NEWSLETTER
Changes are coming at Halas Hall … quite literally, too.
The Chicago Bears announced significant renovations are coming to the team’s Lake Forest practice facility. The expansion plan includes a 162,500-square-foot building for football operations and a 30,600-square-foot remodeling project on the northeast end of the building that will be in addition to the current 143,000-square-foot space. Ground-breaking is expected to take place in March 2018 and the project is expected to be completed by April 2019.
“We’ve seen the top facilities across the United States in pro and college football,” Pace said at the Bears’ official website. “This is going to put us right at the top among the elite. I’m proud of this. It shows a major commitment to winning from our ownership and leadership, and everyone in football operations recognizes this.”
Chris Emma of CBS Chicago has shared some renderings of the project over at his Twitter page:
The Bears will break ground in March of 2018 on a major expansion project of Halas Hall, adding a 162,500-square-foot football operations facility. pic.twitter.com/Hh9tgxCs9X
— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) November 17, 2017
Pace seems very invested in the new facility, and who can blame him?
There is a clear focus on improving everything under the football operations’ vast umbrella. There’s a 3,250-square-foot players lounge, 13,000-square-foot indoor turf space for training, and a 2,000-square-foot expansion of the weight room are included. Player training, performance, nutrition, and rehab also seem to be of high importance with the sports medicine area growing by four times its current size and another area for recovery space/nutrition doubling in size. Even coaches offices will increase by 50 percent, too.
Despite some impressive plans for improvement, Pace insists this renovation/expansion isn’t about razzle-dazzle. Instead, it’s a move with an eye on being a more successful franchise on game day that starts with being better prepared in the days, weeks, and months that lead up to it.
“It affects all of us because it equates to winning,” Pace said. “This project is not about flash. It’s about what it tangibly does to help us win games. So you’ll see the way we train, the way we rehab, the way we recover, the way we educate our players, those are all areas that we’re going to drastically improve in.”
You can read all about the upgrades that are in store for Halas Hall here.
