Bears’ $25M offer to help Chicago doesn’t move ball forward in Springfield for new stadium
SPRINGFIELD — Representatives for the Chicago Bears were poised to leave Springfield Thursday yet again without any help from state lawmakers in their drive for a new stadium in Arlington Heights.
Not even a proposed $25 million payment from the team to benefit the city of Chicago was enough to get them past midfield as the clock wound down on the Illinois General Assembly’s fall veto session.
The Bears floated the $25 million payment in a letter circulating among Chicago Democrats who are widely opposed to throwing any blocks to clear the team’s path out of Soldier Field and into a new dome at the site of the old Arlington International Racecourse.
Since closing on the 326-acre suburban parcel in 2023 for $197 million, the team has been shut out in their Springfield push for legislation that would allow them to negotiate a discounted property tax rate in Arlington Heights. Team leaders say they need it to make the $5 billion mixed-use development feasible.
Sources close to the team’s lobbying effort said the $25 million — which would be given to the state for lawmakers to parcel out for projects in Chicago — wasn’t intended to meet Gov. JB Pritzker’s suggestion that the team should find a way to pay off the $534 million in public debt that’s still outstanding from Soldier Field's 2003 renovation.
In the letter, the team asserted it "has paid its contractual share toward the 2003 stadium renovations and has no obligation to repay" the state bonds that are backed by a 2% hotel tax.
The team also told lawmakers that if they move to the suburbs, they would commit to sending $25 million to the city starting in 2028 “to rebuild or improve public parks and playing fields each year in under-resourced Chicago neighborhoods," the letter said.
State Sen. Robert Peters, who’s staunchly opposed to helping the Bears leave his South Side district, said the team’s latest overture didn’t move the needle in the Capitol, where most political oxygen this week was devoted to hammering out a mass transit funding agreement.
“There are thousands of families who are about to lose food access when SNAP benefits expire this weekend. We’re not wasting any time giving breaks to a professional sports team,” Peters said of a franchise valued at $8.9 billion.
Pritzker wasn't overwhelmed by the team's philanthropic offers either, though he has signaled he's open to the type of "megadevelopment" legislation that the Bears are pushing.
"I'm not sure what it's tied to, what they're asking for in return for it. I think if they're donating $25 million to support the people of Chicago or the people of Illinois, that's always a good thing," Pritzker said.
The only Bears-focused legislation to emerge during the veto session came earlier this month from South Side state Rep. Kam Buckner, who filed a bill that would institute a lengthy public review process for any stadium deal, and put teams on the hook for paying back subsidies if they move. Buckner's bill hasn't advanced.
Bears sources said they were encouraged by the direction of Springfield talks, but with construction costs rising and legislative support proving elusive, they might eventually take a closer look at potential stadium sites outside Cook County. Numerous suburbs have courted the team.