As for the 340-acre site in Hammond that the Bears are considering? Well, significant vetting is still needed to assess infrastructure needs, environmental issues and build-out potential, among other issues.<\/p>\n
In Arlington Heights, meanwhile, the Bears own 326 acres of property on the site of the former Arlington International Racecourse \u2014 land the team closed on more than three years ago. Still, two big obstacles remain. For one, the team requires assurance of state-driven aid for the infrastructure needed on the property and the surrounding area, with estimates over $800 million.<\/p>\n
The Bears have also made it clear they can\u2019t press forward with a stadium project in the northwest suburbs without the passage of a \u201cmega-projects bill\u201d in Illinois that would provide property tax certainty over a long time frame.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are prudent and wise and responsible public servants in Indiana working on it,\u201d McCaskey said. \u201cAnd there are prudent and wise and responsible public servants in Illinois working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bears president and CEO Kevin Warren said he appreciates those efforts but has also upped the push for clarity, emphasizing again Wednesday that the Bears would like to fully understand exactly where they stand in both states by the end of the spring or in the very early stages of summer. (Illinois\u2019 current legislative session, for what it\u2019s worth, runs through May.)<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth of the sites are excellent sites,\u201d Warren said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re focused on making sure we build a world-class stadium that can create a wonderful fan experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
As this week\u2019s league meeting concluded, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell emphasized his push for urgency on the Bears\u2019 stadium exploration.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s really important they come to a resolution on this relatively soon,\u201d Goodell said. \u201cI\u2019ve spoken to officials in Illinois that this is an important time to get this resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodell also publicly offered a push that mirrored the Bears\u2019 desire to find an alternative home to Soldier Field, the team\u2019s current stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201c(That) has a lot of great tradition,\u201d Goodell added. \u201cBut as far as advancements in technology and advancements in the quality of the stadium for the fan experience, I would say it\u2019s not at the top of the list. So they need to find that resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether Goodell\u2019s comments offer even the slightest nudge to Illinois lawmakers remains to be seen, but Warren is hopeful it adds another prominent voice to the discussions.<\/p>\n
\u201cLawmakers in all our states recognize he understands the importance of this and he understands the political ramifications,\u201d Warren told The Athletic. \u201cFirst and foremost, he\u2019s a businessman. And you can see with the growth of the NFL, a lot of it has been because of the fan experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stadiums have been able to afford us an opportunity for growth from a fan experience standpoint. Commissioner Goodell\u2019s leadership has been instrumental in the way the league has grown globally. He\u2019s an astute and transformative business person. So when he speaks about a stadium project, it resonates.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2264393917-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Bears chairman George McCaskey is known for visiting with tailgating fans before games. Will that happen in Arlington Heights or Hammond, Ind., in the future? Stay tuned. (Michael Reaves \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
McCaskey, meanwhile, playfully ordered a moratorium on any hackneyed football comparisons to the stadium project.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s avoid the trite and tired football analogies that one initiative is \u2018on the 5-yard line going in\u2019 and another initiative \u2018has the ball down by three, out of timeouts and 70 yards away.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
That said, the chairman went down that road one more time.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as in the course of a game, things ebb and flow,\u201d he said. \u201cThey go back and forth. Sometimes there is great momentum on one side. Sometimes the momentum shifts suddenly to another side.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve said to our family, \u2018We need to be patient and let the deal come to us.\u2019 We think a deal will materialize somewhere. We\u2019re comfortable with either site. We have people at the Bears working with public servants in both Indiana and Illinois trying to get this done.\u201d<\/p>\n
How long, though, can such patience last? And would it be fair to say that the clock is ticking on the Bears\u2019 pursuit of clarity?<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Kevin has said and the commissioner has said, we need to make a decision sooner rather than later,\u201d McCaskey said. \u201cWhen the process is completed, in one place or the other, and we have a deal to consider, then we\u2019ll look to see where we are with the other situation and we\u2019ll make the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given how meandering the stadium project has been since June 2021, when the Bears first submitted their bid for the Arlington Heights property, many have wondered why the team was so aggressive in pursuing that land without nearly enough clarity on how the property tax situation might be resolved.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, we didn\u2019t control the timing of the acquisition of Arlington Park,\u201d McCaskey said. \u201cChurchill Downs was in a position where they were ready to sell. So they largely determined the timing.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the outset, the Bears have vowed to pledge $2 billion of private funding to the stadium build itself. As for where that money will come from?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to borrow it. Because we don\u2019t have it,\u201d McCaskey said Wednesday. \u201cThat\u2019s where the risk comes in.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the type of risk he and his family are used to.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d McCaskey said, \u201cI have George Halas\u2019 blood coursing through my veins. So the family is risk-averse, debt-averse. But we feel this is a necessary step to secure the Bears\u2019 future.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Warren\u2019s consistent assertion over his three years as team president that time is money and that, with each day, week, month and year that passes, expenses are added to the stadium project, he shoulders accountability for not accelerating the venture.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, (taking) a little extra time will allow you to get it right,\u201d Warren said. \u201cI mean, we have to get this right. As George has mentioned, this will impact our franchise for decades to come. So this is not \u2018Where do you move training camp to?\u2019 This is a decision that will have ramifications for 30, 40, 50 years. So you want to make sure you get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 Illinois or Indiana? Arlington Heights or Hammond? When the wheel on the Chicago Bears\u2019 pursuit of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[391,7,6,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-847969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-chicago-bears","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116331626196359106","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847969","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=847969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}