Legislative gridlock and tax disputes have stalled the Bears' stadium ambitions. Kevin Warren’s grand vision remains a costly stalemate.
If you stayed up late last night waiting to see actual movement about the Chicago Bears' new stadium and the possibility of that state-of-the-art facility being built in Illinois, well, you wasted your time.
The Illinois legislature adjourned the spring session without coming to a resolution on the Bears' new stadium. After the PILOT bill failed, a new proposal was established. One that would allow "municipalities to set up stadium authorities that could own and finance professional sports stadiums. Since the facility would be owned by the public authority, the Bears would escape paying property taxes altogether," according to Capital News Illinois.
Tax certainty has been one of the biggest hurdles for the Bears in this entire process. The new proposal passed the Illinois Senate, but the House adjourned without going forward with the Senate proposal.
Here is what Capital News Illinois insider Brenden Moore tweeted at 4:35 a.m.:
"Breaking: The Illinois House is about to adjourn. They won't vote on the Bears stadium bill just sent over from the Senate. Unless a special session is called this summer, they won't be back until November."
Shortly after the decision, the Bears released a statement.
“We will finalize our evaluation of both Arlington Heights and Hammond, and remain on the late spring/early summer timeline that we have previously communicated,” the team said in a statement. “We will provide an update when we have a decision to share.”
That last sentence in the Bears' statement has no weight or significance whatsoever. After purchasing 326-acres of land in Arlington Heights on Feb. 15, 2023, there have been no updates. There is no stadium or a decision on where it will be. Just empty land with no signs of progress.
Michele Steele made a great point when discussing the Bears' stadium situation.
"Buying Arlington Park without doing the due diligence to see if it was politically viable to secure public funds to build there is the reason we are here folks. They might actually be better off selling back the land, writing down the loss and starting from square 1 - if they want to stay in state."
It also didn't make any sense that former Bears president and CEO Ted Phillips was allowed to place a bid to buy the land in July 2021, especially since he announced he would retire following the conclusion of the 2022 season.
Current Bears president and chief executive officer Kevin Warren took over in Jan. 2023 and has since looked at several other locations as possibilities for the Bears' new roots.
Although the Bears have publicly stated Arlington Heights and Hammond are the only two locations they are considering, reports state that the "Bears have met repeatedly with the City of Chicago over the last several months to talk about this."
What is there to discuss if Chicago is not in the mix?
How this entire saga has played out is reminiscent of the Bears teams before the 2025 season. A lot of disfunction, disappointment and no signs of solutions.
That's currently where the Bears are at with their pursuit of a new stadium. The team is at fault and so is the state of Illinois. No wonder there hasn't been a significant update in the last three years.
