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Posted on 06/05/2026 10:33:48 AM PDT by nickcarraway
The Bears took a significant step toward leaving Illinois on Friday.
The Bears' board of directors voted Thursday to advance their stadium development in Hammond, Indiana, with the exact site still to be determined. This is this first time that the Bears' board has voted on any stadium site.
The Bears' plans to leave the state they've called home since their inception for Indiana come just days after the end of Illinois' spring legislative session.
"We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana and the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across the neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city," Bears chairman George H. McCaskey and CEO Kevin Warren said in a statement.
The Bears' announcement Friday does not guarantee the team will leave Illinois. Per a league source, while Indiana is "in the lead" to lure the Bears across state lines to build a domed stadium, "Illinois can still get back in the race," the source said.
"The club has kept the stadium committee and league office apprised of all developments," NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told ESPN
After the "megaprojects" bill -- a proposal that would have allowed the Bears to negotiate payments in lieu of paying property taxes on the Arlington Heights, Illinois, property they currently own -- died in the Illinois senate last weekend, a late push was made with alternative legislation.
At 11 p.m. Sunday, Illinois state Senator Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) introduced new legislation that would allow Cook County cities with more than 70,000 residents (like Arlington Heights and Chicago) to create their own sports stadium authority. The Bears would pay for the construction of the new stadium, which the franchise has dedicated $2 billion in funding toward, and the land would be publicly owned.
The new bill passed the Illinois Senate 37-17 at 3:39 a.m. on Monday. The House adjourned after 4:30 a.m. without taking a vote.
The Bears currently own a 326-acre property on the former site of the Arlington International Racecourse, which the team purchased in 2021.
The team has maintained that they cannot build a stadium without property tax certainty, which Indiana passed legislation to ensure in February.
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OK, enough time has passed.
From Wikipedia:
In 1901, O’Brien bought used maroon uniforms from the University of Chicago, the colors of which had by then faded, leading O’Brien to exclaim, “That’s not maroon; it’s cardinal red!” It was then that the team changed its name to the “Racine Street Cardinals”
It sure looked that was for quite a while- and as you say, might still be the Bears raising the ante.
But what if the Bears were offered a deal they just couldn't refuse? How different would a commute to a Hammond stadium for Bears fans differ from the New York fans who go to New Jersey for games?
It's possible that Indiana looks at this as an opening salvo in poaching a lot of Illinoisans unhappy with their high taxes? This could truly transform NW Indiana, which has been regarded as nothing more than an industrial site forever.
Also, his first professional football contract was with a team in Hammond, the Hammond All Stars.
Hammond Eggs
Read the article. They are paying for it themselves. They want property tax assurances and the state refused.
The Indiana Yogi’s...has a nice ring to it.
I agree. Indiana just cannot match the political power, pressure, money and clout of the crooked politicians in Crook County and Illinois. It’s not even close.
I live about a mile from the site. I haven’t seen what they plan to do there, but it is hard to imagine how they are going to fit everything in. I like Wolf Lake and the open space around there and I hope they provide a way to preserve some of the area for quiet human recreation and a home for the considerable amount of wildlife that lives there or, in the case of bird migrations, passes through. I am not against the Bears coming to Hammond, but I wish they had a different parcel of land to build on.
Some of the players may find themselves singing, “Indiana wants me, Lord I can’t go back there....”
Damn DEmocrats! Especially RINOs!
(there, fixed it for you!)
You are SOOOO right!
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