After Illinois lawmakers failed to pass legislation to help the Chicago Bears move to Arlington Heights, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson welcomed a new proposal as an opening to reconsider Chicago as the site for a new Bears stadium.
Johnson voiced tentative support for efforts that would allow municipalities in Cook County with populations of more than 70,000, including Chicago and Arlington Heights, to create a stadium authority that would let the Bears pay to build the stadium, but make it publicly owned so it would avoid paying property taxes.
“I appreciate the bill’s proponents and their acknowledgment of the value of public stadium ownership and their desire to create a pathway for a new Chicago stadium,” Johnson said in a statement Monday morning. “While questions remained about the legislation’s design, legislators ultimately reached the same conclusion the City reached in 2024: the strongest proposal for a new stadium centers public ownership, the use of a sports authority and a commitment to public infrastructure.”
During a news conference later Monday, he argued the Springfield outcome was proof that Chicago has “the only viable plan” for an Illinois stadium. Speaking to reporters at City Hall, he took credit for the stadium authority proposal.
“They didn’t just pull that framework out of thin air. They received that framework from our proposal,” he said. “So there is clear indication that they recognize what we have been saying for two years: public benefit, public use.”
When pressed, Johnson did not call for a special legislative session this summer and instead deferred to Gov. JB Pritzker and legislators. He also presented no ideas on how the city can better entice the team to build near the lakefront.
Instead, the mayor offered more of the same plan he has stuck with for two years, promising to “remain steady” in his support for a Chicago stadium. He called on the team, governor and legislators to have substantive conversations and give a Chicago stadium “a fair shake” and added that his “door is always open.”
“Something of this magnitude is going to require all of us, right? I mean, the lift on this assignment, we can’t do this by ourselves,” he said.
Johnson continued to criticize the Arlington Heights plan, saying it lacked a traffic study and involved underestimated infrastructure costs, but stayed largely quiet on the proposal to build a stadium in Hammond, Indiana, which he said lacks an environmental study.
The legislative proposal Johnson referred to was introduced in the waning hours of the spring legislative session, which technically ended Sunday night. Its introduction came after lawmakers’ failure to pass a proposal to let sponsors of “megaprojects” such as the Bears to negotiate long-term property tax breaks with local taxing bodies. The Senate approved the measure around 4 a.m. Monday, but the House declined to act on it, with members saying it was too rushed.
In 2024, Johnson and the Bears proposed replacing the team’s current home at Soldier Field with a new stadium that would have cost at least $1 billion in public borrowing plus $1.5 billion for infrastructure. The plan went nowhere after Pritzker said he would not have taxpayers pay to help build a stadium for a multibillion-dollar team, a move applauded by tax watchdog groups.
This spring, Johnson had again lobbied to reconsider a city location, but Gov. Pritzker said the mayor had “no plan” to do so. Lawmakers said Johnson’s intervention was a factor in holding up the megaprojects legislation. Johnson suggested the outcome vindicated his approach.
“Chicago’s 2024 plan relied on the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority and its existing 2% hotel tax to fund public infrastructure, a model that reflects the same principles the legislature ultimately centered in its framework,” the mayor said.
The hotel tax is used to pay for the 2003 renovation of Soldier Field, but has not been enough in recent years, forcing the city to pay millions of dollars more. Soldier Field doesn’t pay property taxes because it is publicly owned.
In Arlington Heights, Mayor Jim Tinaglia said officials were “truly disappointed” at the failure to pass any Bears legislation “yet again.”
“While this outcome is not what many had hoped for, the Arlington Park property remains one of the largest and most important redevelopment opportunities with long-term potential for our community, the region, and the entire State of Illinois,” Tinaglia said in a statement.
“Although we recognize that these discussions are complex and involve many stakeholders, this is clearly a fumble for the State of Illinois,” he said. “My commitment to the residents and businesses of Arlington Heights is unwavering, and we will continue to represent the interests of our community as future opportunities and next steps are considered.”
Tinaglia said the village remains committed to thoughtful planning, community engagement and discussions of the Bears project.
Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott said Illinois’ inaction would bode well for Hammond’s plan for a Bears stadium.
“I am optimistic for Hammond. We were given a deadline. Illinois was given the same deadline. We reached our deadline. … Illinois couldn’t,” McDermott said. “The Bears are going to huddle … and evaluate the offer. There were supposed to be offers, but now they have one.”
The Bears have to be feeling frustrated with Illinois after so many years of inaction on a new stadium, McDermott said.
McDermott said he believes the Bears will reach a decision by the end of June on where to move the stadium. “If we don’t know by July 1, that’s not a positive sign,” McDermott said.
Fans hoping the Bears would move to Arlington Heights were crestfallen Monday after state lawmakers failed to act.
“We failed to put anything on the table,” said Ernest Rose, member of the steering committee of Touchdown Arlington, the fan club hoping to bring the team to Arlington Heights. “This crisis was created in Springfield.”
“The idea that we couldn’t get it done because we ran out of time is a failure of House leadership,” Rose said. “Now it becomes a question of whether the Bears are willing to move to Indiana, because we’ve given them nothing. If it’s a bluff, we’ve called it.”
The Bears first proposed buying the former Arlington International Racecourse in June 2021, almost five years ago, and proposed building an enclosed stadium there after they bought the site in 2023. But legislative leaders said it wasn’t a priority — until Indiana lawmakers this year quickly put together a deal to build a stadium in Hammond.
Good Jobs First, a nonprofit policy group in Washington, D.C., that advocates for job development and is against corporate tax subsidies, said it was relieved by the lack of a Bears deal in Illinois.
The megaprojects bill would have had much broader consequences than for the Bears, extending tax breaks to any development worth more than $100 billion. Property taxes not paid by a megaproject developer could be shifted to other taxpayers, Good Jobs First warned.
While megaproject revenue generated likely would be more than currently paid, in many cases it might happen anyway without tax breaks, research analyst Kristan Karinen said. The Bears site, for instance, 326 acres of vacant land next to a Metra commuter train stop near I-90 and Route 53, is prime for development with or without the Bears.
Because the Bears want to own their stadium to receive all the revenues from naming rights, seat licenses, and other sources, Karinen said a publicly owned stadium proposal doesn’t seem to fit what the Bears were looking for.
“Ultimately, it isn’t a good idea to allow a billionaire corporation to build and profit from a stadium without paying property taxes on it,” she said.
The team issued a statement Monday that it will “finalize our evaluation of both Arlington Heights and Hammond, and remain on the late spring/early summer timeline that we have previously communicated.”
Inaction by Illinois lawmakers puts Indiana in the driver’s seat, said Indiana state Rep. Earl Harris Jr.
“That puts Indiana in a great place,” he said. “The Illinois legislature did not get a bill passed, which means we are the only ones who have a real offer on the table.”
With the Bears pleading to put $2 billion into the Hammond project, Harris remained confident Indiana would be able to pay for the remaining proposed $1 billion in estimated expenses through a proposed 1% sales and beverage tax in Lake and Porter counties, 5% hotel tax in Lake County, a sports development area and a 12% admissions tax — similar to financing for Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
“Indiana does this very well,” he said. “We have a history.”
Rose said it shouldn’t have been a surprise that House Democrats from Chicago opposed giving the team special breaks without getting something in return. He hopes that leaders like House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Senate President Don Harmon can put together a framework over the summer to make the Bears confident that legislation will pass in the fall session.
“But,” Rose said, “it’s not looking promising.”
