The mayor of Hammond, Indiana, says the Chicago Bears have informed him they plan on making an announcement Thursday.
Mayor Tom McDermott told NBC Chicago the Bears told him “there would be an announcement [Thursday],” but he was not informed on what exactly the announcement was about. The Bears have not yet publicly said any announcement is coming.
The news comes as the Bears aim to make a decision on where to build their new stadium, with Hammond being considered as a main location eyed for the project.
“I hope it’s about the stadium,” McDermott said. “I don’t want to presume, but I was told there’s going to be an announcement tomorrow, and that’s the issue we’re all dealing with.”
It follows recent comments Bears Chairman George McCaskey made to NBC Chicago earlier this week regarding stadium plans.
Currently the team is focusing its efforts on Indiana, and when asked about that process, McCaskey said there could be new information coming out soon about the location of that proposed project.
“We’re doing some due diligence on a second site in Hammond,” he said. “I think Kevin (Warren) and I will have more to report in the coming days.”
After a so-called “PILOT” bill failed to pass the Illinois General Assembly before the conclusion of the legislative session, the Bears announced they were focusing their stadium efforts on sites in northwest Indiana. There, state officials had paved the way for the project by promising up to $1 billion and a host of other incentives to convince the team to move across the border and to build a new stadium, likely in an area near Hammond.
While McCaskey did not specify the site the team is eyeballing, NBC Chicago’s Mary Ann Ahern reported last month the Bears were looking at a site known as Wolf Lake Terminals in Hammond. The location is just to the west of Interstate 90 and to the southwest of Lost Marsh Golf Course, and is situated just to the east of the Illinois-Indiana state line.
Soil samples were taken from the area and were analyzed, and officials are hopeful that environmental issues encountered at other locations in Hammond will be addressed by shifting the project closer to the state line, with that site just 19 miles from downtown Chicago.
“I do know there’s extensive testing going on even right now,” McDermott said. “I had one of the local businesses in the new footprint call me and say, ‘hey, they’re boring holes currently.'”
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, who signed the bill earlier this year aimed at luring the Bears to the state, has continued to publicly express confidence in the chances of getting the deal finalized.
“I’d say we’re in the red zone. I’ve done so much real estate in my career. Until you ink it, it’s not done, but it’s moved a long distance in a short period of time,” he said during a recent event at Valparaiso.
As the Bears prepare to potentially release more information about the Indiana project site, McCaskey was asked if there was any movement in Illinois, with the team still owning the property of the former Arlington International Racecourse in Arlington Heights.
“No,” he said.
Illinois lawmakers had discussed potentially convening a special session of the legislature, with one of the potential items of debate being a bill aimed at keeping the Bears within the state. That has not yet occurred, and it’s unclear whether Chicago lawmakers will be onboard with an effort to have the Bears build a stadium in the suburbs.
McDermott said he’s hopefully that any announcement that is made will be good news for Indiana.
“I mean, I’m not the kind of guy that would call somebody and tell them, ‘Hey, I’m going to let some bad news out tomorrow,’ but maybe – I’m not presuming anything,” he said. “I’m hopeful it’s going to be good news.”
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