* I went over all this and more with subscribers this morning. From ABC7 last week…
One Illinois lawmaker says he still thinks the Arlington Heights proposal has the upper hand over Indiana, and new comments from Chicago Bears leadership suggest the team is being patient with Springfield.
Appearing on NBC’s “Pro Football Talk,” Bears President Kevin Warren dispelled the notion that time is running out for an Arlington Heights Bears stadium deal.
“We don’t have a set deadline, but I am confident that sometime this spring slash summer, we’ll know,” Warren said. […]
“What the Bears said today is important. They did not come in with an artificial deadline. They came in with seriousness,” said Illinois state Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago.
* ChicagoBears.com…
Bears chairman George H. McCaskey and President/CEO Kevin Warren provided a stadium update this week at the NFL owners meetings.
Speaking to Chicago reporters at the Arizona Biltmore, Warren revealed that the organization expects to decide whether to build its new fixed-roof stadium at one of two sites in Arlington Heights, Ill., or Hammond, Ind., by late spring or early summer.
“We have been working on our stadium and feel very strongly that we are making progress,” Warren said. “We are in an excellent position. The target is to make sure that we have a decision made by … late spring, early summer.” […]
“I believe they continue to work on the PILOT legislation,” Warren said. “I believe they are scheduled to come back at some time in the middle of April. PILOT is not specifically for the Chicago Bears. I think the perception and the focus from a legislation standpoint is that it is good for business in Illinois to be able to allow businesses to at least have a manageable amount of taxes that they will be required to pay. This is something the Illinois legislature has been working on for many years.” […]
“The fact of the matter is we don’t have a deal to consider right now,” McCaskey said. “In Indiana, we have a great site. There’s some due diligence that needs to be completed before we can fully evaluate the site, and we have a legislative framework in place. In Arlington Heights, we have a site that’s shovel-ready, but we don’t yet have a legislative framework. There are prudent and wise and responsible public servants in Indiana working on it, and there are prudent and wise and responsible public servants in Illinois working on it.
“If I could offer one football analogy, just as the course of a game, things ebb and flow. They go back and forth. Sometimes there is great momentum on one side; sometimes the momentum shifts suddenly to another side. I’ve said to our family, ‘We need to be patient and let the deal come to us.’ We think a deal will materialize somewhere. We’re comfortable with either site. We have people at the Bears working with public servants in both Indiana and Illinois trying to get this done.”
* Heavy.com…
When asked about the Bears’ stadium situation during a press conference at the owners meetings, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell put a little pressure on the franchise. He said, “It’s really important that they come to a resolution on this relatively soon… This is an important time to get this resolved.”
* Indiana Capital Chronicle…
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said at the owners meeting that the Bears need to move forward with a replacement for their current home of Soldier Field along Chicago’s Lake Michigan shore.
“It’s important,” he said. “I’ve spoken to officials in Illinois. This is an important time to get this resolved sooner rather than later.”
…Adding… Here we go again. This guy is close to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell…
