With the Chicago Bears having already spent oodles of money to purchase the Arlington Park property under the Ted Phillips regime with the intent to build a new stadium, I’ve been wondering how Chairman George McCaskey feels about the franchise’s pivot to a stadium in downtown Chicago.
During the team’s trip to London for its Week 6 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Chairman McCaskey spoke on that topic and more. And while we’ll dive into some of the other stuff later in this post, I thought this quote on the stadium was notable:
“We want to go where the best deal is possible, where it’s most feasible financially, politically, geographically,” McCaskey said, via the Bears’ official website. “The lakefront is an excellent site, and we think that a roofed stadium just south of Soldier Field can be great for Chicago, for the region and for the great state of Illinois.”
On the one hand, I hear McCaskey’s words and can see that as an endorsement of President Kevin Warren’s movement toward building a downtown stadium project along Chicago’s lakefront. But on the other hand, hearing McCaskey say “we want to go where the best deal is possible” feels like the type of thing that speaks volumes about the team’s true intentions. Would the Bears love a downtown stadium? Sure. Who wouldn’t? But is it the best deal for the franchise? Well, I suppose that remains to be seen.
I’ll say this for Mr. McCaskey: He appears to know the Bears have a long way to go before they get to where they want to be regarding their journey to get a new stadium โ particularly when it comes to securing public funding from the state of Illinois.
โThereโs a veto session in November, thereโs a lame-duck session in January and then thereโs a spring session right after that,โ McCaskey said, via the Tribune. โSo at some time in one of those sessions, weโre going to have to have some sort of enabling legislation to allow the project to move forward.โ
MORE: Take a Look at the New Chicago Bears Stadium Renderings
In the end, the reality is that the Bears will have to showcase real public value for their stadium if the state is going to shell out any funds. The days of billion-dollar entities getting handouts for stadiums in this state appear to be behind us. So if Chicago’s football team wants that, it will have to get creative. Best of luck.
Other notes from Bears Chairman George McCaskey
- On the Bears pursuing Tom Brady in free agency (via 670 The Score): โIt seems like ancient history at this point, but I do remember we were interested in pursuing him. It didnโt work out for us. Worked out great for him with Tampa. Any time youโre in a situation like that, youโre not putting all of your eggs in one basket. So youโre looking at alternatives. Itโs the same in free agency. Itโs the same in the draft. If the person youโre targeting isnโt available, you want to make sure youโve done your due diligence on all other options, so that was one option we were looking at.โ
- On the team’s stint on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series (via Marquee): โThe Hard Knocks crew was fantastic. (NFL Films producer/director) Shannon Furman and her people were professional. They were flexible. They were cooperative. They understood. And in the end, I thought they put together a great series. I didnโt know that thing like pet ferrets would capture the nationโs attention, but I thought they did a great job telling human stories. And I thought they also humanized Ryan and Matt. You could see how much they care about our players. And I thought they cast the greatest city in the world in a great light.โ
- On Bears rookie QB Caleb Williams (via the Chicago Sun-Times): “He’s an irrepressible spirit, and if he wants to get to know you, you don’t have a choice in the matter. It’s been a lot of fun. He always says hello. He’s always friendly. And he’s fun to watch.”
- On playing in London (via The Athletic): โThe argument that was presented was, youโre not losing a home game. Youโre going to play internationally when you would have โnineโ home games. Chicago fans are still getting eight regular-season games at Soldier Field. Weโre making ourselves available to a global audience. Thatโs what Michael Scott would call a win-win-win situation.โ