It feels as if the Chicago Bears have been steering toward a move to suburban Arlington Heights for a while now. So much so, there is a sense of inevitability that hovers over any Bears-adjacent conversation these days. Especially when Soldier Field is already looking like a mess.
And now, we have the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs taking it up a notch with a strong hint that news about a move becoming a reality could be coming by the end of this calendar year. His words on the Pat McAfee Show have my undivided attention.
The money quote, if you couldn’t watch/listen:
“It’s a matter of when, and not if,” Biggs said. “They want to get out of Soldier Field, which wasn’t a great stadium when it opened in 2003. They’d like to control their own situation. That’s not going to happen overnight. But we could have an announcement maybe before the end of this calendar year.”
The “it’s a matter of when, not if” vibes when it comes to the Bears leaving Soldier Field for a stadium that has yet to be built in Arlington Heights have been omnipresent for a while now. Whether it was when it first came up as a rumor in February 2021, resurfaced in a few months later in April, or when it became serious with the team announcing it was bidding to purchase the Arlington International property. Things have only escalated since. The team was reportedly working on design concepts with the folks who worked on the Raiders’ Vegas stadium (which is beautiful, by the way). It has also made procedural steps in a potential move to the ‘burbs. As well as a public declaration that the only stadium deal it has eyes for is one in Arlington Heights — even if the Soldier Field dome looks kinda nifty.
But not only do Biggs words further drive home how the Bears are on the cusp of moving out of Soldier Field, that he adds that the team could make an announcement before this year is up really puts it in focus. It might cost $84 million to break the Soldier Field lease in 2026, but that is a drop in the bucket considering what is on the horizon once the ball gets officially gets rolling on a departure to the suburbs.