* Let’s go back to the highly informative article from the Tribune’s Jeremy Gorner and Dan Petrella…
Another issue that was left hanging last year involved possible financial incentives for a new Chicago Bears stadium.
Bills on that issue went nowhere, and the Bears are still flirting with a number of Chicago-area municipalities. The presumed site has been on land the team purchased in northwest suburban Arlington Heights, but team CEO Kevin Warren earlier this month talked about the possibility of staying in Chicago.
Pritzker has indicated that he doesn’t support taxpayer money going toward a new Bears stadium. [House Speaker Chris Welch] last week said he has not heard of any legislative action related to the team going into the new year.
“I have had no conversations regarding the Bears or any legislation that would be coming up in 2024,” Welch said. “No one’s brought that to my attention.”
Thoughts?
- Annon'in - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 11:16 am:
Sounds like the Bears will be forced to either
(A)dump the McCaskey ownership
(B) slink back into City Hall and beg for some cash to fix their flub at Soldier Field
(C) use the #1 pick to draft Nick Baker
(D) all of the above
- Flyin'Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 11:18 am:
Nothing more humbling than discovering you’re not all that.
- Anon 11:21 - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 11:21 am:
=Sounds like the Bears will be forced to either
(A)dump the McCaskey ownership=
…if wishes were fishes. Dream on, for this scenario will never play out.
Like it or not, we’re stuck with the McCaskeys ad infinitum.
- Sox Fan - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 11:24 am:
I don’t see how anything has changed from last year’s failure to get state funding/changed laws. They likely see the writing on the wall and aren’t wasting their time.
- Stuck in Celliniland - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 11:31 am:
==Sounds like the Bears will be forced to either=
Or (E). Admit that they will forever be dominated by the Packers.
- ChicagoBars - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 11:39 am:
There’s about $400,000,000 in Illinois Sports Facility Authority bonds from last Soldier Field renovation still outstanding (paywalled Bond Buyer reporting)and the re-payment schedule depends on slow recovering State and City hotel tax revenues.
And when the City’s share of repayment from those hotel taxes falls short the State can deduct that shortfall from City’s cut of local income tax sharing to cover the ISFA debt. That debt expires in 2032. So there’s $400M in debt and City cash flow concerns to motivate a deal of some kind to get done to keep the team in Chicago.
And the McCaskeys may not know how to draft or how to hire a coach but they are (now) Hall of Fame experts at running a NFL team without diluting their equity.
So betting on some kind of deal to “upgrade” Soldier Field happens for Bears unless divine football gods intervention causes the family to sell after Virginia passes away.
Hat tip to Yvette Shields (RIP) for all she taught me about that ISFA debt during the pandemic.
- MegaScribbler - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 11:54 am:
Could we at least get McCaskey’s to declare they are considering Decatur as a location? We need to exert more influence in order to obtain additional federal funding.
- vern - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 12:08 pm:
The Bears are so deeply incompetent that it’s hard to draw any conclusions. They may not have a long term plan at all here. They might have a plan that has no relationship to reality. Warren and the McCaskeys might have different plans. Everyone in charge might be in Scottsdale playing 3 rounds of golf a day (except Ginny I guess). The organization is so broken that their behavior is basically impossible to analyze or predict.
- levivotedforjudy - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 12:09 pm:
Have the Bears actually asked the state for anything? I thought the issue was Cook County property tax stability. But if it isn’t in Cook County that would be moot.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 12:13 pm:
===Have the Bears actually asked the state for anything?===
Yes. They wanted a new state law to essentially help lower their property taxes and lock them in for decades.
- Pundent - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 12:37 pm:
Bears financing only requires a coalition of the unwilling. Good luck with that. They need to accept the reality that they simply have no leverage.
- Jerry - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 1:14 pm:
With Tax Fairness in mind the Bears are a for-profit, privately owned corporation. They are free to build whatever facility they’d like with their own money. Quit mooching off of taxpayers. Someone please explain this to the new “President” of the Bears.
- Boone's is Back - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 1:35 pm:
The Bears are too pot invested in Arlington Heights. They’re also done with the Chicago Park District maintaining soldier field, the city’s intractable ridiculousness on things like sports betting, and the shortfalls of the location. It also sounds like the school districts are starting to move on negotiations. All signs point to Action Heights, with or without legislation.
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 1:45 pm:
They will end up in AH, I see Warren’s recent comments as a last ditch effort to grab the city’s attention. However, Warren is not making any friends in Arlington Heights either…
- levivotedforjudy - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 1:59 pm:
Thanks Rich on clearing up the property tax question for me.
- H-W - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 2:44 pm:
My son is starting a new job in Chicagoland next week, and will be living with a friend from his high school days. His friend at the same time is being made to find a new place of residence, because the owner of his rental townhome is planning to put it on the market in March when the lease expires. Apparently, many of his neighbors are in the same boat.
Want to guess where the townhomes are? Let’s just say, they used to race horses in that community.
- Keyrock - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 2:51 pm:
Maybe ask the Bears new owner, Jordan Love, to resolve this problem himself?
- TJ - Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 4:58 pm:
Any state legislation for a Bears move is so blatantly DOA that I have a hard time imagining that even the Bears are dumb enough to try again. Downstate legislators get free brownie points by shooting down money for a Chicago team, and Chicago legislators get to high five each other by making it more difficult for the Bears to leave their city.