{"id":919822,"date":"2026-06-15T19:45:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/919822\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T19:45:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:45:18","slug":"some-south-suburban-officials-say-bears-should-stay-in-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/919822\/","title":{"rendered":"Some south suburban officials say Bears should stay in state"},"content":{"rendered":"

While some in the south suburbs recognize potential benefits to their communities as the Chicago Bears plan for a new stadium<\/a> in Hammond, many continue to express support for the team staying in Illinois.<\/p>\n

That includes Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones, who last month called the potential Hammond stadium as a lifeline for his plans at the long-struggling River Oaks shopping center.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust imagine how much traffic we\u2019ll get once this development goes up,\u201d Jones said the proposed entertainment district<\/a> at the mall site. \u201cIf the Bears go to Indiana, the stadium is going to be built five minutes away from Calumet City.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Jones said he opposes to the Bears relocating to Indiana and doesn\u2019t believe the team \u201ccan afford that reputational damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to stay in Illinois because they need to pay taxes in Illinois,\u201d said Jones, who is also a state representative. \u201cI want them to stay in Illinois because all of their Chicago Bears fans \u2026 are in Illinois supporting the Bears. So I want them, whatever they\u2019re going to do and build, I want that to be in Illinois.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones said he hopes to draft a resolution in support of the Bears staying in Illinois to present at an upcoming City Council meeting. He also endorsed the Illinois General Assembly holding a special session<\/a> this summer to help keep the football team in state.<\/p>\n

Lynwood Mayor Jada Curry, president of the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, expressed similar views, saying what\u2019s good for the state is good for its municipalities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t comment on a what if,\u201d Curry said. \u201cWhat I can tell you is that I am very much pro-Illinois. I want to see businesses thrive in the state of Illinois, I want to see businesses thrive in Lynwood, and so it would be very difficult for me to want to get behind a business that\u2019s going across the border.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LynwoodLynwood Mayor Jada Curry in March 2025. (Terrence Antonio James\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Curry said as Lynwood shares a border with Indiana, convincing business owners to set up shop on the western side is already a \u201cdaily fight,\u201d considering Cook County\u2019s comparatively high property taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny business that I talk to always has the option of crossing over and considering the tax break,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But Southland Development Authority CEO Bo Kemp said south suburban officials should be prepared to capitalize on increased traffic through their areas if the team moves to Hammond.<\/p>\n

On his podcast two months ago, Kemp discussed with Olympia Fields-based architect Edward Peck potential paths forward for the Bears and the tradeoffs of stadium locations under consideration.<\/p>\n

He said the five miles surrounding a new stadium would be prime for development, as the thousands of people traveling to watch football or concerts will need places to stay, eat and shop.<\/p>\n

\"SouthlandSouthland Development Authority CEO Bo Kemp during the the organization’s Achieve business summit June 5 at Wind Creek Casino in Hazel Crest. (Olivia Stevens\/Daily Southtown)<\/p>\n

\u201cFiguring out how to make the experience of getting to the stadium, spending time at the stadium, feeling that the stadium is part of your home is key,\u201d Kemp said. \u201cFor better or for worse, this is a chance to showcase your community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kemp and Peck said to encourage travelers to stop by on their way to or from Hammond, neighboring municipalities should focus efforts on making their infrastructure inviting. That includes adding attractive signage, street furniture and shrubbery.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll those things matter, and this is a chance for a lot of people who go to these games, who have almost never spent any time in the south suburbs, to get a different impression,\u201d Kemp said. \u201cSo spending some time and effort to be strategic about what that journey looks like for people actually is job number one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without intentional planning, the reality of a stadium near, but not in, the south suburbs could prove more complicated, Peck said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t somehow tie Homewood with Hammond, or Blue Island with Hammond, we could easily be a drive-by community,\u201d Peck said. \u201cPeople could go to the stadium for a concert, go to the pub across the street and then get back to Chicago or the western suburbs.\u201d<\/p>\n

ostevens@chicagotribune.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While some in the south suburbs recognize potential benefits to their communities as the Chicago Bears plan for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,122846,106043,692,391,7242,2493,7,92966,1682,932,122847,16299,6,122849,10661,122845,8138,122848],"class_list":["post-919822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-bears","tag-bears","tag-bo-kemp","tag-calumet-city","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bears","tag-chicago-bears-stadium","tag-chicagobears","tag-football","tag-hammond","tag-illinois","tag-indiana","tag-kevin-warrn","tag-legislature","tag-nfl","tag-olympia-fields","tag-soldier-field","tag-southland-development-authority","tag-stadium","tag-thaddeus-jones"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116755845942764023","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919822","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=919822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}