Bears brass looking for quick movement on a new stadium to open by 2030
CHICAGO — Chicago Bears leaders said Wednesday they want a quick resolution to their search for a new stadium, with a goal of opening a new enclosed stadium by 2030 — either in Arlington Heights or Indiana. Team President and CEO Kevin Warren put a rough timeline on plans to build a new enclosed stadium, hoping to choose a site by this spring or summer, he told reporters at the NFL owners meeting in Phoenix on Wednesday. “I mean, the costs are going up,” Warren said.
“The financial markets are, they’re, because of the war (in Iran), all the different things we have going on, they can be a little uncertain. So it’s time for us to make a decision, and then to be able to finish the design, based upon the location and be in a position to build and open up by 2030. ” Team officials still are waiting for Illinois lawmakers to approve a proposal that would let the Bears negotiate long-term property tax breaks with local schools and other governmental agencies for a site in Arlington Heights.
Gov. JB Pritzker has endorsed the team’s plan to build its own $2 billion stadium, while the state would pay an estimated $855 million for roads and other infrastructure — but Chicago lawmakers are reluctant to help the team leave the city. As an alternative, Indiana lawmakers last month authorized building a new stadium in Hammond, with the team kicking in $2 billion and the state using new taxes to pay about $1 billion.
Bears officials are doing their “due diligence” to finalize site plans for a stadium, while they pressure Illinois to make a counteroffer. Despite environmental concerns raised by local residents, Warren said the team has already checked the site for any needed remediation or cleanup and found “no issues there. ” He added that the site, likely at Lost Marsh Golf Course near Wolf Lake, is “big” at 340 acres, saying it’s a good site “structurally.
” “It’s a really good site that we feel comfortable with, and we feel comfortable with the site in Arlington Heights, so we’ll just keep pushing forward,” Warren said. The team is working with Indiana officials to determine infrastructure needs like transportation and parking, Warren said. “Yeah, we’ll work through all the final details of the term sheet from an infrastructure standpoint, but we have a kind of meeting of the minds of what that would look like,” he said.