Overview
- The Illinois General Assembly adjourned early Monday without final passage of a stadium-financing measure after the state Senate approved a late bill to let certain municipalities create stadium authorities but the House did not take it up.
- Lawmakers abandoned an earlier PILOT-style property tax plan after Senate negotiators concluded it lacked votes, prompting a shift to a municipal ownership model that never reached a House vote before adjournment.
- Under the municipal-authority concept the stadium and land would be publicly owned so the Bears would avoid property taxes while privately financing construction, with the team still expected to pay taxes on surrounding mixed-use development.
- The Bears said they remain actively evaluating Arlington Heights and Hammond and expect to decide on a site on their late spring to early summer timeline, keeping an Indiana move a near-term possibility.
- Indiana has already approved roughly $1 billion in state-backed support for Hammond, and Illinois leaders would need a special session or fall action to revive a competing plan, a path that faces higher voting thresholds and political resistance over public costs.