NEWSLETTER
We’ve seen socially distanced crowds in each of the NFL’s first two Thursday night games. And by the looks of things, more are on the way. Among them are the Titans, who, I’ll remind you, host the Bears in Week 9 on November 8.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like the Bears are among those teams.
Even though Chairman George McCaskey expressed hope that fans could be in the Soldier Field stands by year’s end, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot doesn’t share that optimistic appraisal of that situation. In an interview with 670 The Score’s “Mully and Haugh Show,” the mayor expressed her frustration.
“We’re willing to work with the Bears. But they’ve got to talk with us, and willing to cooperate with us, and not just say things in the media,” Lightfoot said. “We’ve had real challenges there. The Bears have got to be better partners with us on a range of different issues if they want to get fans in the stands.”
“We’re nowhere near at a place where we can even realistically talk about fans coming back to Soldier Field.”
Eep. That doesn’t sound all too encouraging.
Lightfoot wants to have “real dialogue and a real conversation” about how the Bears and the city will go about making this happen. As a reminder, the Chicago Parks District owns and operates Soldier Field. So ignorer to host fans, the Bears need to get clearance from the city for it to happen. Clearly, this is a complicated matter. Even still … I don’t feel great about the chances of games being played with fans later in the year when Lightfoot adds that the Bears “have to be better partners” on “a range of issues.” Maybe Lightfoot is playing political hardball. She wouldn’t be the first mayor to do so with the Bears (or any of Chicago’s teams, for that matter).
For more from Lightfoot’s interview with WSCR, check out the link embedded below:
