it is premature to rule out Illinois or discount how changing political winds can impact the situation.

“The Bears have built a storied legacy in Illinois for over 100 years but have spent the last six years, and especially the last few months, shifting their position on a stadium location. That has hindered their progress,” Matt Hill, a spokesman for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement.

“Today appears to be another instance of that after Illinois leaders have been working with the Bears in good faith. Governor Pritzker has always been clear that he wants the Bears to stay in Illinois and still remains open to a sensible solution that protects taxpayers.”

The Bears bought 326 acres of land in Arlington Heights in 2021 on the site of the former Arlington International Racecourse. Warren claimed in December that the team has not asked Illinois to build the stadium, however it had requested “a commitment to essential local infrastructure (roads, utilities, and site improvements), which is more than typical for projects of this size. Additionally, we sought reasonable property tax certainty to secure financing. We listened to state leadership and relied on their direction and guidance, yet our efforts have been met with no legislative partnership.”

Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia remained hopeful about keeping the Bears in Illinois but acknowledged the challenges.

“Although we recognize that these discussions are complex and involve many stakeholders, this is clearly a fumble for the state of Illinois,” he said in a statement Friday. “My commitment to the residents and businesses of Arlington Heights is unwavering, and we will continue to represent the interests of our community as future opportunities and next steps are considered.”

Friday, the Bears stated no “exact site” has been chosen. But they have investigated an area in the Wolf Lake region of Hammond, studying it from an environmental perspective − the Chicago Tribune reporting that a nearby golf course was “built on top of a mountain of slag” while the “location also sits near several hazardous waste sites, across the street from an oil tank storage complex, and in the shadow of the Midwest’s largest oil refinery.”

“I would throw up the red caution flags immediately,” Tinaglia, the Arlington Heights mayor who’s also an architect, told the Tribune. “I’ve worked on enough sites with gas stations or dry cleaners or some sort of hazardous material to know it contaminates the ground. I would be very concerned about selecting a site like that.”

Unsurprisingly, McDermott downplayed any concern.

“This is an industrial area and we do have legacy issues we’re dealing with,” he said in the Tribune’s story, “but we’re not worried about the Bears finding anything that’s a deal-breaker.”

For now, the league is closely monitoring the situation. But, ultimately, it will also play a significant role as its owners must approve a new stadium, its construction parameters, environmental impact and financing plan, among others factors.

Yes, with room for 61,500 fans per home game, Chicago’s stadium is the league’s smallest in terms of what it can accommodate for attendance at a home game. Arizona’s State Farm Stadium has the next-lowest capacity with 63,400 seats for Cardinals games but it can be expanded to 73,000 for bigger events, like the Super Bowl.

A new stadium in the Chicagoland area would likely have the opportunity to host at least one Super Bowl given the league’s pattern of rewarding new facilities with a Super Sunday date (Detroit, North Texas, Indianapolis and New Jersey are among the recent one-off sites for the game). It could also become a candidate to stage significant Big Ten and college football playoff games while potentially luring other major sports and entertainment attractions.

The Bears’ search for a new stadium site has been a bumpy, winding road – and they still haven’t finalized their plan. Here’s everything that has happened so far:

The Bears announce their Purchase and Sale Agreement with Churchill Downs, Inc. for the site of the Arlington International Racecourse in Arlington Heights, Illinois – 32 miles away from Soldier Field.

Then-Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot proposes adding a dome to Soldier Field in effort to encourage the Bears to remain in the city. However, the team rebuffs the proposal, doubling down on their intent to develop the site in Arlington Heights.

“The only potential project the Chicago Bears are exploring for a new stadium development is Arlington Park,” a Bears spokesperson said in a statement to the Daily Herald at the time. “As part of our mutual agreement with the seller of that property, we are not pursuing alternative stadium deals or sites, including renovations to Soldier Field, while we are under contract.”

Bears release renderings of their plans for the development of the Arlington Heights site, showing off their preliminary plans for the stadium and surrounding district.

The sale of the Arlington Heights site goes final with a $197.2 million price tag. The Bears say at the time that their purchase of the site does not guarantee they’ll follow through with building their new stadium – and surrounding “entertainment district” – there.

“There is still a tremendous amount of due diligence work to be done to determine if constructing an enclosed state-of-the-art stadium and multi-purpose entertainment district is feasible,” the team said in a statement.

The Bears’ Arlington Heights development plan stalls. Chicago PBS station WTTW reports that the snag is a result of Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s valuation of the Arlington Heights property higher than the team anticipated, leading to a high property tax bill.

“The property’s original assessment at five times the 2021 tax value, and the recent settlement with (former site owner) Churchill Downs for 2022 being three times higher, fails to reflect the property is not operational and not commercially viable in its current state,” the Bears said in a statement.

“Negotiations over property taxes reached a $100 million impasse,” according to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. The impasse drives the Bears’ attention to a different site, south of Soldier Field and still within the Chicago city limits.

ESPN reports in March that the team’s new plan involves committing more than $2 billion toward building a new, publicly owned domed stadium.

“The Chicago Bears are proud to contribute over $2 billion to build a stadium and improve open spaces for all families, fans and the general public to enjoy in the City of Chicago,” Bears team president and CEO Kevin Warren told ESPN in a statement. “The future stadium of the Chicago Bears will bring a transformative opportunity to our region – boosting the economy, creating jobs, facilitating mega events and generating millions in tax revenue. We look forward to sharing more information when our plans are finalized.”

In April, the Bears reveal renderings of the proposed stadium project south of Soldier Field, estimated to cost $4.7 billion. While Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson openly championed the project, Illinois governor JB Pritzker was less enthused, given the expectation the Bears would request taxpayer funds to help build the stadium.

“I’m highly skeptical of the proposal that’s been made and I believe strongly that this is not a high priority for legislators and certainly not for me, when I compare it to all the other things,” Pritzker said.

Warren says the Bears are entirely focused on the stadium project on the lakeshore in Chicago, south of Soldier Field and Chicago’s Museum Campus. He also offers a tentative timeline for the start of actual development of the stadium and surrounding area.

“We’re continuing to make progress,” he said. “We stay focused still to be able to be in the ground, start construction sometime in 2025. We’re having regular meetings with key business leaders, key politicians, just staying focused and on course.”

The Chicago Tribune reports that momentum has shifted back toward the Bears pursuing a stadium development project in Arlington Heights.

“The focus now is both downtown and Arlington Heights,” Warren said after the conclusion of the 2025 owners meetings.

The Tribune goes on to report that progress had been made to resolve “tax dynamics” holdup that had led the Bears to pivot away from Arlington Heights one year prior. And Warren stands by his goal to begin construction at one of the sites by the end of 2025.

“My goal still remains to be able to move dirt around in 2025,” he said. “Which is important because there is a lot of preconstruction work that needs to go into these projects.”

Warren pens an open letter to Bears fans declaring Arlington Heights “the only site within Cook County that meets that standard” in the team’s vision for a new stadium on the day of the team’s season-opening game.

Cronin reports that a main reason the Bears had to scrap their plan for a new lakefront stadium once again had to do with taxes and clashing visions for how the development project would be funded. The ESPN reporter wrote that the team was unable to alleviate concerns about the “burden placed on taxpayers to fund the infrastructure.”

In another open letter to Bears fans, Warren announces that the team plans to explore an expanded search for a new stadium site after hitting a roadblock in negotiations with the state of Illinois over their current plan. The expanded search includes both the Arlington Heights site, but also “opportunities throughout the wider Chicagoland region,” Warren wrote, “including Northwest Indiana.”

According to ESPN, the Bears had been seeking tax breaks and $855 million in public funds to help build the new stadium. Illinois’ state lawmakers balked at that request, leading to another roadblock in the team’s Arlington Heights development vision.

Warren wrote: “We have not asked for state taxpayer dollars to build the stadium at Arlington Park. We asked only for a commitment to essential local infrastructure (roads, utilities, and site improvements) which is more than typical for projects of this size. Additionally, we sought reasonable property tax certainty to secure financing. We listened to state leadership and relied on their direction and guidance, yet our efforts have been met with no legislative partnership.

“We have been told directly by State leadership, our project will not be a priority in 2026.”

Momentum builds for the Bears to move to Northwest Indiana. Indiana governor Mike Braun posts on social media site X on Feb. 19 that Indiana “identified a promising site near Wolf Lake in Hammond,” a city bordering Chicago and the Illinois border.

The same day, Indiana’s state House Ways and Means Committee unanimously passes an ammended version of Senate Bill 27. The bill proposes to create a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority, which would be in charge of issuing bonds to finance the construction of the stadium.

The Bears released their own statement via NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport on Feb. 19, declaring Senate Bill 27 “the most meaningful step forward in our stadium planning efforts to date.”

Rapoport also reported on Feb. 19 that Illinois lawmakers canceled a meeting set for Thursday morning in the state House, “where a project bill (involving the Bears) was to be discussed.”

Matt Hill, who is Pritzker’s Deputy Chief of Staff, writes on X, “Illinois was ready to move this bill forward. After a productive three hour meeting yesterday (Feb. 18), the Bears leaders requested the ILGA (Illinois General Assembly) pause the hearing to make further tweaks to the bill. This morning, we were surprised to see a statement lauding Indiana and ignoring Illinois.”

Within a week, Indiana legislators vote to approve Senate Bill 27, and Braun signs it into Indiana state law one week later, on Feb. 26.

The Bears declare that all plans to build a stadium within the Chicago city limits are done and that the team’s future stadium will be in either Arlington Heights or Hammond, Indiana.

“The Chicago Bears have exhausted every opportunity to stay in Chicago, which was our initial goal,” the team said in a statement. “There is not a viable site in the city.”

Momentum continues toward a Bears move to Indiana. The team releases a statement saying it’s moving forward with the development plan in Hammond.

“We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city,” Bears chairman George H. McCaskey and team president and CEO Kevin Warren said in a statement. “It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.”

Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson said he was “not surpris[ed]” by the announcement and expressed skepticism about the Bears’ proposed relocation.

“Without a final site selection, until we see shovels in the ground in Hammond, the City of Chicago will continue to engage in discussions grounded in the interests of our residents.”

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