The Chicago Bears’ stadium saga remains ongoing, and while the team has said they’re focused on the state of Indiana in their current plans, Illinois officials aren’t throwing in the towel.
After signing a $56 billion budget that didn’t include any funds for a Bears stadium project, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said the ball is in the Bears’ court at the moment when it comes to crafting a stadium deal, saying the state needs to know what the team is seeking in an agreement.
“You can’t just call people together in a room and say ‘go at it,’ because who knows how long that will take. What we need is the Bears to focus on what they want,” he said.
Earlier this month, the Bears announced that they were focusing on identifying a site for a stadium in northwest Indiana after the Illinois General Assembly failed to pass legislation aimed at providing property tax certainty for the Bears at a site in Arlington Heights.
Since then Illinois lawmakers have been asked whether they would consider calling a special session to hammer out parameters of a deal, but House Speaker Chris Welch said the state isn’t feeling a big sense of urgency to do so.
“That statement was very specific about Wolf Point, and the statement that came out in June was very generic that they were ‘looking at sites,’ and that indicates to me they’ve taken a step backwards,” he said.
Still, Indiana lawmakers are feeling bullish about their chances of landing the Bears’ stadium project after their legislature passed a deal that would provide funds to the team for a stadium and infrastructure, largely paid for by a series of sales tax increases, increased tolls, and other policies.
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Pritzker said such an agreement is a nonstarter in Illinois.
“We’re not going to do what Indiana has done which is raise taxes, sales tax, raise tolls on people in order to pay for a stadium for a billionaire-owned team, and instead, we’re going to protect the taxpayers. That’s principle number one,” he said.
Darren Bailey, Pritzker’s Republican opponent in the coming gubernatorial election, says the governor’s projected confidence about the state’s negotiating stance is a bluff, and that he feels it’s clear Indiana is in prime position to land the stadium project.
“You listen to what JB is saying and it’s evident, because he’s basically given up on hope. (You say) ‘call the General Assembly into session,’ and he’s not going to because he knows it’s a done deal,” he said.
Bailey told NBC Chicago’s Mary Ann Ahern he spoke to Indiana Gov. Mike Braun at a recent conference, and that Braun expressed confidence in closing out a deal to land the Bears in Indiana. He told Bailey the state has been planning for a stadium project for years, and that the bill to encourage the Bears to come across the border was based on that extensive planning.
The Bears have indicated they want to make a stadium decision by late spring or early summer, but have not definitively identified a site in Indiana, or signed any agreements to lock into a proposed site.
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