(Bloomberg) — The battle to lure the Chicago Bears is heating up as lawmakers in their home state of Illinois voted in favor of a measure that could pave the way for the team to build a new suburban stadium.
The move by a key committee in the state house comes after neighboring Indiana marched ahead with plans to snatch the team, one of the National Football League’s founding franchises. Illinois had so far made little progress on approving incentives the team has sought to build the stadium in Arlington Heights, an affluent suburb about 26 miles from downtown Chicago.
The Bears have been trying to secure a new home for the past four years, having gone back and forth between a new lakefront facility in Chicago or one in Arlington Heights. Without the funds it needed from Illinois, the team expanded the search to Indiana, selecting a site for the new stadium in the city of Hammond, just over the state border.
The team currently plays in Chicago’s Soldier Field, the NFL’s oldest and smallest stadium, capping revenue from ticket sales. Built in 1924, the facility doesn’t have a roof to shield players and fans from the weather and its last renovation was finished in 2003. The Bears have proposed a covered stadium, in hopes of hosting a Super Bowl.
The proposed $3 billion stadium in Arlington Heights requires Illinois to provide more than $850 million in public infrastructure funding and pass legislation that would freeze the site’s property-tax assessment, according to an economic study commissioned by the Bears.
A so-called mega-project bill, which would apply statewide and allow municipalities to negotiate property taxes for projects, was adjusted and got a green light in the revenue and finance committee on Thursday after an earlier version languished in the chamber for months, potentially paving the way for a full vote in the state house.
Earlier this week, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who has repeatedly said the Bears needed to show “tangible benefit to taxpayers” to gain state support, softened his tone.
“I’m a Chicago Bears fan and believe very much they ought to be based in Illinois,” he told reporters on Monday. “I’m going to do everything I can without harming taxpayers.”
Indiana is planning to offer the Bears more than $1 billion in infrastructure and bonds for the new stadium. The state house has approved setting up a new stadium authority to enable borrowing for the project and Indiana Senate is expected to vote on the plan Thursday.
The measure has swiftly advanced in the state in less than three months. If approved by the state senate, the bill will then head to Indiana Governor Mike Braun. Whether the stadium is built in Indiana or Illinois, the Bears have said the owners would invest $2 billion to make their covered dream a reality.
In Illinois, the campaign to keep the Bears at home is growing. Former Governor Pat Quinn is circulating an online petition for Bears fans to sign to encourage the team to stay in the state and a billboard placed by the main highway connecting Chicago to neighboring states reads: “The pride and joy of Illinois, Chicago Bears! #stayinchicago.”
“The Bears, in making a decision on this, should understand this isn’t a short-term money decision,” Quinn said at a press conference outside Soldier Field in front of a statue of the team’s founder George Halas. “It’s a long-term loyalty decision, it’s the people who have built this franchise by coming to the game, supporting the team, they deserve to have the Chicago Bears right here in the state of Illinois.”
–With assistance from Randall Williams.
