Six weeks after saying their stadium focus “now is both downtown and Arlington Heights,” Chicago Bears execs issued a statement Friday saying their focus is now solely Arlington Heights … sorta kinda:
“Over the last few months, we have made significant progress with the leaders in Arlington Heights, and look forward to continuing to work with state and local leaders on making a transformative economic development project for the region a reality.”
That appears to be the entire statement, though the Chicago Tribune also said Bears ownership 1) said they won’t seek state funding for an Arlington Heights stadium, 2) are “likely” to seek state funding for “infrastructure,” and 3) are expected to ask the Illinois legislature to declare the stadium a “megaproject,” which under proposed legislation would freeze property taxes at the site at current levels, and so would function exactly the same as a TIF that kicked back future tax increases to the team. Neither the Bears statement nor the Tribune estimated the total public cost of the infrastructure funding or tax breaks, so use your imagination here.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office, meanwhile, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the Bears owners “intend to prioritize” Arlington Heights but “the door remains open” in Chicago, while state Rep. Kam Buckner, who had previously backed state legislation to help fund a Bears stadium, angrily denounced the pivot back to Arlington Heights and accused Bears president Kevin Warren of “trying to marry one city and date the other.” (Buckner also called the situation “the boy who cried, ‘Bear.’” Move over, Alicia Reece, there’s a new dadaist poet in town.)
So are Bears execs really turning their focus back to Arlington Heights after getting nowhere with demands for more than $2 billion in subsidies for a Chicago stadium? Or is this just another feint to try to shake loose more money for a Chicago stadium? As is so often the case, it can be both — there’s nothing stopping Warren from focusing exclusively on Arlington Heights until he thinks he smells a chance of something better elsewhere, as he’s already done once. It seems unlikely that anything is going to get decided in the last two weeks of this spring’s legislative session, but that’s not going to stop team owners from throwing stuff at the wall in hopes that something sticks.
ADDENDUM: Apologies for leaving out the most important news, which is that if Arlington Heights is back in play, then so are the monstrous bear statues. Please enjoy some now:
Is there an “artist rendition” of what that park will look like the day after 60,000 people pass through it on the way to a Bears game?
Shouldn’t the family just sell now that the matriarch has passed?
Let’s say the state, village, county combine for $500 billion in subsidies. This Arlington Heights domed stadium seems like it would cost $2+ billion. Seems like a lot of upfront costs for something that big picture doesn’t increase the value of the team by a whole lot.
They could sell the team with the current stadium situation for $7-8 billion and be done with it.
Where in that vaportecture is a stadium?
“You guys, I think we forgot something…”
That site plan contains too many non revenue generating acres. Lots of office buildings the market doesn’t need. Unnecessary man made ponds. Reminds me of the Sears Hoffman Estates site (now being demolished). That site is prime for distribution facilities on highway 53 side, medium density housing on the Metra side. And a sea of parking lots for the stadium. The lots can be developed later depending on the market. Much like the lots around the United Center.
This is why I kinda question why this is a good investment from the McCaskeys. There’s not really an opportunity for major real estate development around the stadium. The area isn’t hurting for more retail or office space. You’re better off selling to a developer who can build housing then taking up space with a mostly unused stadium. There’s not enough Taylor swift level acts to make it a year round destination.
Just sell the team now for $7-8 billion, give the new owner somekind of option for the Arlington heights site. By the time anything has shovels in the ground there or in the city or in northern Indiana who knows what the cost will actually be!
Of course a new owner would also need $3 to $4 billion to build a stadium, after dropping $7 billion to buy the team. Not sure how many billionaires have $10 billion dollars for that kind of vanity expense. Maybe that’s why the NFL is talking to foreign sovereign wealth funds.
Yeah I would assume any NFL sale from now on will be coming from a sovereign wealth fund or corporate entity. It doesn’t make much sense for individual owners, let alone these cash poor old school families like the McCaskeys, Rooneys, Adams, or Bidwells to be in charge anymore