Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Chicago Bears appear to be zeroing in on a site for their new state-of-the-art stadium. According to a report from Capitol Fax, a site dedicated to Illinois politics, the Bears plan to build in Hammond, Indiana.
Capitol Fox reported a text they received from Senator Mark Walker (from Arlington Heights), read “Kevin Warren called to let me know they’re going to Indiana, (not specifically Hammond),” and the site followed up by writing:
Another top legislative
source said Warren told him, “We’re moving forward with the Indiana plan.” When asked what that meant, Warren said, “We’re going to focus on Hammond.”
The Score’s David Haugh also reported that, “The Bears are expected to announce today their board of directors have voted, and they will be focused on Hammond moving forward as the future site of their stadium, two legislative sources said.”
Being “focused” still doesn’t mean a deal has been signed, so until the team makes an actual announcement, I’ll have my doubts.
I never got the sense that Bears team president Kevin Warren was down with the Arlington Heights property, seemingly preferring a lakefront location in Chicago — which has also been all over the news lately — but Indiana has been ready and willing for a while now.
The Hammond location is actually closer to the city of Chicago than the Arlington Heights property, but it’s not in Illinois, and that is sure to piss off some fans, as it will no doubt irk plenty of Illinois politicians.
This could very well be just a ploy to get Illinois lawmakers to call a summer session to hold the vote on the stadium project, but then would the focus shift back to Arlington Heights, or is there a Chicago deal in the works?
And just as I was about to publish this article, the Bears issued a statement from Chairman George H. McCaskey and President & CEO Kevin Warren.
“Yesterday, the Chicago Bears Board of Directors met and voted to advance our stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana, with the exact site to be selected. We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city. It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.”
That still doesn’t specifically say they are building in Hammond, so… (insert shoulder shrug GIF here).
ESPN’s Adam Schefter dropped this nugget in his report on the news.
As one source said, “There is more work to do but barring anything very strange, it’s a done deal.”
And, ESPN’s Courtney Cronin reported this about the situation.
While I’m being told that the Bears announcement on Hammond is “real”, i.e. not a leverage play, a league source told me that the Bears leaving the state is not a done deal. Per source, Indiana is in the lead right now, but “Illinois can still get back in the race,” granted the state has a lot of ground to make up after not passing legislation that would have insured the Bears property tax certainty.
We’ll update this article if any more stadium news breaks today.
What are your thoughts on this latest development?
