‘We cannot fumble this opportunity’: Arlington Heights officials say tax break bill needed to keep the Bears in Illinois

As Indiana officials ramp up efforts to lure the Bears, officials in Arlington Heights Friday doubled down on trying to keep the team on this side of the state line.

Mayor Jim Tinaglia implored Illinois legislators to pass the Bears-backed megaproject bill that would clear the team’s path to building a $5 billion stadium and mixed-use entertainment district at the Arlington Park property.

But he warned that without the property tax break legislation, Illinois could soon be “out of the NFL business altogether.”

“We must stand together, not as Arlington Heights residents, not as Chicago residents. We’re all Illinoisans today,” Tinaglia said during a press conference Friday morning at village hall. “This is about keeping the Bears in Illinois and giving them the tools to do so.”

“We cannot fumble this opportunity,” he said.

Among those backing Tinaglia behind the village boardroom podium were members of labor unions who could benefit from construction jobs at the old racetrack site, and the superintendents of three local school districts who’ve agreed to lobby with village officials on behalf of the Bears project.

Also there were the megaproject bill sponsors: Arlington Heights Democratic state Sen. Mark Walker and state Rep. Nicolle Grasse.

As they return to Springfield for the start of the spring session this week, top leaders have signaled Bears legislation wouldn’t be a top priority. The bill — which would allow the Bears to negotiate directly with affected taxing bodies such as schools to set long-term taxing structures — hasn’t moved since first iterations were drafted in late 2022.

Bears President/CEO Kevin Warren decried a lack of “legislative partnership” when he announced last month that the organization would expand its stadium search to Northwest Indiana.

On Thursday, two Indiana lawmakers introduced a bill that would create the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to acquire land and issue bonds for a new stadium that would be leased to the Bears for at least 35 years.

While receptive to the Bears’ ask for close to $1 billion worth of infrastructure upgrades around Arlington Park, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has wavered on whether to support the megaproject bill. Last September, he declared it a “prerequisite” for the team to first pay off some $500 million still owed for the 2003 renovations of Soldier Field.

But during a separate event Friday morning on Chicago’s South Side, Pritzker softened that tone.

“That is not the core issue. The Bears don’t owe that,” Pritzker said. “That is a decision that government leaders made years ago to borrow that money to create the Bears stadium. The Bears, of course, as a result of them playing at Soldier Field and paying rent essentially, are helping to pay the bills on that.”

“I just want to be clear that the actual financial responsibility for that debt does not fall on the Bears,” he said. “Having said that, we do not want to leave the city of Chicago or state of Illinois with enormous debt that goes unpaid, so we have to figure out how that happens. That does not fall entirely on the Bears.”

Back in Arlington Heights, Walker acknowledged that some type of measure to pay down the debt held by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority might be needed to clear the “big hurdle” of securing votes from the Chicago delegation.

Meanwhile, Tinaglia complained of the “inadequacy” and “uncertainty” in Illinois law that has led the Bears to consider relocating across state lines.

Without enabling legislation, Tinaglia cited estimates that the Bears would be subject to an annual property tax bill of $100 million to $200 million at the fully developed 326-acre property in Arlington Heights.

He said the next highest tax bill for a private stadium in the country is $8.8 million at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California — home to the Bears’ Sunday playoff opponent Los Angeles Rams.

The bill is $6.1 million at the United Center in Chicago as a result of special legislation approved when the building was constructed, according to Village Manager Randy Recklaus. It’s $2.7 million at Wrigley Field, which benefits from historic preservation credits, Recklaus said.

Soldier Field and Guaranteed Rate Field — both publicly owned — pay no taxes.

The Bears are currently paying $3.6 million a year on the vacant land through 2027, under a memorandum of understanding with the school districts.

So what should the Bears’ tax bill be?

“It is too premature to say that. The honest answer is it depends,” Recklaus said. “It depends on what’s in that mixed-use district. It depends on the how much revenue is generated, generally, from the site.”

Tinaglia hoped the team’s bill could be something “in the ballpark” of the SoFi site. He framed the Bears’ ask as fairness, not a “handout.”

“The Chicago Bears should not get special treatment just because they are the Bears, but they shouldn’t have it held against them, either,” he said.