When lawmakers return to Springfield next week, could there be a deal that would keep the Bears in Illinois? Rep. Kam Buckner said lawmakers are “closer than people realize” to reaching a deal.
“We’ve been in constant conversation with (the Bears). I think I had a half dozen conversations with them last week alone,” said Buckner, D-Chicago. “We understand that they want this done as quickly as possible, and we respect that.”
For months, the Chicago Bears have been seeking a megaprojects bill to move to Arlington Heights. It would offer property tax breaks to large-scale projects like a stadium, but concerns about the legislation have been raised.
“I don’t think any of these issues are insurmountable, but they have to be dealt with directly, because…this is a statewide megaprojects bill, which will have statewide implications,” Buckner said.
An Illinois House committee passed the megaprojects bill in February, but Buckner said he’s reworking the bill to address his Democratic colleagues’ concerns. Those concerns include the timeline around how long the megaproject would have tax certainty, questions about equalized assessed value and the makeup of the board that gets to decide whether a mega project agreement could move forward.
“There’s been questions about whether or not this can be used for places such as data centers and battery farms, right? So I think all of those things are very cogent, very logical questions for people to ask. We’re trying to find solutions to all of them,” Buckner said.
The amended bill would have to go back to committee before the full Illinois House could approve it.
“They should have gotten this done in February. They did not. We’re now ending March, and it’s still not done. They’re really on borrowed time right now,” said stadium consultant Marc Ganis.
Ganis is baffled as to why things are still at a standstill.
“This is such a favorable deal for the state and for Cook County that the only thing that could be holding it up are political considerations,” Ganis added.
Buckner said the Bears have not given him a specific deadline.
Bears CEO Kevin Warren reiterated that in an interview with NBC Sports.
However, Warren also said he’s confident there will be a stadium solution in place by late spring or early summer. He said Arlington Heights and Hammond are on the table, but Chicago is not.
During the Mayor’s Night Out last week, Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott acknowledged the biggest challenge for northwest Indiana is the Bears are giving Illinois a chance to keep the team.
“I’m praying for dysfunction, because if they fall apart, we win, guys, and the Bears are coming to Hammond, Indiana, which is crazy,” McDermott said.
Buckner responded: “There is no dysfunction here. We’re working in a lockstep way, and with all deliberate speed to make this happen, to make sure that we can keep an iconic Illinois franchise here in the state of Illinois.”
Another big sticking point to getting a deal done is Buckner and other Chicago Democrats want Chicago to see some financial benefits before they’ll let the team go to Arlington Heights.
“The Bears and the McCaskey family would prefer to be in Arlington Heights. I know from my personal knowledge. That’s where they prefer to be, but there is no deal there. Until there’s a deal there, there’s not really a choice,” Ganis said.
McDermott said the Bears will lose billions if they don’t choose Indiana, and he believes Illinois can’t match the Hoosiers’ offer. Ganis agreed.
“Illinois cannot match Indiana’s offer. But here’s the beauty of the deal for Illinois: It doesn’t have to. All it has to do is do the basics that Gov. Pritzker said he would be willing to do: infrastructure and property tax certainty. That’s all that’s being asked for by the Bears. That’s why this is so perplexing to those of us in the industry as to why Illinois is still sitting on their hands,” Ganis said.
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