While the Chicago Bears have said their stadium efforts are being focused on Indiana, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says he’s growing more confident the team will be staying in the Land of Lincoln.
What’s more, the governor said that a bill being discussed among lawmakers in Springfield could leave the door open for the Bears to build a stadium either in suburban Arlington Heights, where the team owns the land that was formerly occupied by the Arlington International Racecourse, or in the city of Chicago.
Pritzker had mentioned Chicago still being a possibility following a debate with Republican gubernatorial challenger Darren Bailey earlier this week, and discussed that possibility again during a press conference Thursday.
“The legislation that is being discussed would give the option for the possibility of a stadium built in the city or in Arlington Heights, and that’s a decision the Bears get to make,” he said.
Earlier this month, Pritzker had met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Bears stakeholder Pat Ryan, along with House Speaker Chris Welch, State Sen. Bill Cunningham and State Rep. Kam Buckner to discuss a stadium bill that could be debated during the upcoming veto session in Springfield.
The bill would likely center on the creation of a stadium authority that would ultimately own the facility, with the Bears paying to build the stadium.
Marc Ganis, an expert on stadium negotiations and construction, says such an arrangement would be similar to what other projects have used to get stadiums built.
“Keep in mind that the idea of public ownership of the stadium, of a governmental stadium authority is the way 80 to 90 percent of these are built,” he said.
Ganis said seeing Goodell and Ryan involved is a sign the league, the Bears and the state are serious about finding every possible avenue for a project that would keep the team in Illinois, but also said that the presence of those decisionmakers also puts pressure on Illinois.
“They have the entire senior leadership of the NFL that’s involved in stadium projects involved. The head of government affairs, the head of team business operations. The absolute top people in the world are working on this now,” he said. “There are no more excuses. If Illinois doesn’t come through, it’s all on Illinois.”
The upcoming veto session in Springfield will take place after the election and will end on December 3, and the expectation is that a deal for a Bears stadium project in Illinois would have to come together before the end of that session in order to prevent the team from departing to Indiana.
Ernie Rose, who represents Touchdown Arlington, a grassroots group of business owners interested in bringing the Bears to Arlington Heights, says the inclusion of language that could open the door for Chicago as a Bears stadium option could be crucial in attracting support of skeptical lawmakers who didn’t want to pave the way for the team to move only to the suburbs.
“The stadium authority bill gives Chicago a chance to make their best pitch too,” he said. “And it was clear that the log jam in the last session was they couldn’t give votes from Chicago.”
