Everybody pointing fingers over Bears’ move to wherever they eventually end up moving

There have been no new actual developments in the Chicago Bears stadium situation — Indiana has passed a bill that could funnel as much as $4 billion in public subsidies to a new building in Hammond, while Illinois continues to debate whether to ladle state infrastructure spending on top of what could be $2 billion in property tax breaks — but we’re seeing tons of attempts to spin the narrative as people in both states react with “Wait, the Bears might really move to Indiana?” and “Billion with a ‘b’?”

• The Bears will absolutely totally definitely move to Indiana if Illinois doesn’t approve its own stadium subsidy deal in Arlington Heights by the end of this month, according to Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia. He thinks: “Waiting until the end of May I think is a no go for the Bears,” Tinaglia said during his first annual state of the village address. Tinaglia added that he expects the Illinois legislature to act quickly following tomorrow’s primary elections, once “there’s not so much pressure on that political process” — which may sound like he’s saying that state lawmakers are ducking a decision until they can be sure voters can’t punish them for their votes, but, okay, that probably is exactly what he’s saying.
• Sports Mockery read those same comments by Tinaglia and concluded that “nostalgia — not money — sparked resistance to the Chicago Bears stadium bill,” noting that the Arlington Heights mayor blamed state legislators from Chicago for opposing a stadium funding bill because they wanted to try to keep the team within city limits. Though then the site blames Gov. JB Pritzker for having “only fanned the flames by making it clear the state would give no public money to the organization in any stadium endeavor,” so maybe it was about money, actually? Anyway, Sports Mockery is mad that Illinois didn’t give money to the Bears owners before Indiana offered money to the Bears owners, that’s a take.
• “Visitors, not residents, might shoulder taxes under Bears’ Hammond stadium plan,” reads the headline on an Indianapolis Star video in which state representative Earl Harris says, “Most people say they think our taxes are all going to increase, which is inaccurate,” and “When you look at the taxes, all of us aren’t going to be taxed, it’s really going to be focused on people that use the amenities.” But those are taxes that would normally go to the state treasury if Indiana residents spent them elsewhere, so giving them to the Bears owners would leave a hole in state finances — congratulations, it’s the Casino Night Fallacy! According to the site’s RSS feed, this video was originally titled “Visitors, not residents, would shoulder taxes under Bears’ Hammond stadium plan” before “would” was changed to “might,” so at least somebody on the Indy Star edit desk had second thoughts about whether just because a co-sponsor of the stadium bill says it won’t cost anything means that’s actually true.

Bears execs, meanwhile, still haven’t committed to one state or the other, with their most recent statement remaining one from team president Kevin Warren after last month’s Indiana vote saying “we continue to work with Illinois’ leadership and appreciate the progress being made.” There’s really nothing stopping Warren and the rest of his management team from waiting this out until May if they want — though if at the same time they can send signals that the clock is ticking and Illinois needs to get a deal done in March, all the better to create leverage. That legislators in both states are falling for this gambit when it’s the same playbook item that’s been used for 30 years is … yeah, 🤦 is right.