Bears Board of Directors advance stadium development plans in Indiana, with exact site TBD
Article excerpt
The Chicago Bears' board of directors has greenlit plans to explore stadium development in Indiana, though the exact location remains undetermined. The move marks a significant escalation in the team's decade-long search for a new home, as owner Keldon Johnson seeks a state that offers more favorable tax treatment and development incentives than Illinois. The announcement intensifies pressure on Chicago and Illinois officials, who have long assumed the franchise would remain in the city where it was founded in 1919. Bears leadership previously rejected a proposed lakefront site in Chicago, citing insufficient public investment.
Chicgo Bears chairman George H. McCaskey says a new stadium in Hammond, Indiana, for his NFL club would transform the Chicago and Northwest Indiana region (Quinn Harris)
A relocation by the NFL Chicago Bears across state lines moved closer on Friday when the team announced its board of directors voted to advance an Indiana stadium development project.
No specific site has been located in nearby Hammond, Indiana, but the Bears made the move after Illinois lawmakers adjourned their session without approving local stadium authorities for Chicago and Arlington Heights, allowing them to avoid having the Bears pay property taxes on a new stadium.
"We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city," Bears chairman George H. McCaskey and president and chief executive Kevin Warren said in a statement.
"It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses."
Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Cooke County board of commissioners, said talks continue with the Bears.
"Conversations are ongoing," he said. "Cook County remains willing to engage with team ownership and state leaders to explore a path that keeps the Bears in Illinois.
"As those conversations continue, I am committed to solutions that protect taxpayer dollars while continuing to support the legacy of the Bears in our state."
In 2022, the Bears had unveiled plans for an enclosed stadium in Arlington Heights that could host Super Bowls, but the plan shifted to building a new stadium near current home Soldier Field after Kevin Warren became Bears team president in January 2023, replacing retiring Ted Phillips.
Last year, the team announced "significant progress" in talks with Arlington Heights leaders, but the Bears said they were open to other offers and Indiana created a stadium authority for the Hammond region and made a pitch to finance, construct and lease a stadium.
The Bears were founded as the Decatur Staleys in 1920 and moved to Chicago the following year, playing 50 years at Wrigley Field, home of baseball's Chicago Cubs.
Hammond was among the early NFL teams, the Pros playing there from 1920-1926.
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