Bears Stadium
Coverage of the Bears’ efforts to build a new home in the Chicago area.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker needs to stand firm in the face of team’s demands for a new stadium.
El gobernador J.B. Pritzker ha expresado en varias ocasiones su escepticismo sobre los planes de los Bears para el estadio, que incluyen subvenciones públicas. Este miércoles, el equipo se reúne con dos altos funcionarios de Pritzker.
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Not a dollar of taxpayer money went to the renovation of Wrigley Field and its current reinvigorated neighborhood, one reader points out.
In exchange for billions of dollars in public money, the public deserves an ownership stake in the franchises.
The city is willing to put private interests ahead of public benefit and cheer on a wrongheaded effort to build a massive domed stadium — that would be perfect for Arlington Heights — on Chicago’s lakefront.
We all love sports teams, but regular people don’t own the buildings or the land they frolic upon. We just pay homage to the teams — and to the power-laden who own them.
That the Bears can just diesel their way in, Bronko Nagurski-style, and attempt to set a sweeping agenda for the future of one of the world’s most iconic water frontages is more than a bit troubling.
Based on what we’ve seen of the Bears plans so far, and given the lakefront’s civic importance, Mayor Johnson should steer the team to consider other locations in Chicago.
The idea of two new stadiums and public funding should be a nonstarter.
With a “financing partnership” between the two sports teams now in the works, Chicagoans know more about what they might be up against: Two wealthy sports teams joining forces to get huge taxpayer subsidies.
We citizens shouldn’t fall prey to our teams’ brazen financial requests.
There would be bountiful parking that Soldier Field lacks and the neighborhood would remain a sports mecca and home to Chicago’s most popular team.
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The vision laid out by the Bears on Wednesday included detailed renderings of Museum Campus upgrades, including the conversion of Soldier Field to public parkland. But all that work would be paid for by taxpayers, not the team.
The USC quarterback, whom the Bears are expected to pick first in the NFL draft here on Thursday night, was clear that he’s prepared to play in cold temperatures in the NFL.
The plans, according to the team, will include additional green and open space with access to the lakefront and the Museum Campus, which Bears President Kevin Warren called “the most attractive footprint in the world.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker brushed aside the latest proposal, which includes more than $2 billion in private funds but still requires taxpayer subsidies, saying it “isn’t one that I think the taxpayers are interested in getting engaged in.”
Fans said they liked the new amenities and features in the $4.7 billion stadium proposal unveiled Wednesday, although some worried the south lakefront could become even more congested than it is now.
Two additional infrastructure phases that would “maximize the site” and bring “additional opportunities for publicly owned amenities” could bring taxpayers’ tab to $1.5 billion over about five years, according to the team.
The final project would turn the current Soldier Field site into a park-like area, but that wouldn’t necessitate playing home games elsewhere during construction.
The Bears have hired political veteran Andrea Zopp to serve as a senior adviser on their legal team.
Gin Kilgore, acting executive director of Friends of the Parks, is not about to go along with what she called Bears President Kevin Warren’s “Buy now. This deal won’t last” sales pitch.
Frank Bilecki, executive director of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, said the Bears are eyeing the same portion of the hotel tax the White Sox hope to use to fund a new stadium in the South Loop.
The group that blocked George Lucas from building a museum on Soldier Field’s south parking lot says the stadium project could ultimately end up in court — even if filing another lawsuit is “not the first thing you want to do.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson did not commit to spending a specific amount of public money to lakefront infrastructure improvements, but vowed that whatever public money is invested, it must be committed to creating more housing and jobs and “a sustainable, clean economy.”
Proposed referendum on November ballot could face opposition from Mayor Brandon Johnson, but he “should want what the people of Chicago want,” Pat Quinn said.
It was the latest declaration from the Bears that playing downtown — and not on the 326-acre property it bought in Arlington Heights — is their preferred course of action.
As the team shifts focus from Arlington Heights to a new stadium south of Soldier Field, its proposals seek major infrastructure upgrades around the Museum Campus.
The overture comes as the Bears’ focus has shifted from the former Arlington Park racetrack to a domed stadium on Chicago’s lakefront.
One day after the Bears offered to spend $2 billion in private money to help build a publicly owned dome near where Soldier Field sits now, Friends of the Parks board member Fred Bates was not appeased by the team’s sketchy promise to create nearly 20% more open space.
The Bears confirmed they have shifted plans from building a stadium in Arlington Heights to building one at the Museum Campus.
Schroeder, who played for the Bears from 1951-1957, just turned 95. He played under Pro Football Hall-of-Famer and Bears legend George Halas. “He was like a father to me.”
State Rep. Kam Buckner, whose district includes Soldier Field, wants to put public transit in an underutilized busway to make the lakefront more accessible and surround the new stadium with bars, restaurants and a hotel.
“Wouldn’t it be unbelievable for our city if you were to see two amazing facilities for these great sports teams built at once?” said Curt Bailey, president of Related Midwest, which oversees the vacant 62-acre site where the White Sox hope to build.
The Bears’ looming property tax bill of close to $11 million leaves team brass looking elsewhere as they work toward breaking ground on a long-coveted dome.
An expected property tax bill around $11 million is well above what team leaders were hoping to pay as they weigh the possibilities of building a dome either in the suburbs or along Chicago’s lakefront.
Goodell steered clear of picking sides between the sites in Arlington Heights and Chicago, though.
The Bears’ legal team argues the property should be assessed as vacant land. The districts value the property at $160 million; the team values the site at $60 million.
The Bears are still talking to Arlington Heights officials to try to drive down their property tax assessment there. They’ve discussed staying on the lakefront, including building on a parking lot south of Soldier Field.
The Bears’ decision to have a surveyor examine the South Lot of Soldier Field, as a source confirmed Thursday, is the latest instance of the team exploring options for a new stadium outside of Arlington Heights.
The team’s president says the Bears won’t push for the legislation they argue is key to their plans for a massive development in Arlington Heights.
Mayor Johnson has not yet offered an alternative stadium site to the Bears if the team is determined to leave Soldier Field. He says he’s using this time for relationship building.
The team and city will need to work together going forward regardless of the stadium issue, and Warren seems intent on maintaining that relationship.