{"id":742440,"date":"2026-02-10T12:47:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/742440\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:47:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:47:14","slug":"bears-illinois-close-to-deal-on-new-stadium-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/742440\/","title":{"rendered":"Bears, Illinois Close to Deal on New Stadium Site"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Veterans'Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (Source: Anadolu \/ Getty)<\/p>\n

CHICAGO \u2014 The Chicago Bears and Illinois lawmakers are close to a stadium deal that would keep the franchise in Illinois and prevent a move to Indiana.<\/p>\n

According to multiple reports, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and legislative leaders are on board with a public funding package for infrastructure around the proposed Arlington Heights site.<\/p>\n

The \u201cPILOT\u201d legislation states that the team would cover construction costs and could negotiate property tax levels with the village. The Bears have wanted a long-term, lower property tax bill in Arlington Heights.<\/p>\n

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At a Monday press conference, Governor Pritzker said conversations between him and the Bears are still ongoing, but progress has been made.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in consistent conversation with the Chicago Bears,\u201d Pritzker said. \u201cWe are helping businesses build infrastructure, for example, which [the Bears] would need, along with other things available to any business that is growing in the State of Illinois.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pritzker added that they want to strike a deal with the Bears that is economically friendly to the people of Chicago and Illinois.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key thing for me, and this is the most important point that I would make, is we\u2019re not going to do anything bad for the taxpayers here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Indiana continues to make a serious push for a Bears stadium in the northwest part of the state. A bill to create the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority (NISA) passed in the Indiana Senate in late January.<\/p>\n

Indiana Governor Mike Braun has been on board with trying to get the Bears to relocate across the border ever since they discussed a potential move outside of Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chicago Bears recognize Indiana\u2019s pro-business climate, and I am ready to work with them to build a new stadium in Northwest Indiana,\u201d Braun said over a month ago. \u201cThis move would deliver a major economic boost, create jobs, and bring another premier NFL franchise to the Hoosier State.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Indiana legislative session wraps up at the end of February.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (Source: Anadolu \/ Getty) CHICAGO \u2014 The Chicago Bears and Illinois lawmakers are close…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":742441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,2493,7,6,47544,47545,47548,62249],"class_list":{"0":"post-742440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-bears","11":"tag-chicagobears","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-sentiment-concern","15":"tag-sentiment-informed","16":"tag-sentiment-shocked","17":"tag-topic-local-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116046414206643776","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742440","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=742440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}