NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Bears stadium saga has as many plot twists as my abuela’s favorite telenovelas.
And the latest suggests that a move to Arlington Heights that once felt inevitable isn’t in the cards as WGN reports that plans for the construction of a dome stadium on Chicago’s lakefront that will be home to Chicago’s football team will be announced at a Wednesday press conference. WGN Radio’s Kevin Powell shares a portion of the press release:
The Chicago Bears, in collaboration with city officials and stakeholders, will host a press conference on Wednesday, April 24, to announce their plans for a state-of-the-art, publicly owned enclosed stadium, along with additional green and open space with access to the lakefront for families and fans, on the Museum Campus.
According to the release, the press conference will begin at noon CT and will be streamed live on the Chicago Bears website. What a doozy this could turn out to be.
The Chicago Bears might not leave city limits after all
There are still so many questions that need to be answered before we start getting a better grasp of this news. Who is paying for this stadium project? Where will it go? What does it mean that it will be a publicly owned stadium? Are there tax-payer benefits? What does this mean for the Arlington Park property that the team paid nearly $200 million to acquire? Ideally, some of those questions will begin getting answers when this press conference happens.
In March, Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren reiterated plans to build a stadium in downtown Chicago. This came after a stream of updates that suggested a move to suburban Arlington Heights wasn’t a sure-fire lock. Even still … Arlington Heights hadn’t fully left the picture. But maybe the Bears and city holding a press conference changes things on that front.
When it comes to the Bears, this situation reminds us nothing is official until it is officially official. If Bears games aren’t over until the clock strikes triple zeros, why should I have ever believed a move was going to happen until it actually happened. The Bears began shopping around different suburbs and municipalities in search of Arlington Park alternatives in June 2023. Tax money and property valuation disputes that have popped up since have played a role in holding up whatever would’ve been the next step in a move out to the suburbs didn’t help much either.
And yet, I still can’t believe we’ve made it to a point where the Bears appear to be on the cusp of staying put in Chicago.
We’ve really come a long way since Arlington Park being the sole focus for a Chicago Bears stadium.
