NEWSLETTER
Whether the next stadium home of the Bears is in Chicago, Arlington Heights, or some other municipality, one thing seems certain — it is going to have a closed roof.
In a letter to season-ticket holders that announced an increase in the cost of those season-ticket packages, Bears President Kevin Warren shared an update regarding the team’s next stadium. It doesn’t come with a timetable or a location, but Warren’s update (via Bill Zimmerman) gives us an idea of one thing the stadium will have:
This isn’t even the first time Bears President Kevin Warren has vocally committed to a fixed-roof dome stadium. Back in the summer, Warren told reporters that: “It definitely needs to be a dome-covered stadium. Because that would afford us the opportunity for 365-days-a-yeaar- activation.” That tracks logically. And, for what it is worth, this isn’t the first time someone in a position of power within the franchise has taken this exact stance.
The next Bears stadium will have a dome
The fixed-roof stadium plan is consistent with what former President Ted Phillips announced in September 2022 when the team began rolling out plans for a potential stadium on the site of the former Arlington International Racecourse. Citing costs, Phillips said the team wasn’t planning on building a stadium with a retractable roof and instead was angling to build something with a fixed roof. This is what we had to say about the matter at the time:
Phillips cited prohibitive costs as a reason the team was opting against a retractable roof. I can sense your eyes rolling from here. But let it be known that costs aren’t limited to building a roof. We should also consider maintenance and operations costs. I’m not an architect. But you don’t need to be one to understand that upkeep on a retractable dome in a place like Chicago, where you can experience the extremities of all four seasons (sometimes even in the same week!), will be more costly than in more moderate climates (such as Atlanta or Dallas). In other words, I understand why the Bears are opting for a permanent roof structure instead of a retractable alternative.
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There is nothing that has happened since September 2022 that has moved me off the position of a fixed-roof domed stadium being the Bears’ most sensible option if they insist on a new enclosed stadium. Even if the price of doing business wasn’t an issue, I’d wonder about the practicality of having a retractable roof. How often would it be used? Would this open the door to “Bear weather” games? Does the team or the NFL make the call on whether or not the roof is open? Having an enclosed, fixed-roof dome stadium makes all of those questions obsolete.
Besides, one of the major selling points of building a new Bears stadium is the potential to host a Super Bowl and other events at the site. There is simply no way for the team to build an open-air stadium when it has plans to host events like the Super Bowl, Final Four, WrestleMania, monster truck rallies, a Taylor Swift residency (hey, he said it … not me!), and other events that need a venue with a top on it.
I don’t want to fall too far down the rabbit hole here. After all, the Bears have yet to finalize a city, site, or cost. There have been renderings here and there, but nothing concrete to point to that suggests anything is imminent. But while we’re in wait-and-see mode when it comes to the stadium, I figure there is no harm in sharing a notable update.
