Pritzker open to special legislative session to try and keep Bears in Illinois – Sports Business Journal

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday “opened the door to holding a special session of the General Assembly this summer to help keep” the Bears in the state as the team moves ahead with plans for a stadium in Indiana, according to Olivia Olander of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Pritzker “put the onus on Bears leadership to be part of any such effort” following a recently completed spring legislative session that saw two plans aimed at encouraging the team to build a new stadium in state “get shot down.” Pritzker said, “They’ve got to figure out how they can get the legislature, both sides, around the same bill, and I would be happy to call a special session.” Olander noted the Illinois House and Senate each passed different bills that created paths for the Bears to build a new stadium in Illinois, but “neither passed the other chamber.” Pritzker also “defended himself against criticism he had not been present enough in Springfield to help steer the talks during the legislative session.” Pritzker: “I put together the deal to start with, to make sure that we knew all things — the Bears didn’t come with a list. It was all the things that they said, but didn’t have a plan around, we put a plan together” (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/9).

STILL HAVE HOPE: In Chicago, Mitchell Armentrout noted Pritzker “downplayed the team’s latest public posturing” and “held out hope that they’ll stay in their home state.” Pritzker said, “They haven’t decided even on a location in Indiana. And the one principal location they’ve been focused on is one that has a lot of toxic waste and other things that they’ve got to remediate, so none of that is going to happen quickly.” Illinois House Speaker Emanuel Welch and state Senate President Don Harmon have said that Bears conversations “will continue over the summer, but neither has called for a special session” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 6/9). In Chicago, Christopher Placek noted Pritzker has “received calls from Bears officials and believes there’s still time to prevent the NFL club from crossing the state line, especially since the team hasn’t yet selected an exact site.” Pritzker: “I love the Chicago Bears. I want them to be in Illinois, and I have worked very hard to try to keep them in Illinois. I think that they’ve got to make sure that they know what it is that they want and stick to the message” (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 6/9).

HAPPY TO STEP IN: In Indianapolis, Gregg Doyel writes in a “perfect world, the Chicago Bears stay the Chicago Bears.” But if Chicago is “careless enough to drop an NFL franchise, Indiana should lean over and pick it up.” For Northwest Indiana, an NFL franchise would be a “modern-day miracle.” The Wolf Lake area in Hammond, Ind., is less than 20 miles from Soldier Field, while the Arlington Heights site in Illinois is nearly twice as far away. Doyel: “Makes sense, really, that if the Bears can’t stay in Chicago, they’d head a few miles south to the adjacent city, and state, eager to do business” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 6/10).