The city of Chicago has had its share of bad business deals: the 2008 parking meter lease, the Chicago Skyway lease, taxpayer-backed grocery store failures and the Bally\u2019s casino contract.\u00a0 Losing the Chicago Bears, a storied NFL franchise, to Indiana or Arlington Heights would be the worst deal of all.\n<\/p>\n
The Bears have been a tremendous driver of economic activity, job creation, tax revenue, sales revenue, concessions, hospitality and tourism. In 2025, the team generated total franchise revenues of $629 million. That revenue will increase as the Bears win more games and make a push for the Super Bowl.\n<\/p>\n
As a businessman, I speak the language of the Bears and the community at large. It comes down to communication and a willingness to work with the goals laid out by Bears ownership and the citizens of Chicago. According to Bears leadership, discussions with Illinois and Chicago leaders have been \u201cminimal\u201d<\/a> since the legislature adjourned earlier this summer without passing the megaprojects bill. In fact, neither Gov. JB Pritzker nor Mayor Brandon Johnson has provided another offer for the Bears to consider staying in Chicago or the state.\n<\/p>\n With due diligence underway at two sites in Hammond, there does not appear to be a sense of urgency on behalf of Pritzker, Johnson or legislative leaders. Bears leaders during a news conference this month reaffirmed their focus on moving to Hammond.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Indiana, they\u2019ve been very proactive, very communicative and very solution-oriented,\u201d team Chairman George McCaskey noted.\n<\/p>\n Perhaps politicians who are not businesspeople cannot fully appreciate the importance of property tax certainty, infrastructure needs and a domed stadium. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun is a businessman. Before politics, he ran logistics and distribution enterprises, so he knows how transformative the Bears moving to Indiana could be. This is why he urged his legislature to move quickly and offer $1 billion in public incentives toward a new Bears stadium.\n<\/p>\n Illinois leaders seem to be sleepwalking as it relates to the Bears. Maybe they think the Bears are bluffing about Indiana and the real play is Arlington Heights?<\/p>\n The city of Chicago has too much at stake to allow the Bears to leave. Economic impact to hospitality, hotels, tourism and jobs would be astronomical. I equate the Bears leaving Chicago to families that have lost their homes and been forced to leave the city. Those families take with them their talents and resources.<\/p>\n Chicago and the Park District would lose tens of millions in annual lease payments, admissions taxes and local economic activity generated by game-day crowds. Local businesses that support Bears games might be forced to close. Additionally, the state would lose $32.5 million per year in state-level tax revenues.\n<\/p>\n The Dallas Cowboys generate $1.3 billion in annual total team revenue, the highest in the NFL. Estimated economic impact for their host city of Arlington, Texas, is $9.7 billion over the life of their extended lease agreement.\n<\/p>\n Cowboys\u2019 ownership and Arlington officials work together, and it is a win-win for the team and city. Ownership of the stadium remains with the city.<\/p>\n Illinois leaders should work day and night on a deal to keep the Bears in Chicago. A domed stadium would allow Chicago to host a Super Bowl and year-round concert events. This could triple the current revenue from the Bears.<\/p>\n As a businessman, I believe we could negotiate a deal to keep the Bears in Chicago. It would take creativity and an incentive package that includes tax relief, outside investments, naming rights and other ad opportunities.<\/p>\n After watching the Bears\u2019 first preseason game, I am more convinced that elected leaders need to do more to keep the team in Chicago.<\/p>\n The following are suggestions to keep the Bears in town:<\/p>\n \u2022 Pritzker and Johnson should offer the Bears a win-win-type proposal that would allow them to build a new stadium in Chicago along the lakefront. They should use the former Michael Reese Hospital site.<\/p>\n \u2022 Pritzker and the Illinois legislature should cap property taxes for citizens of Chicago and provide tax certainty to the Bears.<\/p>\n \u2022 Johnson should consider additional vacant land for a new Bears stadium.<\/p>\n \u2022 Pritzker and Johnson should consider two Chicago professional teams sharing a domed stadium.<\/p>\n \u2022 Johnson should create a task force consisting of businesspeople to negotiate with Bears leadership.<\/p>\n \u2022 Johnson should lead a major modernization of Soldier Field that includes a dome.<\/p>\n \u2022 Pritzker should call a special session to get a deal done for the Bears and people of Chicago.<\/p>\n Bears leaders have indicated that they are open to discussions regarding a new stadium in Chicago and Arlington Heights.<\/p>\n I urge elected leaders to communicate and find a way to keep the Bears in Chicago. It would be good for jobs, revenue and our city. Now is the time to \u201cBear\u201d down.<\/p>\n Bears leadership indicated the name would not change. Can you imagine the Chicago Bears of Arlington Heights? Or the Chicago Bears of Hammond?<\/p>\n If the Bears leave Chicago and Illinois, there will be economic carnage. Political leaders who failed to act will pay a heavy price.<\/p>\n I write this commentary to make those comfortable with allowing the Chicago Bears to move out of our city uncomfortable.<\/p>\n Willie Wilson is a business owner, philanthropist and candidate for Chicago mayor.<\/p>\n Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here<\/a> or email letters@chicagotribune.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city of Chicago has had its share of bad business deals: the 2008 parking meter lease, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":979146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[128590,374,10655,8232,692,391,2493,7,92966,25351,114895,6],"class_list":["post-979145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-bears","tag-arlington-heights-jb-pritzker","tag-bears","tag-bears-stadium","tag-brandon-johnson","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bears","tag-chicagobears","tag-football","tag-hammond","tag-illinois-general-assembly","tag-megaprojects-bill","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117133061923295401","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/979145","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=979145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/979145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/979146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=979145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=979145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=979145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}