Gov. JB Pritzker last week squarely placed the responsibility for passing a Bears stadium bill on the team itself, and had some unsolicited lobbying advice for the Bears as he attempted to brush off his own session attendance issues.
The governor continued to downplay his own role in passing a stadium or stadium-related bill, saying it was Bears management which “decided to glom on to the megaprojects bill that I proposed.”
Um, he didn’t exactly resist that move, and the Bears’ addition became the most highlighted part of the bill, to the point where lots of members believed Pritzker was using the Bears to pass an idea that had long ago hit a brick wall in both legislative chambers.
Pritzker also said he’d be “happy” to call a special session, but only if the Bears “figure out how they can get the Legislature, both sides around the same bill.”
And then he offered some belated statehouse lobbying advice: “You’ve got to work the hallways, as you know, in a very, very busy session,” Pritzker told reporters after accurately saying the Bears made “some fumbles” the past few years. “You’ve got to really talk to every legislator if you want to get something done,” he said.
Pritzker said he’s received calls from the Bears since session ended, but didn’t say if he repeated that same advice.
My associate Isabel Miller pointed out to the governor that he had repeatedly urged the General Assembly to move more quickly on the megaprojects bill: “Looking back, do you think spending more time in Springfield working out issues might have produced a different outcome?”
As I told my newsletter subscribers on June 8, Pritzker was in Springfield for just 22 session days this spring.
“I spent a lot of time in Springfield,” the governor insisted, adding, “I’m not a legislator,” and said he has “a whole lot of responsibilities that aren’t legislative.”
According to his legislative calendar, Pritzker was in Springfield two days in January and two days in February, four days in March and three days in April. During the crucial final session month of May, the governor was in town 11 out of 19 session days.
The governor’s calendar also shows that he had just 14 scheduled in-person meetings with individual rank-and-file legislators in Springfield during all of spring session, including only one meeting on his calendar to talk about the Bears stadium with top negotiators Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, and Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, the day before session was scheduled to adjourn.
One top Pritzker insider explained that the governor often takes impromptu calls from members to talk about their projects and/or their bills, which wouldn’t be on the official schedule.
The insider also pointed to how the disjointed, deliberately uncoordinated legislative calendar made it difficult to schedule events at the executive mansion because the two chambers were so rarely in town together until May. He hosted four such events this year (Women Wear Pink, the Black Caucus, Latino Caucus and Asian American Caucus).
Pritzker has been sharply criticized for quite a while for focusing more on the national political front than on governing Illinois. And while all or parts of several bills on his priority list did pass, the danger for Pritzker is that this Bears failure will overshadow everything else and highlight his national ambitions because it’s something that transcends the statehouse. His attendance record, while not a complete look at his work, does him no favors.
Isabel also asked the governor last week if, going forward, he was “planning to be more present in Springfield.”
“I’m in Springfield a lot,” Pritzker replied, saying he often invites legislators to his appearances in their districts. However, his calendar shows he attended events outside Springfield on 18 different session days, which would make it difficult for legislators to attend.
Pritzker also said he called “several” Republican legislators “during the final portions of the session to make sure that they were on board” with the Bears bill. He did not say if he phoned any Democrats.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: The governor has a very good executive staff, if too overburdened. But there’s no substitute for a present governor. Legislators are generally a needy bunch. They see him on national TV during session and wonder why he isn’t attending to them. That’s simple statehouse reality and has been forever.
Pritzker was right when he told reporters, “You’ve got to really talk to every legislator if you want to get something done.” He might think about that advice during upcoming sessions.
- Steve - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 8:44 am:
As someone who’s isn’t a JB supporter, I can’t really criticize his performance on this issue. The GOP is a non-issue in running things in Springfield. I can’t say I’d waste my time if I was JB with a bunch of irrelevant members. The Democrats have the numbers to do what they want. I must praise them for not allowing the Bears to rip of the state taxpayers so far on this issue.
- Save Ferris - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 9:07 am:
Any article about the stadium that doesn’t mention Kevin Warren’s arrogance and incompetence is missing the key part of the story.
- Lincoln Lad - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 9:12 am:
I’m looking forward to the Indiana stadium. The State has clearly indicated a lack of interest, while Indiana has made a compelling offer. Seems like a no brainer to me.
- Steve - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 9:18 am:
Good luck for the Bears in Indiana. There’s more than a few people aren’t going that far South and East to go to a football game. I hope the Bears have plans for new fans mystically showing up.
- ChicagoVinny - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 9:33 am:
Nothing is preventing the Bears from breaking ground in Arlington Heights tomorrow. The state’s taxpayers don’t owe the Bears anything, the Bears want something from the state’s taxpayers. The failure is the Bears’ fumbling efforts to convince the public why a giant stadium tax break is in our interest.
- hisgirlfriday - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 9:47 am:
I don’t blame Pritzker for not getting the Bears bill through but wish he would have been more hands on getting his housing bill passed.
And on the national front, there is a JB for governor ad running now in Central Illinois that is attacking Trump’s tariffs that feels a lot more like an Iowa caucus run for president commercial than a re-elect me gov commercial.
- Amalia - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 9:48 am:
it’s interesting to see Pritzker in a box where he’s hurt one way or the other. no one stopping Bears from breaking ground but also no one stopping Pritzker from getting more creative in a way to keep the Bears.
- Save Ferris - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 9:52 am:
“Nothing is preventing the Bears from breaking ground in Arlington Heights tomorrow.”
Nothing other than money the McCaskey’s don’t have.
FYI, the Bears leadership has supposedly told staff not to order environmental studies on Indiana as they don’t want to waste the money.
The Bears have a better chance of building in Anchorage than Indiana.
- Steve - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 10:03 am:
-Nothing other than money the McCaskey’s don’t have.-
Nothing is stopping them from selling the team if they don’t have money to put out a winning product. Nothing.
- Tobor - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 10:05 am:
“Nothing other than money the McCaskey’s won’t spend”.
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 10:19 am:
The Bears haven’t so much as stuck a shovel into the ground in Indiana, Arlington Heights, or Dongola.
The only thing this outfit has gone out of their way to do is prove Chris Welch is a pretty sharp guy.
- ChicagoVinny - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 10:20 am:
=== Nothing other than money the McCaskey’s don’t have. ===
They own the 10th most valuable sports franchise in the world, per Forbes. They could find investors and enough liquidity tomorrow if they wanted and still retain control of the team.
- Save Ferris - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 10:26 am:
“They own the 10th most valuable sports franchise in the world, per Forbes. They could find investors and enough liquidity tomorrow if they wanted and still retain control of the team.”
They one 77% of the team. The last valuation was the McKenna stock repurchase and that valued the team at $8.9 billion. They need $6 billion for Arlington Heights. They can borrow $900 million per NFL rules and up to $1.1 billion more with NFL approval. George McCaskey said they need to borrow that full $2 billion to make their $2 billion contribution. Basically, they don’t have significant cash to invest. They are $4 billion short.
At a $10 billion valuation, they’d have to sell 40% of the team to generate $4 billion. That would reduce them to 37% ownership.
They can generate liquidity or maintain control of the team. They cannot do both.
- ChicagoVinny - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 10:32 am:
=== They can generate liquidity or maintain control of the team. They cannot do both. ===
You can sell non-controlling shares. JR does not own anywhere close to a majority of the Sox shares but has controlling interest.
And even if they can’t, how is this the IL taxpayer’s problem? Sounds like a McCaskey problem to me.
- Save Ferris - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 10:37 am:
NFL rules are different than MLB rules. In the NFL, non-controlling share sales are limited to 10% of the value of the franchise (other than for Green Bay).
“And even if they can’t, how is this the IL taxpayer’s problem? Sounds like a McCaskey problem to me.”
That’s what I’m saying.
- Juice - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 10:43 am:
Save Ferris, that assumes that the family would control 100% of the development outside of the AH property. There is no reason they need to maintain that level of ownership and should not be seeking investors for the rest of their property, which would allow them to maintain control of the team.
Also no spoken about enough is that it does appear that Pat Ryan, who owns the other 23% of the team, does have the cash to make that type of investment. The family simply doesn’t want to have anyone else making significant sums off of the property and want to keep in to themselves.
- Lolly - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 10:44 am:
The lack of personal engagement by JB with legislators isn’t the only “blame” for the stadium legislation stalling that lies at his feet. For a couple of years, he reveled in pushing back against the Bears’ efforts, scoring populist political points by bashing the Bears. (I’m not knocking him for it, I found myself agreeing more often than not.) That bashing continued right up to last fall when he made headlines by saying the McCaskeys needed to pay off the debt on Soldier Field as a prerequisite for getting their Arlington Heights PILOT.
But JB’s tone changed when the Bears announced their Hammond plan. Once he faced the prospect of losing the Bears to Indiana he shifted to a “pro-stadium” posture, which included backing off the Soldier Field debt payment demand. Politically, that shift made sense. Problem is, his previous use of the bully pulpit to trash all things Bears stadium helped build political resistance to it, both among the public and state legislators. He’s now trying to repair the very damage he helped cause.
- Save Ferris - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 10:50 am:
Correct, Juice. But my understanding is that’s exactly what they want - 100% control over everything. They’ve never built any family wealth or cash flow outside of the team and they see this as their opportunity. They had a great potential partner in the Bluhms, who were a presenting partner of the team, had a big investment in Churchill Downs, and a background in commercial development. But that’s been blow up.
I see no way they do this without a partner and they don’t want a partner.
Shocking that they’ve never built any family wealth or cash flow outside of the team.
- Johnny B - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 11:04 am:
The 2025 revenues for the Bears were 629 million that produced an operating income of 80 million
59% or revenues came from ticket sales
Bears paid roughly 369 million in player salaries and expenses
That is less than 1% return on 8.9 billion valuation
Do you see an extra 50 to 100 million a year available for property taxes coming from the seat cushions?
- Annon'in - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 11:18 am:
Let’s be honest. The Bears triggered all this when the got the redesign of Soldiers Field and then whined and then bought the AH land and destroyed Arlington Park. Their final coup was looking at the Super Fund site in Hammond. Guessing JB and others have sized up this clown car and decided to see what U turn is next.
- low level - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 11:19 am:
Thank goodness Governor Pritzker saved Illinois taxpayers from the Bears scam. JB4L - JB for Life.
- Boone Logan Square - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 11:19 am:
Rich’s column will get quoted a bit over the next two years.
On the Bears, let’s see how well their efforts to woo Indiana pols is going. “Indiana’s effort to lure the Chicago Bears across the state line is encountering its first significant political resistance, as officials in Porter County balk at tax increases that would help finance the state’s proposed stadium package in Hammond.”
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/politics-policy/ccb-chicago-bears-stadium-indiana-opposition-20260622/
- Candy Dogood - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 11:27 am:
===Discuss. ===
None of this is very presidential.
===However, his calendar shows he attended events outside Springfield on 18 different session days===
A lot is subjective. Whether or not it was enough is really what we should be debating. The results to me seem like they’ve not been there enough.
===The governor has a very good executive staff, if too overburdened. But there’s no substitute for a present governor.===
Whether or not it was the intent, the Governor has wound up with a very effective island. I’m not sure that they know they’ve built an island and even if they did, I’m not sure they would agree it has been a problem. The impact of the island shows here and there.
If the Governor does run for President, I wonder if they’re prepared for the back seat they’d need to be in for the Governor’s campaign to be successful.
- Candy Dogood - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 11:36 am:
===Shocking that they’ve never built any family wealth or cash flow outside of the team. ===
It isn’t that shocking. Building wealth without capital is very hard and some folks may have felt that they had enough and were just happy being incredibly wealthy and owning a professional sports franchise. Being born into a football franchise owning family doesn’t make someone a business savant or even necessarily make one good at running a football program or even playing it.
The challenge that they’re up against is that they want more capital without selling all or part of the team. The wealthiest NFL owners didn’t make their money from football and it isn’t their leading source of income/revenue.
I’ve seen the decisions the McCaskeys make. I wouldn’t let George McCaskey manage a Subway franchise. If he’s not bringing the money to the project, there’s no reason to have him involved.
- snakepliskin69 - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 11:44 am:
https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/2007/06/16/travel-records-governor-in-springfield/47905647007/
- hisgirlfriday - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 11:47 am:
@Save Ferris - The McCaskey family akready has a partner in minority owner Pat Ryan.
It is insanity that this same Bears minority owner found $480 million (at least) in his couch cushions for a new football stadium for Northwestern at the same time the Bears org is going hat in hand to taxpayers in Illinois and Indiana asking for taxpayer cash to help them realize their dreams of a new football stadium to also be built in the Chicagoland area.
- Rudy’s teeth - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 11:48 am:
The McCaskeys are delusional if they expect the Illinois taxpayers to cough up the dough for a stadium in Arlington Heights.
They could sell shares and dilute their ownership percentage but they want it all for themselves. Not going to happen.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 11:51 am:
===Do you see an extra 50 to 100 million a year available===
Bigger stadium, large entertainment/retail development surrounding that new stadium, etc.
Pity the poor McCaskeys.
- Johnny B - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 12:48 pm:
The proposed entertainment district is not part of the PILOT legislation
The Mc Caskeys will be fine it’s the fans that are paying for everything and it looks like they will have to drive to Indiana for the privilege
- Johnny B - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 12:50 pm:
The property tax bill on the Northwestern stadium is zero and it looks like the new soccer stadium in the South Loop will do even better
- Rich Miller - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 12:55 pm:
===The proposed entertainment district is not part of the PILOT legislation ===
Yeah, it’s in another part of the House bill.
C’mon, man.
- Rudy’s teeth - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 1:26 pm:
The local taxpayers in Porter and Lake County, Indiana are grumbling about proposed tax increases to fund a Bears stadium in NWI.
A Porter County Council President lost his re-election bid to a “No new taxes” candidate.
- thunderspriit - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 1:46 pm:
When something is important to J.B., the effort he spends on it makes his priority apparent.
When he doesn’t spend the effort, it’s equally clear how important it is to him.
- Sox Fan - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 2:21 pm:
==The property tax bill on the Northwestern stadium is zero and it looks like the new soccer stadium in the South Loop will do even better==
If the Bears wanted the same treatment as the Fire, I’m sure the Village of Arlington Heights would gladly work out a TIF arrangement or a 7B tax incentive for them. It would require no new state legislation. You’ve got to wonder why that’s not good enough for the Bears?
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 2:53 pm:
We’re just here in Arlington Heights. Land is not for sale… all I need to know for right now.
- Give Us Barabbas - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 5:07 pm:
I see one small part of this is influenced by policy in the house and senate and how committees work. In committee and in caucus meetings is where the sausage gets made, how much of a seat at the table does JB get there? It’s not an authoritarian system where the Governor waves a wand and it’s done. Some of this is on jouse and senate leadership.
- 44 - Monday, Jun 22, 26 @ 6:10 pm:
Add more bathrooms and renew the lease at soldier field!