Pritzker says Bears’ statement ‘not some confirmation that they’re moving to Indiana’

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Capitol News Illinois) — The Chicago Bears’ flirtation with Indiana escalated Thursday as Hoosier lawmakers advanced legislation laying the groundwork to build a new domed stadium for “the pride and joy of Illinois” across the state line.

Meanwhile, an Illinois House committee that had been scheduled to hear long-stalled legislation aimed at assisting the Bears’ effort to build that football palace in suburban Arlington Heights was abruptly canceled Thursday morning.

An Indiana House committee unanimously passed Senate Bill 27, which would create a public stadium authority with the power to acquire land, issue long-term bonds and finance the construction of a stadium and related facilities. The stadium would be built near Wolf Lake in Hammond, which straddles the Illinois-Indiana state line.

Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston said the team has committed $2 billion to the project, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported. The Bears have also previously committed $2 billion to stadium construction in Arlington Heights, where the team already owns land that previously housed the Arlington Park horse racing track.

The Bears released a statement praising Indiana lawmakers, calling the bill’s progress “the most significant step forward in our stadium planning efforts to date.”

“We are committed to finishing the remaining site-specific necessary due diligence to support our vision to build a world-class stadium near the Wolf Lake area in Hammond, Indiana,” the team’s statement said.

‘Not some confirmation that they’re moving’

The team’s statement — though short of a firm commitment to bolt Illinois for The Region — caught Illinois elected officials off guard.

Gov. JB Pritzker, speaking to reporters Thursday morning following an event in Collinsville, said he was “very disappointed” that the Bears’ statement did not “say anything about the advancement that’s been made in the state of Illinois.”

Pritzker said the team and state officials, who met for more than three hours Wednesday, had “mostly agreed on a bill” that would have been heard in an Illinois House committee Thursday morning. But the Bears requested a pause “to tweak a little, a couple of items in the bill.” Team President Kevin Warren “chose not to be in that meeting” on Wednesday, Pritzker said, but top team officials were present.

The governor said Bears officials told his staff Thursday that the statement the team issued is “not some confirmation that they’re moving to Indiana.” He said they’re waiting to hear from team officials about what they want to do next.

“We had eight people in that discussion involving the legislators, involving the governor’s office, involving the Bears and their representatives,” Pritzker said. “And so, again, lots of progress, but a surprise this morning to wake up and see that statement.”

A source close to Illinois House Democratic leadership confirmed the extensive conversations, which “all sides,” including the Bears, “agreed were productive.”

A spokesperson for the Bears did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether the team’s primary focus is now Hammond rather than Arlington Heights, or whether the team asked Illinois lawmakers to postpone a vote in committee on Thursday.

Optimism in Arlington Heights

In recent weeks, proponents of the Arlington Heights proposal have been optimistic about getting a deal done.

Read more: Bears stadium package has ‘positive momentum’ in Springfield, but not in end zone

Pritzker’s office has convened discussions among the team, state lawmakers, local officials and other stakeholders around a package that could include tax measures and more than $850 million in infrastructure commitments long sought by the Bears.

House Bill 2789 — the so-called megaprojects bill — would freeze the Bears’ property tax assessment at the Arlington Heights location and allow the organization to negotiate a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes with local taxing bodies for up to forty years. The bill language is expected to be amended, however.

While legislators have warmed to the idea, which wouldn’t directly cost the state tax revenue since it involves property taxes that fund local units of governments, it’s been low on Springfield’s priority list compared to addressing things like cost of living.

Another obstacle is getting enough Chicago legislators to vote for a bill that makes it easier for the team to leave the city, where taxpayers are on the hook for more than a half-billion dollars remaining to be paid on the bonds that financed the renovation of Soldier Field. The team’s lease at the Chicago Park District-owned facility runs through 2033.

Any package helping the Bears would likely need to include something for Chicago.

In the meantime, Hoosier lawmakers have advanced a framework that, in theory, would give the Bears more than they asked for.

Indiana move a lengthier process?

But state Sen. Mark Walker, D-Arlington Heights, who said he was not part of Wednesday’s meetings with the team, was not deterred by the Bears’ progress in Indiana.

“I think the Bears are taking the responsible position to consider all their options,” Walker told Capitol News Illinois. “The fact that that committee moved that bill today was completely expected by us. So it nowhere near means they’re close to a deal yet.”

Walker said he believes the Bears still have a long way to go before deeming Hammond’s site feasible.

“I don’t think the Bears have any idea how long it’s going to take in Indiana because they have to redo their rail line to make that available,” Walker said. “They have to redo the highways. They have to redo water and electric. All of which we already have in Arlington Heights there at the site. Their infrastructure costs in Indiana are going to be slow and big.”

Indiana’s legislature is scheduled to adjourn Feb. 27. Both the Illinois House and Senate are scheduled to be in session for three days next week. But after that, the House is not due back until March 18 – the day after Illinois’ primary election.

(Reporting by by Brenden Moore and Ben Szalinski, Capitol News Illinois)

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

This article first appeared on Capitol News Illinois and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.