Bears shift stadium focus back to Arlington Heights

The Chicago Bears Friday announced a long-rumored and much-anticipated shift in stadium development focus back to their 326-acre property in Arlington Heights.

“Over the last few months, we have made significant progress with the leaders in Arlington Heights, and look forward to continuing to work with state and local leaders on making a transformative economic development project for the region a reality,” according to the team’s statement.

New Mayor Jim Tinaglia, who met privately with Bears President/CEO Kevin Warren ahead of the mayoral swearing-in ceremony May 5, was measured in his response to the team’s latest pivot. He said much work remains to ensure that the village’s and team’s goals can be met, but that discussions that have ramped up in recent months are “headed in the right direction.”

Reached by phone Friday afternoon, the local architect said he was driving back from a project in Indiana and listening to sports talk radio, where reactions were more certain that it’s all a done deal in Arlington Heights.

“We can read between those lines the same way and say, ‘Arlington Heights for sure they’re coming,’” Tinaglia said. “But when Kevin or (Chairman) George (McCaskey) looks me in the eye and says, ‘Jim, we are teammates, and we’re coming your way,’ that’s when I say, ‘OK, I am ready to work with you and let’s make this all happen the best way possible.’”

“So far it has been a lot of careful conversation, not saying too much and not committing too far down one road or the other,” Tinaglia added. “And I told Kevin, I admire the fact that they’re being really careful and not putting all their eggs in one basket, because if I owned the team, I’d be trying to do the same thing.”

A spokesman for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said the mayor spoke with executive leadership from the Bears, “who indicated they intend to prioritize the development site located in the village of Arlington Heights.”

“As the mayor has said several times, the door remains open in the city of Chicago,” the spokesman said.

The NFL club’s official announcement — in a short, one-sentence statement emailed to the press Friday morning — comes after public messaging from top Bears brass began moving that way at NFL owners meetings in early April.

At the time, Warren told reporters the team’s focus was on both downtown Chicago and Arlington Heights.

The announcement Friday comes more than a year after Johnson joined Warren to tout a proposed $3.2 billion publicly owned, domed stadium on the lakefront, following an organizational shift away from earlier plans for a privately owned structure at Arlington Park.

But the Museum Campus plans in Chicago — and the requested subsidies that would help pay for it — got a chilly reception in Springfield from Gov. JB Pritzker and top legislative leaders.

At the same time, Bears officials never publicly closed the door on the spacious former racetrack they bought for $197.2 million in February 2023.

It’s where they proposed a $5 billion mixed-use, transit-oriented development in September 2022. Anchored by a domed stadium in the northwest corner of the property, the envisioned development boasted a bevy of uses on some 200 acres to the east, including hotels, a fitness center, sportsbook, hall of fame, performance venue, restaurants, retailers, homes, parks and open space.

But the plans gathered dust on the shelf amid a long-running property tax dispute with three area school districts, prompting the Bears to explore possible development sites in Chicago and other suburbs.

The tax battle was resolved last December, when a memorandum of understanding brokered by Arlington Heights officials was approved by the Bears and elected boards for the village, Palatine Township Elementary District 15, Northwest Suburban High School District 214 and Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211.

In a joint statement Friday afternoon, the school districts said they welcome the Bears’ proposed stadium and entertainment district, which “has the potential to generate long-term economic growth, increase regional visibility, and create new opportunities for our students and communities. We are excited about the possibility.”

“We believe there is a path forward that supports both world-class development and strong public education, and we look forward to continuing these important conversations,” the school districts said.

The memorandum called for the team to resume economic impact, traffic and other evaluative studies that had been paused during the tax dispute, and begin to refine conceptual site plans for a potential Arlington Park redevelopment.

Warren confirmed the team’s consultants resumed the behind-the-scenes work in a Feb. 21 letter to Arlington Heights Village Manager Randy Recklaus, who said in April that preliminary drafts of the traffic and financial studies had been received at village hall.

The village, meanwhile, retained consultants of its own in March and April to peer review those studies. Through an escrow fund, the Bears have agreed to pay for the village’s consultant costs.

Though the Bears say they aren’t seeking funding for the stadium structure itself, the next major step to getting any deal done in Arlington Heights may hinge on legislators’ receptiveness to the team’s long-sought request for a long-term property tax break on their sprawling Northwest suburban acreage.

In the December memorandum, the parties agreed to lobby together for approval of a financing mechanism that would freeze the property’s assessment between 23 and 40 years, and allow the Bears to make negotiated payments to the village, schools and other local units of government.

A handful of bills that would enable such an arrangement for so-called megaprojects have been filed but haven’t moved during the current spring session, which adjourns at the end of the month. Unlike previous legislation that got pushback from lawmakers in 2023, the latest proposals — including from Arlington Heights Democratic state Reps. Mary Beth Canty and Nicolle Grasse and Sen. Mark Walker — aren’t Bears specific, and could be utilized for any large-scale economic development project in the state, the sponsors contend.

But the enabling legislation also will require enough votes from Chicago lawmakers, who could put up a fight if the team does indeed plan to leave the city.

State Rep. Kam Buckner, whose district includes Soldier Field, called the latest Bears pivot “déjà vu,” and a “stadium misdirection package.”

“A hard count to bait Springfield, play-action fake to sell the lakefront dream, then a double reverse back to Arlington,” the Chicago Democrat tweeted. “This isn’t a development plan, it’s a master class in stadium whiplash. And it isn’t over.”