The NFL never sleeps.
There is always something on the schedule. Every month of the football calendar that doesn’t have games features events, meetings, and other things to keep at least one eye on what’s happening in the league.
NFL insider Albert Breer reports league owners were meeting at 1 p.m. ET (noon CT) to discuss some things on their agenda. And one thing that stands out has me FLOORED:
NFL owners have a virtual meeting set for 1 p.m. ET. Among the agenda items they'll vote on …
• Blocking below the waist rule.
• New England/Chicago stadium projects.
• Camp rosters/cutdowns.
• Blackout policy language.— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 26, 2021
Excuse me, good sir. But what exactly is a Chicago stadium project?
I don’t want to alarm anyone. Nor do I want to put the cart ahead of the horse. But there has been chatter linking Arlington Heights as a potential future home of the Bears. And for what it’s worth, the franchise seems perfectly content to let those rumors linger. And, sure, at some point we’ll need to discuss the Bears moving out of Soldier Field. But with the team having a lease with the Chicago Park District and Soldier Field until 2033, I wasn’t thinking about having that discussion at this particular point in time.
Of course, it’s entirely possible (if not, more likely) that this vote is on something a little more boring (think infrastructure improvements, overall stadium capacity, access, etc.). Things that might make admittedly poor location more tolerable to the average fan. Some of that wouldn’t necessarily be within the league’s purview, mind you, but the owners might still want to discuss (and vote) if and how they want to use their leverage to pressure the city one way or another.
Nevertheless, I’m on the edge of my seat curious about what this “Chicago stadium project” entails. Because if the Bears are going to have some new digs and refer to it as the “Chicago stadium project” … it better be in Chicago.
UPDATE – It’s renovations:
New England and Chicago stadium projects (relax, folks … they're renovations, not new buildings) were approved by the owners.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 26, 2021
For what it’s worth, the Patriots have been planning to upgrade their grass turf since at least February. The last time they did that was in 2017. The Bears recently updated their turf at Soldier Field, as outlined in this set of Bullets from before the team’s playoff game against the Eagles in 2019. I’m curious to see what the Bears are upgrading at Soldier Field. It’s not as if there isn’t a shortage of options…
Michael Cerami contributed to this post.