While Indiana and Illinois lawmakers duke it out to convince the Chicago Bears to build their new stadium in their state, Mayor Brandon Johnson wants a seat at the table.
Johnson has continued calling for the Bears to construct their new stadium on Chicago’s lakefront, staying on the Museum Campus that they have called home for more than 50 years.
He echoed those calls again this week as he pushes for the team to take the possibility of staying within Chicago city limits seriously.
“We had an entire press conference, with a proposal on the lakefront two years ago,” he said. “How do you have an entire proposal with the Bears, with the city of Chicago, with labor, with the notion that somehow the greatest, the most fruitful, economic viable prime real estate anywhere in the state, anywhere in the region is somehow not suited for world affairs?”
Of course, the entire focus of the whole stadium debate is on two sites, neither of which are in Chicago. The first is in Hammond near Wolf Lake, where Indiana lawmakers are pitching that the Bears build their new indoor stadium.
The other is the site of the former Arlington International Racecourse in Arlington Heights, which the Bears purchased for nearly $200 million with the intent of building a stadium at the location.
That site however is contingent upon the Bears reaching an accord with Illinois lawmakers on several key issues. The team is requesting a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement which would lock in their property tax rates that they pay at the Arlington Heights site. They are also seeking assistance with infrastructure improvements around the stadium, pledging to pay for the construction of that stadium from their own funds.
Illinois lawmakers advanced the PILOT bill out of a House committee last week, but there is no word on when the full House will take up the measure, as some lawmakers from Chicago are pushing back on an incentives package that would take the team out of the city for the first time since the 1920s.
With that uncertainty, Indiana lawmakers have sought to throw their hats into the ring, passing a massive $1 billion incentives package to try to encourage the team to build a stadium near Wolf Lake in Hammond.
Gov. Mike Braun signed the legislation before the legislature adjourned last week, and he remains confident the state has put its best foot forward.
“They’re now looking in Indiana as a place to actually bring that franchise. No new news to report on it but great headway,” he said. “And the fact that they’re even considering coming to Hammond versus keeping it in their own state says a lot about what we’re going to try to do to tell everyone that Indiana’s a place, move your business, we’re open for business.”
The Bears were complimentary of Indiana’s efforts, but have not committed to one site over the other as negotiations continue. Illinois’ General Assembly is currently in recess through the primary election on March 17, then will continue its session through the end of May.
It’s unclear just how long the Bears will be willing to wait for lawmakers to reach a deal in Springfield, and all the while the Indiana offer remains on the table to tempt the team into moving to the Hoosier State.
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