Debt, not distance, is the issue for Bears' move

In a recent Soapbox, the Daily Herald Editorial Board questioned my concerns with the potential Bears move to Arlington Heights, comparing it to the cross-country move of the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and assuring me that it's only 34 miles.

As I stated in my initial statement on the subject, the issue I have with the Bears' announcement is not simply their intention to move. The issue certainly is not the distance. The issue is a multi-billion dollar sports franchise benefiting from public funding and then failing to repay it to the taxpayers who funded it.

I am a lifelong Bears fan and will support them whether they play their home games at Soldier Field in Chicago or a brand new, state-of-the-art facility on the site of the Arlington racetrack. But, as a state senator who has the concerns of the people I represent and the people of this state at the forefront of my motivation, it concerns me to think that the wealthy owners who took $660 million in public funding 20 years ago are gearing up to ask for more, when they can both afford to build a new stadium themselves and have no reason to leave their current stadium in the first place.

I have stated this before, and I will state it again, if the Bears' ownership wants to move the team out of Chicago, they are free to do so, but not without first repaying the debt they owe to the community and to the people that are the reason for their success.

State Sen. Robert Peters

Chicago