The Chicago Bears’ stadium project was evaluated Wednesday by an NFL owners committee as the debate continues over an Illinois bill.
That bill, passed by the Illinois House last week, is now before the Senate, which hasn’t yet scheduled a vote on the legislation that could prove pivotal to keeping the team in the state while fending off offers from the state of Indiana.
The Bears confirmed the NFL’s stadium committee had met, and according to ESPN reporting, the committee is expected to meet again in coming weeks.
According to reporting, the Bears told the NFL owners their intent is still to build a stadium either in Hammond, Indiana or in Arlington Heights, but Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is still expressing displeasure with that stance as he searches for ways to convince the team to stay in the city.
“At a time when people are fighting tax breaks for the ultra-rich and corporations, to depart Chicago, our schools are woefully underfunded,” he said.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker also spoke about the bill passed by the House last week, saying the Senate will have to mull over changes while negotiations with the Bears continue.
“The amusement tax piece is one the Bears said long ago they didn’t want in the bill, and there it appeared in the bill. That’s something that will have to be talked about with the Bears and the Senate,” he said.
Under provisions of the bill passed by the Illinois House, large businesses like the Bears would be able to enter into PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) negotiations with local communities to lock in specific property tax rates. The Bears have said such a bill is absolutely essential to a project in Arlington Heights, but some lawmakers, including State Sen. Dave Syverson, criticized the idea, saying it could come with significant costs to local taxpayers.
“Let’s say there’s an agreement they pay $10 million a year in property taxes. So that’s the agreement. The assessor comes in and assesses the stadium and says ‘based on what the value of the stadium is, the Bears should be paying $50 million a year in property taxes.’ So what we’re going to do is it should be $50 million, and the Bears are paying $10 million, and we’re going to shift the burden onto taxpayers,” he said.
When the House bill passed, the Bears said that more changes will be needed to the legislation in the weeks ahead.
“We welcome the progress made on the House’s version of the mega project bill; however, additional amendments are necessary to make the Arlington Heights site feasible for our stadium project. We support Illinois leaders as they determine the path forward to making the essential changes to the mega project bill and aligning on infrastructure funding,” the team said in a statement.
The legislature will remain in session through the end of May, but State Sen. Bill Cunningham, the cosponsor of the PILOT bill being presented in the chamber, said there was not a rush to take the vote.
“We will work this bill like any other bill,” Cunningham said.
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