{"id":58248,"date":"2025-05-17T20:27:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T20:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/58248\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T20:27:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T20:27:12","slug":"arlington-heights-mayor-meets-with-bears-ceo-on-stadium-nbc-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/58248\/","title":{"rendered":"Arlington Heights mayor meets with Bears CEO on stadium \u2013 NBC Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

The saga over where the Chicago Bears’ new stadium will land continued to heighten Tuesday as Arlington Heights’ new mayor revealed details on conversations he had with Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren just before his swearing-in ceremony.<\/p>\n

Jim Tinaglia was sworn in as the new mayor of Arlington Heights Monday evening, but just before his ceremony, he said Warren stopped by office for a meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came by just to sit and chat and talk about things. And he is just a really good guy,” Tinaglia said. <\/p>\n

According to Tinaglia, discussions between the two were positive. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good about it,” he said. “Kevin is, I think if I was able to read his mind, I would say I think he wants to come here. I\u2019m pretty sure that he does.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears are still considering building a domed stadium and entertainment district in Arlington Heights. The team bought the now-shuttered Arlington Park racecourse for nearly $200 million in 2023, but a property tax dispute stalled their plans. <\/p>\n

The village board recently approved an agreement with a consulting firm to evaluate an economic impact study surrounding the new stadium<\/a> and proposed entertainment district. The village also hired a consultant to take an in-depth look at the traffic impacts of the proposed stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main goal is to work with the Bears and work with the team, work with Kevin and George to make sure that the entire project is something that everybody\u2019s really proud of,” Tinaglia said. <\/p>\n

The discussions mark a shift for the Bears, who had seemingly pivoted from the Arlington Heights property and said they were committed to staying in downtown Chicago, revealing plans for a new stadium next to Soldier Field. The team has met resistance from Chicago and state lawmakers over their requests for some public financing of the project, however, and have also encountered questions from advocacy groups like Friends of the Parks over plans to build on the city\u2019s lakefront.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no political leader in this state that has been as emphatic as I have been around working with the McCaskeys and the entire organization,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said. <\/p>\n

During a news conference Tuesday morning, NBC Chicago asked Johnson when he last talked to the Bears.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are constant conversations that are happening with my team, legal team, the parks, with the Bears organization. We\u2019re still working through terms of agreement, what an agreement could look like,” Johnson said.<\/p>\n

The Bears’ stadium project also comes as the Chicago White Sox explore a potential move — which Tinaglia said he sees as an advantage. <\/p>\n

The suburban mayor says the 326-acre property has plenty of space for a ballpark and a football dome.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Kevin, don\u2019t forget our buddy over at the White Sox. Let\u2019s see if we can\u2019t get him, Jerry, to talk about it with us a little bit.\u2019 And I don\u2019t think he\u2019s against it,” Tinaglia said.\u00a0“He didn\u2019t say, \u2018Oh, yeah, this is great.\u2019 But I don\u2019t think he\u2019s against it. I think it would be a wonderful fit. So it\u2019s,\u00a0it\u2019s really just pie in the sky talking right now. But I think if, Jerry, if you\u2019re listening, I\u2019m open for a conversation anytime.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking to Pro Football Talk\u2019s Mike Florio and Chris Simms last month,<\/a>\u00a0Warren confirmed that the Bears\u2019 stadium project is \u201creally down to the Museum Campus and downtown Arlington Heights.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the largest landowner [in Arlington Heights]. I\u2019m excited for these next couple of months,\u201d he said. \u201cThis land is absolutely beautiful. It\u2019s a great piece of land.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Warren said the team is still actively engaged in conversations with the city of Chicago, both concerning the proposed stadium site on the Museum Campus and an alternative site at the location of the former Michael Reese Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key thing in all these stadium projects is optionality,\u201d he said. \u201cThe good thing about it is one, we continue our conversations with the city of Chicago. I\u2019ve said it many times, that piece of land along the lakefront is absolutely beautiful. I understand all the dynamics. I understand the politics. I understand the cost of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The saga over where the Chicago Bears’ new stadium will land continued to heighten Tuesday as Arlington Heights’…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,10655,692,391,2493,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-58248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-bears-stadium","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-bears","12":"tag-chicagobears","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114525061446453041","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}