Overview
- On Monday Gov. J.B. Pritzker publicly rebuked Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for what he called a lack of a plan to keep the Bears in the city, and the mayor’s office immediately disputed that characterization.
- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the Bears told owners this week that the team considers only two viable sites, the former Arlington International Racecourse in Arlington Heights and a Wolf Lake site in Hammond, Indiana.
- Indiana has already passed and the governor signed a financing framework that uses ticket, hotel and food taxes to fund incentives while Illinois lawmakers are debating a megaprojects PILOT bill in the Senate before the May 31 adjournment.
- Local leaders around both sites have raised concrete concerns about traffic, stormwater and environmental hazards, and Illinois lawmakers say the Bears have not yet delivered a traffic study needed to plan the roughly $850 million in infrastructure work the team has requested.
- The Bears say they aim to decide by late spring or early summer, a deadline that comes as construction costs rise and the NFL presses for closure, with the choice set to shape taxes, transit and development across the region for decades.