The Indiana legislature’s amended bill for a Chicago Bears stadium project is finally up, and we can start to get a slightly better sense of what it would entail in terms of public costs. Tax expenditures would include: a city of Hammond admissions tax, Lake County and Porter County food and beverage tax surcharges, a Hammond food and beverage tax surcharge, a Lake County hotel tax surcharge, what looks like local income and sales taxes from a stadium district, and state sales taxes from a stadium district. The stadium authority would also own the stadium and lease it to the Bears (terms very much TBD), so it would presumably be exempt from property taxes.
That is a ton of moving parts, needless to say. There being no fiscal analysis attached to the bill to project how much each of these taxes will raise, it’s impossible to determine what the total public price tag would be, though something upwards of $1 billion seems likely given all the revenue streams involved. (WGN calls it $1 billion exactly, not sure where that number comes from, though Indiana house speaker Todd Huston did throw that number around as an estimate yesterday.)
The bill also says that “the stadium board is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the capital improvement upon completion of construction,” which sounds bad, and then two paragraphs later that “the authority has no responsibility to fund the ongoing maintenance and operations of the capital improvement,” which sounds good but also contradictory. (It’s possible this is just dividing up responsibilities between two state agencies, I need to keep going through the bill language to be sure; if so, it’s bad for taxpayers because it could end up a grift that keeps on giving.) Also “the stadium board will retain all revenues from operation of the capital mprovement,” which sounds very good for Indiana but also not likely something the Bears ownership would agree to if it really meant what it sounds like it does. So lots of questions still up in the air, we get another public hearing on this before the full Indiana house and senate votes next week, right? Right? Anyone?
Meanwhile, in other news this week:
- The proposed Tampa Bay Rays stadium development at Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry Campus would include relocating a middle school and some county offices to … somewhere, while the college’s buildings would be rebuilt in a compressed corner of the campus … somehow. The new Tampa Bay Times reporters on this story, one of whom was just promoted from intern and the other just graduated from college last summer, don’t appear to have actually asked anyone with the Rays or with Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office about how this is all expected to work, sure do miss Colleen Wright’s reporting on the Rays stadium saga.
- The Cleveland Guardians and Cavaliers would like some of that sweet state unclaimed funds money that the Browns are using for their new stadium, please, to use for upgrades to their current homes. The state can get right on that just as soon as that little matter of the restraining order against the state using the funds at all is cleared up.
- The estimated $750 million cost of renovations to the Arizona Diamondbacks stadium — which only cost $354 million to build in the first place in 1998, about $700 million in today’s dollars — is now expected to be “much higher,” according to team CEO Derrick Hall. Hall didn’t say exactly how much higher, or whether it will all fall on the state to increase its planned $500 million cut of the costs, or when the D-backs will get around to actually signing a new lease in exchange for the renovations.
- Athletics team execs say $300 million has now been spent on construction of John Fisher’s Las Vegas stadium and $989 million contracted for, out of a total price tag of still figuring that out. This is either the biggest bluff in sports history or the biggest dog-catching-the-car-and-having-to-figure-out-what-to-do-with-it, honestly looking forward to the inevitable cataclysmic denouement either way.
- The waiting to see if the state of Connecticut will provide $127 million to build and MLS Next Pro soccer stadium in Bridgeport is over, and the answer is: Nope, go kick rocks. State Economic Development Commissioner Daniel O’Keefe cited the need to reduce state spending and what the Connecticut Post termed the “mercurial nature of the sports industry,” noting that the Connecticut Sun may be about to move to Houston and the Bridgeport Islanders may be about to move to Hamilton, fool me three times, shame on me. Developers plan to instead use the planned stadium site for a project involving youth sports indoor and outdoor fields, which apparently don’t require hundreds of millions of dollars of state subsidies like pro sports do.
- The video of my interview yesterday on whether Los Angeles should try to renegotiate its 2028 Olympics hosting deal is now up at Alissa Walker’s Torched site, go check it out if you like. Chris Tyler of Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, which commissioned me to do my Olympics report, joined as well, and the three of us spent a solid hour discussing what went wrong and options for trying to fix it — suffice to say that if former L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti’s ears are burning today, this is why.
A few random items I saw that I thought I’d share
FIFA offered a $50 million dollar stadium to Israel, because clearly that’s what they need to achieve peace while rebuilding.
https://apnews.com/article/gaza-trump-fifa-board-of-peace-803fb5c148757873065cc86393175773#
Meanwhile in “Boston” they’re talking about withholding operating licenses for World Cup games because not “all of the terms” have been met….the town applied for federal funding through FEMA to cover the public safety costs, but the status of those dollars remains unclear.
“We don’t know for a fact as it hasn’t been released, but the grant application that we had applied for—about $7.7 million…the town is going to stand behind the request of the $7.7 million for both the manpower and some capital in expense items, and if they aren’t met … the licenses won’t be granted.”
https://www.wpri.com/sports/world-cup/why-foxboro-is-threatening-to-withhold-licenses-for-2026-fifa-world-cup-at-boston-stadium/amp/
More contention with Missouri lawmakers related to the chiefs.
“Arrowhead Stadium’s not owned by the Chiefs, it’s owned by the Jackson County Sports Authority,” said congressman Chad Perkins. “If I were the Jackson County Sports Authority, I’d tell him, get out right now. Just get your stuff and get out now. Go play football at a high school field in Overland Park. I don’t care. Get out. And you can sue me and we can go to court, and I think a Missouri jury might just agree with me right now, right?”
https://www.nj.com/sports/2026/02/lawmaker-wants-to-boot-nfl-team-from-its-stadium-go-play-football-at-a-high-school-field.html
Thanks! The Boston World Cup kerfuffle I did mention in last week’s Friday roundup, but I believe the FEMA application is a new twist:
https://www.fieldofschemes.com/2026/02/13/23672/friday-roundup-friends-dont-let-friends-read-stadium-news-coverage-bears-list-of-places-not-to-move-to-keeps-growing/
I remembered that you noted something about the World Cup, but I didn’t recall this detail
It’s entirely possible that this Hammond turn could end up favoring Chicago and Illinois far more than Indiana and the Bears.
Even with a (potential) move to the southern edge of the metro area, you still get the benefit of the team being associated with Chicago, and the attendant, enduring draw of the city for anyone who’s in town for a game — bearing in mind (sorry) that the percentage of people who “travel” to a home game in Chicago is much lower than the same percentages in places like Vegas, LA, and Florida. In effect, they would still recoup a lot of the benefits of a new stadium without spending so much as a dime on it.
On the flipside, the Hammond site and stadium, should it actually become reality, could easily turn into a monkey’s paw situation for the Bears.
I haven’t delved into the details but it would be funny if the deal for the stadium includes a practice facility to be located in Indiana. Now all the players, coaches, executives have to move to the southern part of the metro area or face excessive commutes.
As Markus points out below, the Bears recently invested heavily in Halas Hall. I assume they even used some of their own money to do so…
So I think it unlikely that they would move even if a better-than-free practice facility was built for them in or around Hammond. Even if that facility happens, however, there is no guarantee that the players or execs would move their families. They make a lot of money and can live pretty much anywhere they want (including in a dorm/free condo at the practice facility 3-4 days a week if that is what is necessary).
It’s just a very long drive from Lake Forest to Indiana.
The Vikings used to have their practice facility in Eden Prairie, all the players lived out there. Their kids created dynasties at Eden Prairie High School.
After the team moved to Eagan at the old Northwest Airlines HQ site- the players moved as well. Most now live in Eagan or Inver Grove Heights. Eden Prairie is about a 30 minute drive.
Yes players are rich and can live anywhere, but most don’t want crummy commutes and across all sports most live within a reasonable distance to their practice facility
Who would possibly want to live in Lake Forest when you can choose between East Chicago, Hammond and Gary?
I wonder how they’d divvy up the parking revenue. Seems like that’s going to be a big deal compared to Soldier Field where so many people take the CTA to the game. Metra goes to Hammond, but not really practical without major capacity expansion, which won’t happen.
Metra doesn’t go to Hammond, or anywhere In Indiana. The South Shore goes between Millennium Station and South Bend, and Millennium Station is a mile from the other Metra downtown stations. The CTA has less than zero incentives to provide shuttles. What a beautiful concept, build a 30,000 space asphalt parking lot that will sit empty 350 days a year.
Since the Bears have now indicated that they are keeping their practice facility in the north suburbs, does that mean that the majority of players’ and coaches income tax is payable to Illinois as that is where they spend the majority of their time working?
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/20/chicago-bears-lake-forest-halas-hall-2/
Bears are amateurs at this. States will also make big concessions for the honor of hosting a practice facility. After they left St. Louis, the Rams even had the option of buying their $25 million practice facility for $1.
No disagreement from me regarding the bears’ being ameteurs. However, I would think the players, coaches, and executives would prefer to keep the practice facilty as close to their lakefront mansions in the north suburbs as possible. Also, rumor is they spent $200 million in 2020 on the Halas hall reno. There might not be an incentive big enough to entice the bears from moving their practice facilty
John Greenberg & Mike Wilbon don’t believe this will happen.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/7058376/2026/02/20/chicago-bears-gary-indiana-stadium-plan-arlington-heights/
Whether the build site is designated in Gary, Hammond, Lafayette or Wabash, I agree with both of them… it is unlikely to happen and, if it does, the Bears will very much regret moving there.
While I think Arlington Heights is a dumb idea in itself, the area holds significantly more people and more wealth than any NW Indiana stadium site would. If that wasn’t a significant factor then they could consider Joliet or Dekalb instead… but it is a highly significant factor.
Arlington Heights is a great location for Bears fans. Metra to the city, Barrington Hills to the west, the North Shore is a quick drive and 53 heads south to Naperville and Hinsdale. Indiana has a much more ingenious plan however. Hobart, Dyer, Crown Point, Chesterton and Lowell are overflowing with luxury box season ticket holders. Maybe the NFL would like to move da Bears to the AFC South to create a rivalry with the Colts, Titans, Texans and Jaguars. Shear brilliance.
Acquiring Arlington Park was not dumb at all. The dumb part is the Chicago Bears don’t want to pay taxes on anything — which puts that NFL enterprise alongside the likes of Amazon.