More Details On Why Chicago Bears Stadium Talks Have Stalled

The Chicago Bears are far from boring these days. Their team has embarked on a rebuild. This off-season saw them trade the #1 overall pick for only the third time since 2000. GM Ryan Poles completely revamped the trenches on both sides of the ball and added a true #1 receiver in D.J. Moore. Amidst such madness, it became easy to forget that drama unfolded on the business side of things. Everybody knows the organization is hoping to construct a brand new stadium so they can finally leave Soldier Field.

Plans for the past several months were for them to bulldoze the Arlington Park property they’d purchased and build an entire destination across its 326 acres. However, things took an unexpected twist when talks with state politicians hit a roadblock, causing team president Kevin Warren to begin meeting with mayors from other local towns about hosting the Bears. All of this stems from Illinois’ governing body not wanting to give any public funding for a new stadium. Why? Robert McCoppin of the Chicago Tribune got answers from a top economics specialist.

Public funding persists despite robust evidence that stadiums do not spur significant economic development, the study found.

“Our findings were clear: Professional sports had no positive impact on an area’s economy, and actually harmed residents’ per capita incomes,” University of Maryland economics professor Dennis Coates wrote.

This is not something the Bears were shocked about.

They knew it was likely public funding was a longshot. What they had hoped for instead was to get special incentives on property taxes to ease the financial burden. Here are details about what’s happening.

Chicago lawmakers are unlikely to support any subsidy for the team to leave the city, and since the move would be within Illinois, state lawmakers outside of the suburbs would likely need some incentive.

One proposal would create a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, program, which would allow the team to negotiate its future property taxes with the school districts and other public bodies involved. But a bill to that effect stalled in Springfield, as negotiations between the team and schools hit an impasse. Municipalities like Arlington Heights still could create a special tax district that would help fund the Bears’ plan.

The Chicago Bears are willing to be flexible but not bullied.

That is why Warren decided to begin talks with cities like Naperville and Waukegan about potential properties. There is a reasonable possibility one of those counties would be more lenient on tax incentives. If things were to swing in that direction, it could become the first time the Bears haven’t played in Cook County since they were the Decatur Staleys in the 1920s. It would be a shame if things ended this way after such a long and fruitful relationship. Sadly, that is the price of doing business.

Warren has a reputation for getting things done. He won’t be deterred by these stalling tactics. The new Chicago Bears president has seen them before. He’s familiar with Illinois politics from his time as an NFL agent and later commissioner of the Big Ten. High-profile negotiations have been part of his resume for years. It’s why the organization hired him in the first place. The McCaskeys are letting him run the show, as they should. He will find a deal that works for them, even if it doesn’t come from Arlington Heights.