{"id":907303,"date":"2026-06-01T18:54:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T18:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/907303\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T18:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T18:54:20","slug":"mayor-brandon-johnson-sees-opening-to-keep-chicago-bears-in-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/907303\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Brandon Johnson sees opening to keep Chicago Bears in city"},"content":{"rendered":"

After Illinois lawmakers failed to pass legislation<\/a> to help the Chicago Bears move to Arlington Heights, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson welcomed a new proposal as an opening to reconsider Chicago as the site for a new Bears stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Johnson voiced tentative support for efforts that would allow municipalities in Cook County with populations of more than 70,000, including Chicago and Arlington Heights, to create a stadium authority that would let the Bears pay to build the stadium, but make it publicly-owned so it would avoid paying property taxes.
\n\"StateState Sen. Bill Cunningham, left, is congratulated by Illinois Senate President Don Harmon after a bill drawn up by Cunningham to have a new stadium for the Chicago Bears built in Illinois passes on the final night of the spring legislative session at the State Capitol early June 1, 2026, in Springfield. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate the bill\u2019s proponents and their acknowledgment of the value of public stadium ownership and their desire to create a pathway for a new Chicago stadium,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWhile questions remained about the legislation\u2019s design, legislators ultimately reached the same conclusion the City reached in 2024: the strongest proposal for a new stadium centers public ownership, the use of a sports authority and a commitment to public infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposal Johnson referred to was introduced in the waning hours of the spring legislative session<\/a>, which technically ended Sunday night. Its introduction came after lawmakers\u2019 failure to pass a proposal to let sponsors of \u201cmegaprojects\u201d such as the Bears to negotiate long-term property tax breaks with local taxing bodies. The Senate approved the measure around 4 a.m. Tuesday, but the House declined to act on it, with members saying it was too rushed.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Johnson and the Bears proposed replacing the team\u2019s current home at Soldier Field with a new stadium that would have cost at least $1 billion in public borrowing plus $1.5 billion for infrastructure. The plan went nowhere after Go. J.B. Pritzker said he would not have taxpayers pay to help build a stadium for a multi-billion dollar team.\n<\/p>\n

This spring, Johnson had again lobbied to reconsider a city location, but Pritzker said the mayor had \u201cno plan\u201d to do so. Lawmakers said Johnson\u2019s intervention was a factor in holding up the mega-projects legislation. Johnson suggested the outcome vindicated his approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cChicago\u2019s 2024 plan relied on the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority and its existing 2% hotel tax to fund public infrastructure, a model that reflects the same principles the legislature ultimately centered in its framework,\u201d the mayor said.<\/p>\n

The hotel tax is used to pay for the 2003 renovation of Soldier Field, but has not been enough in recent years, forcing the city to pay millions of dollars more. Soldier Field doesn\u2019t pay property taxes because it is publicly-owned.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

In Arlington Heights, Mayor Jim Tinaglia said officials were \u201ctruly disappointed\u201d at the failure to pass any Bears legislation \u201cyet again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile this outcome is not what many had hoped for, the Arlington Park property remains one of the largest and most important redevelopment opportunities with long-term potential for our community, the region, and the entire State of Illinois,\u201d Tinaglia said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough we recognize that these discussions are complex and involve many stakeholders, this is clearly a fumble for the State of Illinois,\u201d he said. \u201cMy commitment to the residents and businesses of Arlington Heights is unwavering, and we will continue to represent the interests of our community as future opportunities and next steps are considered.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor said the village remains committed to thoughtful planning, community engagement, and discussions of the Bears project.<\/p>\n

\"ScottScott Hagel, senior vice president of public and governmental affairs for the Chicago Bears, waits outside the Senate and House chambers during the spring legislative session at the State Capitol on May 30, 2026, in Springfield. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Fans hoping the Bears would move to there were crestfallen Monday after state lawmakers failed to act.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe failed to put anything on the table,\u201d said Ernest Rose, member of the steering committee of Touchdown Arlington<\/a>, the fan club hoping to bring the team to Arlington Heights. \u201cThis crisis was created in Springfield.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that we couldn\u2019t get it done because we ran out of time is a failure of House leadership,\u201d Rose said. \u201cNow it becomes a question of whether the Bears are willing to move to Indiana, because we\u2019ve given them nothing. If it\u2019s a bluff, we\u2019ve called it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears first proposed buying the former Arlington International Racecourse in June of 2021, almost five years ago, and proposed building an enclosed stadium there after they bought it in 2023. But legislative leaders said it wasn\u2019t a priority \u2014 until Indiana lawmakers this year quickly put together a deal to build a stadium in Hammond.<\/p>\n

The team issued a statement Monday that it will \u201cfinalize our evaluation of both Arlington Heights and Hammond, and remain on the late spring\/early summer timeline that we have previously communicated.\u201d<\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t have been a surprise that House Democrats from Chicago opposed giving the team special breaks without getting something in return, Rose said. He hopes that leaders like House Speaker Emanuel \u201cChris\u201d Welch and Senate President Don Harmon can put together a framework over the summer to make the Bears confident that legislation will pass in the fall session.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut,\u201d Rose said, \u201cit\u2019s not looking promising.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After Illinois lawmakers failed to pass legislation to help the Chicago Bears move to Arlington Heights, Chicago Mayor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":907304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[10654,374,10655,692,391,2493,7,10659,10658,19547,6,10661],"class_list":["post-907303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-bears","tag-arlington-heights","tag-bears","tag-bears-stadium","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bears","tag-chicagobears","tag-football","tag-george-mccaskey","tag-kevin-warren","tag-mayor-brandon-johnson","tag-nfl","tag-soldier-field"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116676373009881181","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907303","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=907303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}