Overview
- The Chicago Bears' board voted in early June to advance a stadium development project focused on Hammond, Indiana, but the team has not selected a final site.
- Illinois officials, including Governor J.B. Pritzker, said they will consider a special legislative session if the Bears deliver a specific proposal that lawmakers can vote on.
- The village of McCook delivered a proposal to Halas Hall for a 150-acre former quarry with a publicly owned, 80,000-seat domed stadium that the village would lease to the Bears for $1 per year to avoid property taxes.
- Indiana leaders expressed optimism about the Hammond plan while critics point to unanswered questions about roughly $1 billion in local infrastructure funding, county-level tax approvals and local resistance in Porter County.
- Key hurdles remain nationwide and local: environmental cleanup, infrastructure upgrades, property-tax treatment, Soldier Field lease terms and final NFL approval, all of which will shape whether the team moves and how nearby residents and taxpayers are affected.