While Illinois lawmakers debate a bill meant to keep the Chicago Bears in Illinois, officials in Hammond, Indiana, have been patiently waiting in the wings.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott said he’s both optimistic and nervous.
“We’re competing against nostalgia. Even the Bears’ fight song is ‘the pride and joy of Illinois,'” McDermott said. “If the Bears do stay in Illinois, it’s not because Indiana didn’t make a good offer. It’s because of nostalgic purposes.”
McDermott met with NBC Chicago at Lost Marsh Golf Club exactly one week after his meeting there with Bears chairman George McCaskey and CEO Kevin Warren. The golf course is close to Wolf Lake, and the surrounding area is the potential stadium site.
“I look at this area, and I see a stadium. I see what we’ve been calling ‘Bearsville,’ which is sort of like you see around Wrigley Field…an area of town that’s devoted to the Bears and all about the Bears. Restaurants, hotels,” McDermott said.
This week, the Illinois House passed a megaprojects bill, which would give the Bears property tax breaks if they moved to Arlington Heights. McDermott said he has texted with the Bears executives since then.
On Friday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state Senate needs to move “somewhat expeditiously” to pass the megaprojects bill. The team wasn’t fully supportive of the version of the bill passed by the House, so Pritzker said the Senate will have to amend the measure.
For example, the Bears were not on board with the 9% amusement tax on the area around the stadium.
The NFL owners are meeting next week, and they will be seeking an update on where things stand with the stadium. The NFL is giving around $700 million to the team for the project, and the league is growing frustrated with how long the process has taken.
Pritzker acknowledged the pressure that adds, with Indiana still in the mix.
“If there is not true progress that gets made, if it isn’t obvious to people that the Senate is moving in the right direction, I think that will make it challenging (for Illinois) but we’re all working together. I think the Bears want to be in Illinois. I think that’s really what their choice would be if we can put a bill forward that makes sense,” Pritzker said.
Sen. Bill Cunningham, the bill’s Senate sponsor, told NBC Chicago, “I don’t expect to have a Senate game plan formulated until sometime late next week after we’ve had a chance to get together in Springfield to talk things over.”
McDermott doesn’t deny the Bears are giving Illinois lawmakers a chance to reach a deal before their session ends at the end of May, but he responded to those questioning whether Indiana is being used as a pawn.
“Indiana made a great offer, and we’re being seriously considered. I know for a fact we’re not being played. I don’t know how much the Bears have spent to get to this point in Indiana (but) I bet it’s $10 million, at least,” he said.
The team has carefully considered utilities, including the water, power and sanitary infrastructure, and whether the Hammond site could support a stadium.
“There’s a lot of people that are working on this project. This is not a passing fancy of the Bears. This is not a leverage play. This is a serious look at Hammond, Indiana, as the next home with Chicago Bears,” McDermott said.
Transforming the Wolf Lake site would be the biggest project Hammond has ever considered, a development McDermott values at $6 billion.
“The city of Hammond is assessed at $4 billion, so we’re talking about a development itself that’s worth more than the entire city of Hammond,” he explained.
He’s been keeping a close watch on what’s happening in Springfield. He said he’s been “warned” by people close to the stadium negotiations not to get too caught up in what he reads in various news outlets.
“I try not to get too excited or too depressed about the developments because they’re constant,” McDermott said.
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