LAS VEGAS — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell avoided picking sides as the Bears weigh the options of building a new stadium in Arlington Heights or Chicago, but said Monday either option would present a “great opportunity” for the Chicago area to host other major events.
Based on the league’s history of awarding Super Bowls to markets that build a new stadium, it’s likely the Chicago area would be in consideration if it had a sparkling new indoor facility. Goodell did not directly address the question of whether that would be likely.
“It’s important to the Chicago Bears and their fans, [and] it’s also important to that community,” Goodell said. “As we’ve seen [in Las Vegas], a great stadium can host additional events. That’s true in Chicago.”
New stadiums usually get one Super Bowl soon after opening, though the league mostly maintains a rotation of warm-weather destinations. Areas like South Florida, New Orleans and Los Angeles, for example, have hosted multiple Super Bowls and will continue to do so, however the NFL also awarded it to Detroit, Minneapolis and New Jersey when new stadiums opened there.
“The domed stadium that they’re talking about, both downtown and potentially in Arlington, those are both great opportunities that they need to explore,” Goodell said.
“The good news is they’ve got quite a bit of time on their lease, [and] the Bears are committed to being in Chicagoland. I talked to the mayor of Chicago [Brandon Johnson] recently, [and] he wants them in the city. Arlington wants them out in Arlington. They’ll be able to develop a proposal that will be good for the fans, but I also think it will be great for Chicago.”
The Bears don’t appear to be ready move on that project anytime soon as they explore a site just south of Soldier Field and the 326-acre lot that used to hold Arlington International Racecourse.
The organization began purchasing the Arlington Heights property in June 2021 and maintained until recently that it prioritized that option. Bears president Kevin Warren left the decision wide open when asked about it last month.
“The priority is to make sure we build a world-class stadium for our fans,” he said. “That stadium is a 40-year decision and we want to make sure we get that right and that we’re very deliberate in our thought process.”
The holdup in Arlington Heights is over property taxes, which opened the door for Chicago to make a play to keep the Bears. Other suburbs have pitched sites as well.
Regardless, the process continues to move slowly, and Warren said his timeline would be for a new stadium to open three years after breaking ground. So unless the Bears make a decision and begin work by August, the soonest they’d have a new stadium would be the 2028 season.
The 2027 season is the next openings for the NFL to award a Super Bowl. The upcoming one is Sunday in Las Vegas, then it will be in New Orleans next season, the San Francisco area at the end of the 2025 season and Southern California at the end of the 2026 season.
The Bears’ lease at Soldier Field, where they have played since 1971, runs through 2033, but they can pay to break that agreement.
