Momentum for Chicago Bears stadium project may be shifting back toward Arlington Heights

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Less than a year after the Chicago Bears delivered a grand presentation with a vision for a new multibillion-dollar stadium on the Museum Campus downtown, the train for the team’s stadium project may be switching tracks toward Arlington Heights.

After the NFL owners meetings concluded Wednesday at The Breakers resort, Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren confirmed the team no longer has a singular focus on building its new stadium downtown.

“The focus now is both downtown and Arlington Heights,” Warren said. “One thing I have said before is that these are not linear processes or projects. They take time. They take a lot of energy and effort. And I am very, very pleased with where we are.”

While far from surprising, that’s an attention-grabbing change in rhetoric from the top of the Bears organization. Warren praised the potential for a massive development on the 326 acres the team owns in Arlington Heights on the site of the former Arlington Park racetrack. His outward enthusiasm for that site was significantly higher than it had been in quite some time.

“It’s an absolutely fantastic piece of land,” Warren said. “I thank the McCaskey family, led by George, for having the foresight to purchase that land.”

Warren said the next step will be conducting traffic and financial feasibility studies for both potential projects. But his emphatic commendation of the suburban site was notable, as he highlighted the appealing topography of the land, the Metra station adjacent to the property and ample room for an accompanying entertainment district and mixed-use development.

Bears Chairman George McCaskey shared Warren’s enthusiasm and noted the vision his grandfather and franchise founder had in Arlington Heights.

“George Halas identified it more than 50 years ago as an ideal place for a Bears stadium,” McCaskey said. “And I don’t know if anything that has happened since then changed that evaluation.”

Halas first flirted with the idea of moving the Bears to Arlington Heights in 1975 before the team extended its lease at Soldier Field in 1980.

The Bears haven’t closed the door on the Warren-led vision to keep the team playing on the lakefront downtown. And McCaskey was quick to point out the pluses of a possible new stadium on the Museum Campus.

“Kevin has said it since he has been here: (That’s a) beautiful spot by the lake,” McCaskey said. “It’s idyllic, and if there were sufficient improvements in infrastructure to make that location accessible 365 days of the year, it can be a fantastic opportunity as well.”

Those improvements, however, might be too far-fetched and costly to create the necessary momentum within the City Council and state legislature. With an estimated price tag approaching $1.5 billion for needed infrastructure, the Bears’ downtown pitch hasn’t gained much traction over the last year among lawmakers and politicians, aside from having Mayor Brandon Johnson’s full-throated endorsement.

Chicago Bears and Soldier Field: What to know about the possible stadium move — or transformation

An Arlington Heights project also would require funding for infrastructure such as roads, highways, sewers and other transportation-related support. But that cost, Warren told the Tribune, has been estimated at roughly half of what would be needed in downtown Chicago, another factor that seems to give the suburban option momentum.

If the team proceeds down that route, it would be working with a new mayor elected Tuesday: longtime Arlington Heights Trustee Jim Tinaglia, who has promised a deliberative approach to any stadium development.

The Bears continue to pledge $2 billion for stadium construction and have not asked for public subsidies in that area. Warren said design plans are halfway finished for a stadium that would be compatible in either Arlington Heights or Chicago.

“We’re not looking for any public dollars from a construction standpoint, especially in this climate,” Warren said. “That reiterates the commitment the McCaskey family has to the Chicago Bears fans.

“I’ve said this all along: When is the last time that a private family, a private company, has committed over $2 billion toward a stadium?”

The Bears are aware they need to drum up support in Springfield and beyond to push their stadium efforts forward.

“We need to convince the governor and the General Assembly that a stadium, regardless of where it is in Illinois, will be great for the state of Illinois,” McCaskey said.

Speaking with media Wednesday on an unrelated conference call, Gov. JB Pritzker said: “We welcome the idea that the Bears would stay in the city of Chicago. I’ve always said that that would be my personal preference because I’ve known them always to be a Chicago-based team.”

Pritzker, whose office last year called the Bears’ initial proposal “a non-starter,” declined to comment further, saying he hasn’t heard from the team that it’s still considering the lakefront project.

While the Bears initially ran into obstacles with tax dynamics in Arlington Heights, progress has since been made with three suburban school districts to pave the way toward a more palatable tax setup for the team.

Warren is pushing for longer-term assurances on that front.

“We don’t want tax certainty for the first five years with a building you hope lasts for 30 or 40 years,” he said. “We want to pay our taxes, but you don’t want to find yourself in the position where 15 years down the road, your tax bill quadruples. That just doesn’t make sense. It’s not good for business — for anyone.”

At the owners meetings in Florida, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fielded what has become an annual spring question about the progress of the Bears’ stadium efforts. He acknowledged the complexity of the stadium exploration process, which essentially began in June 2021 when the Bears first entered into a purchase agreement with Churchill Downs Inc. for the Arlington Park land.

“Those discussions, you expect, are going to be thorough,” Goodell told reporters during a news conference. “There are going to be twists and turns through that process. And then you get to the process of having to actually build once you make those decisions. There’s a lot to do.”

Goodell’s wife, Jane Skinner, is a Chicago-area native, an alumna of Lake Forest High School and Northwestern and a Bears fan. So the commissioner has at least some heightened interest in the team’s stadium project.

“I know how important the Bears are to that community,” Goodell said. “Everyone wants the right long-term solution, and those are the types of discussions that are happening.”

Those discussions will take on heightened urgency with Warren sticking to his vow to break ground before this year ends.

“My goal still remains to be able to move dirt around in 2025,” he said. “Which is important because there is a lot of preconstruction work that needs to go into these projects.”

Settling on a site is the next big step. A potential Arlington Heights project may have greater momentum now than the city option.

“Both have their pluses and minuses,” McCaskey said. “Both present fantastic opportunities. And we’ll just have to see how it plays out.”

Tribune reporters Dan Petrella, Olivia Olander and Sean Hammond contributed.