Bears hope to choose stadium site this spring or summer
PHOENIX (AP) — The Chicago Bears hope to choose a site for an enclosed stadium in Illinois or Indiana late this spring or early in the summer, team president Kevin Warren said on Wednesday.
Warren told reporters at the NFL meetings in Arizona the Bears are in an “excellent” position as they mull building a new home on land they own in suburban Arlington Heights, Illinois, or in Hammond, Indiana, even though they had hoped to start construction last year.
“Both of the sites are excellent sites,” Warren said.
The storied Bears want to leave historic Soldier Field, where they’ve played for more than half a century. Indiana lawmakers are attempting to lure them from the Windy City with a plan to finance and build a domed stadium in Hammond, about 25 miles from their current home on Lake Michigan’s shore.
The Illinois General Assembly has responded with legislation that would give tax breaks to so-called megaprojects of at least $100 million, a plan that would encompass the Bears’ proposal to build a complex on a 326-acre tract of land they own in Arlington Heights, about the same distance from Soldier Field as Hammond. The team had hoped to start construction on the site of a former horseracing track in 2025.
Chairman George McCaskey acknowledged crossing state lines would be an adjustment for fans. But he pointed to the New York Giants and Jets as examples of teams that made successful moves.
“Somehow, the republic has survived,” McCaskey said. “When the Bears moved from Wrigley Field to Soldier Field, it required an adjustment. When we went to Champaign (while Soldier Field was renovated in 2002), it required an adjustment. And whether we go to Arlington Park or to Hammond, there is going to be an adjustment period.”
The Bears, a charter NFL franchise, have played in Illinois since their founding in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys. Since moving to Chicago in 1921, the Bears have never owned their stadium, whether playing at Wrigley Field from 1921 to 1970 or Soldier Field since then.
Before Indiana started trying to lure them, the Bears’ focus for a new home had fluctuated from Arlington Heights to the Chicago lakefront, and then back to the suburb. They had said they plan to pay for the stadium construction on the site of a former racetrack about 30 miles northwest of their longtime home at Soldier Field, though they would need assistance to complete the project.
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