Add Waukegan to the list of suburbs looking to intercept the Chicago Bears on their drive for a new stadium.
Ten days after the team announced the $197.2 million parcel it bought in Arlington Heights was no longer its “singular focus” for a multibillion dollar new home, Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor on Monday pitched Bears president Kevin Warren on her lakeside city’s “opportunities, advantages and history with the Bears organization.”
“Our City’s staff and I invite you and your leadership team to come to Waukegan to learn about the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity our City can offer the Bears,” Taylor told team brass in a letter released by city officials Tuesday.
“We believe that the Monsters of the Midway deserve the opportunity to continue the tradition of playing along the shores of Lake Michigan, with the market opportunity of having a year-round facility capable of hosting other major events, including the Super Bowl, the Final Four, and other events of an international scale.”
It would be a coup for the industrial city 50 miles north of Soldier Field, which has been floated as a potential destination during past rumination about relocating the team over the last few decades.
A Bears spokesman declined to comment on Taylor’s letter, but reiterated the team’s position that it has a “responsibility to listen to other municipalities in Chicagoland about potential locations that can deliver on this transformational opportunity for our fans, our club and the state of Illinois.”
Waukegan’s pitch follows that of Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli, who threw a west suburban hat in the ring this month when the Bears announced a high property tax assessment on the former Arlington International Racecourse property had put its northwest suburban vision “at risk.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has also opened discussions to keep the namesake team, though alternate sites within the city seem like a long shot. The team has made clear that it wants out of Soldier Field, the NFL’s smallest stadium, where it’s under lease through 2033, and into a multibillion dollar stadium complex the team owns.
Arlington Heights remains the only destination where a concrete proposal has been floated — and the only place where the team has spent any money. The team released lofty renderings last year of the massive, multiuse development it envisioned for the 326 acres it now owns, with a stadium surrounded by commercial districts and residential units.
While the team is facing pushback from Arlington Heights school districts and other nearby suburbs that don’t want the Bears tax assessment lowered, Waukegan could be seen as a more inviting destination — and just as eager for the economic jolt. The city of roughly 89,000 has seen thousands of manufacturing jobs disappear in the last few decades.
Taylor pointed out Waukegan’s easy access to Interstate 94, U.S. Route 41 and Metra’s UP-North Line, plus its own airport. And it’s about a 20-minute drive from the team’s training center in Lake Forest.
The mayor said Waukegan “has multiple large parcels … that could be developed into both the state-of-the-art stadium and [the] entertainment district the team has publicly expressed interest in building.”
“Our working class and diverse community is as tough as the 1985 Super Bowl-winning Bears, and our leadership team at Waukegan City Hall is as aggressive as Justin Fields running the ball downfield when it comes to creating economic opportunities for our City, our residents, and the region at large,” Taylor wrote.
Waukegan served as the team’s winter training facility in the early 1990s. Many players have lived across Lake County, while “some members of the Bears organization currently live in my neighborhood in Waukegan,” Taylor said.
