Bears reach out to city officials about possible lakefront return
- Chicago Bears officials and Chicago city lawyers held recent talks about a possible lakefront stadium, even as the team publicly says only two sites remain. - State Sen. Bill Cunningham said late-April Bears outreach “breathed new life” into Mayor Brandon Johnson’s opposition to an Arlington Heights bill. - Illinois lawmakers face a May 31 adjournment deadline as Bears officials continue pursuing Arlington Heights and Hammond, Indiana, options.
The Chicago Bears’ stadium search has widened again, at least in private. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office said this week that the team recently held meetings with Chicago’s Corporation Counsel about terms for a new lakefront stadium, reopening a question the Bears had spent months trying to close. The team responded that Chicago is still not a viable site and said any contacts with the city were limited to lawyer-to-lawyer discussions tied to its Soldier Field tenancy. The new disclosures landed as Illinois lawmakers race toward a May 31 adjournment deadline on legislation the Bears say they need if Arlington Heights is to stay competitive with Hammond, Indiana. ### Why are Chicago officials saying the lakefront is back in the conversation? Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office said the Bears had recent meetings with the city’s Corporation Counsel regarding terms for a new lakefront stadium. A source in the mayor’s office told the Chicago Sun-Times there had been multiple meetings with the Bears since April and said the discussions had evolved beyond lease issues into a new lakefront stadium conversation. (abc7chicago.com) Bill Cunningham, a Democratic state senator from Chicago and a co-sponsor of the proposed Bears-related “PILOT” bill, said the team’s outreach in late April gave Chicago lawmakers fresh reason to resist moving the project forward for Arlington Heights. Cunningham told NBC Chicago that the Bears talked hypothetically about revisiting the lakefront if the Arlington Heights site did not work out. (abc7chicago.com) ### What are the Bears saying publicly? The Bears said Thursday that they had “exhausted every opportunity to stay in Chicago” and that “there is not a viable site in the city.” The team added that the only sites under consideration are Arlington Heights and Hammond. A separate Bears statement said any meetings with the city were limited to counsel-to-counsel engagement, involved no talks with team management and covered a range of confidential matters related to the club’s lease at Soldier Field. (nbcchicago.com) The team said no substantive changes resulted from those exchanges. ### How is this affecting the Springfield fight over Arlington Heights? (abc7chicago.com) May 31 is the key date in Springfield because lawmakers are scheduled to adjourn the spring session then, and the Bears have said legislation must pass for Arlington Heights to remain under consideration against Hammond. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Johnson’s renewed push to keep the team in Chicago has peeled away support for the megaprojects proposal, according to Cunningham, who is leading the Senate effort. (abc7chicago.com) Cunningham also said traffic concerns around the Arlington Heights site and questions about the property-tax structure are complicating the bill. Capitol News Illinois separately reported that opposition from Chicago-based lawmakers intensified after word spread of the Bears’ meeting with the city. (chicago.suntimes.com) ### Why do Arlington Heights and Hammond still matter more than Chicago? Arlington Heights and Hammond remain the only two sites the Bears themselves say they are evaluating. WBEZ reported on May 11 that the team’s five-year search had narrowed to those two locations, with Illinois lawmakers weighing tax and infrastructure help for Arlington Heights while Indiana lawmakers had already approved up to $1 billion in incentives tied to Hammond. (chicago.suntimes.com) Gov. JB Pritzker has focused on Arlington Heights rather than reviving the lakefront plan, while Johnson has kept pressing for a city option. That split has become part of the political obstacle course around the Illinois bill. ### Is there actually a workable Chicago site now? Soldier Field remains the Bears’ current home through 2033 under their lease, but the team has repeatedly said it has not identified a viable city site for a new stadium. (wbez.org) WBEZ reported earlier this month that the Bears rejected other Chicago possibilities, including the former Michael Reese Hospital site, as too narrow for an NFL stadium. (chicago.suntimes.com) Brandon Johnson has continued to argue that Chicago is the best place for the franchise. But the public record this week shows two competing versions of the same contacts: City Hall describing stadium talks, and the Bears describing routine legal discussions around an existing lease. ### What happens next? Illinois legislators have until May 31 to act on the megaprojects measure tied to Arlington Heights. (abc7chicago.com) The Bears, meanwhile, have continued to brief the NFL and state officials on plans centered on Arlington Heights and Hammond, even as Chicago officials try to use the recent contacts as evidence that a lakefront return has not been fully buried. (chicago.suntimes.com)
