The Chicago Bears are stuck in limbo as they wait for the Illinois fall legislative session to hopefully get some help from the state in regards to their stadium project in Arlington Heights.
Per the Chicago Sun-Times, three bills were introduced in the Illinois General Assembly that would have helped the Bears expedite the process in building the stadium, but none passed before the spring session ended on Saturday.
The Chicago Bears went 0-3 this spring
One of the pieces of legislation would have helped freeze property tax assessments.
“The Bears had eyed so-called “megadevelopment” legislation that would freeze property tax assessments for massive projects and allow them to negotiate payments with local taxing bodies,” per the CST report. “That would give the team the property tax certainty they say they need to break ground on a $5 billion suburban development.”
Make no mistake, while the bills were introduced, the result was not in any way promising that the Bears are close to receiving help from the state on the stadium project. Last week, Gov. JB Pritzker’s office doubled down on their opinion that the Bears need to offer the state something significant in return for a deal that would help the Bears.
During an appearance on 670 The Score’s “Mully & Haughty Show” on Monday, Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune said the Bears are “behind schedule” in building the stadium. CEO Kevin Warren famously stated that he wanted shovels in the ground by the end of the year.
The Bears are surprised by the lack of momentum
Per Wiederer, the Bears are surprised by the lack of momentum the team is getting from local and state governments for the project.
“I mean, let’s be honest, they’re behind schedule and the momentum is not occurring the way that they thought the momentum might be occurring,” Wiederer said. “And we’ve talked for a while about the financial obstacles and the government obstacles being massive to this project and trying to find support that allows you to get this thing moving in the right direction. I mean, it was Father’s Day weekend of 2021 that they entered into the purchase agreement on Arlington Heights, right?
“Like that’s four years ago, you know, and here we are kind of still spinning the tires in the mud and trying to find some traction. And they’ve got to figure out a way to do that here. Obviously, the spring legislative session has closed, and now your timeline has been altered because of that because you didn’t get some of the things that you hoped you would have been able to get out of this.”
So far, Warren has not been able to be a closer for the Bears. Maybe he can start to see progress in the fall, around the same time his front office hopes to see progress from a team that has won 15 games in the last three seasons.
A winning season and a promising young quarterback might ease some nerves about investing in the stadium.
© Megan Smith / USA TODAY NETWORK
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2 Comments
Translation, Pritzker want something that will put money in his pocket.
The Bears only option is to finance it themselves. They were stupid to think the would get help from the state in the first place. It’s not like they can’t come up with the money. The State of Illinois ain’t helping them.