NEWSLETTER
I guess this is where new Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren will earn his stripes.
Remember, the Bears’ stadium project in Arlington Heights was a top priority on Warren’s to-do list in January. And in March, Warren was reiterating that the team’s sole stadium focus was on Arlington Park.
But here we are in June, and the Daily Herald is reporting that Warren met with Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli to discuss a potential stadium project in the suburb located about 35 miles west of Soldier Field:
And here is the statement from the Bears’ side of things:
This is some strongly worded stuff by the Bears. Threatening that Arlington Heights is no longer its sole purpose is something I didn’t see coming. As is the team going as far as to say that the Arlington Heights plan is “at risk.” Wow. The Bears being overly dramatic just as Taylor Swift and her hoards of fans invade Soldier Field for the weekend is a bit too on the nose for me.
Then again, so is the idea of the Naperville Bears.
It is what it is. And what it is, to me, is a leverage play. This is among the most obvious leverage plays you’ll see. Honestly, I’m a bit surprised the Bears are going with a public leverage ploy. But here we are chewing on such a concept on the first Friday in June.
It is tough imagining Naperville being a feasible option. Just as it is difficult to see the Bears abandoning the Arlington project altogether. Although, I suppose throwing it out there makes it real. Heck, that we’re even discussing this as a possibility is among the reasons I offered up the idea of the Bears and the city of Chicago’s new leadership playing nice. Just because tentative agreements are made doesn’t mean they’ll be finalized. This isn’t to say that a Bears move to the suburbs isn’t inevitable. Because it sure as heck feels that way. But we’ve seen the on-field product fumble the ball at the 1-yard line before. And it wouldn’t surprise me if it happened on the business side of things at some point.
Ugh. It’d be quite embarrassing if the move out of Soldier Field and into the suburbs fell through. But maybe that would result in a modernized Soldier Field that both the city and team could be proud of at the end of the day. We’re not out of the woods just yet, folks. It’s the Bears, after all. They always make it interesting (and never easy) for us. Stay tuned.
