Source: Bears shift focus to staying in Chicago

CHICAGO — The Bears are shifting their focus to remain in the City of Chicago with plans to build a new stadium south of Soldier Field, a source familiar with the team’s plan told ESPN.

The news comes nearly 13 months after the Bears closed on the 326-acre property that formerly housed Arlington International Racecourse in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The team signed an agreement in 2021 to purchase the property for $197.2 million but has not begun developing the site that was expected to feature a multibillion-dollar stadium project and include restaurants, retail space and real estate.

The Bears are planning to invest more than $2 billion in private money into a publicly owned domed stadium and park space that would feature year-round community amenities, a source said. Though the team has not released renderings of its proposed lakefront stadium, a source confirmed the location would be immediately south of the current site of Soldier Field and maintain parking in the south lot.

“The Chicago Bears are proud to contribute over $2 billion to build a stadium and improve open spaces for all families, fans and the general public to enjoy in the City of Chicago,” Bears team president and CEO Kevin Warren said in a statement to ESPN. “The future stadium of the Chicago Bears will bring a transformative opportunity to our region — boosting the economy, creating jobs, facilitating mega events and generating millions in tax revenue. We look forward to sharing more information when our plans are finalized.”

Soldier Field is currently the smallest stadium in the NFL, with a capacity of 61,500. The Bears’ plan is to remain there until a new stadium is built, a source said, at which time the current site would be torn down aside from the building’s colonnades. The plan, then, would be to construct parks and athletic fields for public use on the site.

The Bears’ current lease at Soldier Field is set to expire in 2033.

A source said the stadium project will create 20% more space on the museum campus (which encompasses Soldier Field as well as three notable museums) for the public to use year-round, as opposed to solely during Bears home games.

A recent independent poll conducted by McGuire Research surveyed 500 registered voters living in the City of Chicago on several topics related to the construction of a new Bears stadium.

According to results obtained by ESPN, 80% of those polled supported a domed stadium that would host major events throughout the year on the museum campus, while 77% supported the proposed location due to the efforts to keep the Bears in the City of Chicago. The results concluded that more than six in 10 Chicagoans support using public money for a publicly owned stadium.

During a community meeting in September 2022 when the team revealed its plan for the Arlington Park site, chairman George McCaskey said the Bears would “seek no public funding for direct stadium structure construction” but would need assistance to complete the rest of the multibillion-dollar project.

The public component for the proposed lakefront stadium is not yet known.

The Bears began exploring options for a new stadium beyond Arlington Heights last summer when they announced that those plans were “at risk” as negotiations over property taxes reached a $100 million impasse.

“The property’s original assessment at five times the 2021 tax value, and the recent settlement with Churchill Downs [the property’s former owner] for 2022 being three times higher, fails to reflect the property is not operational and not commercially viable in its current state,” the Bears said in a statement in June 2023.

The Bears met with mayors from Naperville and Chicago to explore alternative stadium sites, while Waukegan, a northern Illinois suburb, and Aurora, a suburb 40-plus miles west of Chicago, also pitched the team on building a stadium there.

“I have said all along that meaningful private investment and a strong emphasis on public benefit are my requirements for public-private partnerships in our city,” Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement posted to social media on Monday, “The Chicago Bears’ plans are a welcome step in that direction and a testament to Chicago’s economic vitality.”

Should the Bears succeed in their plan to build a new lakefront stadium, a source indicated the team likely will put the Arlington Park property up for sale.