Daily Herald opinion: Reaching the end zone: Keeping the Bears in Illinois means acting now — not later

Some of the language this week around a Bears-backed legislative proposal was tinged with more than a little irony.

First, State Rep. Kam Buckner, the bill’s sponsor, said on NBC 5 Chicago’s Sports Sunday that lawmakers are still “fine tuning” the legislation that would that would allow the Bears to negotiate directly with local taxing bodies and pave the way for a new stadium in Arlington Heights.

“I truly believe that we’ll get there quickly,” the Chicago Democrat said.

“Quickly,” however, is a relative term in Illinois, where a measure to help Bears owners build on the 326-acre former Arlington Park property they bought in 2023 has languished for three years.

Contrast that to what happened in Indiana when the Bears expressed a willingness to move over the state border a couple months back: Lawmakers there wasted no time in approving legislation to help make that happen.

It took them weeks, not years.

On Tuesday, Gov. JB Pritzker emphasized that the matter rests with the Illinois General Assembly but urged lawmakers to act “sooner rather than later.”

“It is a pretty good deal that’s been put on the table that I think seems to have support broadly by the Bears ownership,” he said. “So it really now is in the hands of the House of Representatives and the Senate to get something done in a timely fashion.”

Illinois, we would argue, has long cruised past “timely.”

Tuesday was the first time both chambers of the General Assembly were in session since the legislation advanced out of a House committee nearly a month ago. The bill didn’t come up for a vote then in the full House, which went on recess Feb. 26 as Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signed that state’s stadium legislation into law.

More irony, perhaps?

As reporter Chris Placek pointed out in an article Wednesday, another recess looms at the end of this week, with the Senate not returning until April 14. Lawmakers could, of course, drag this out until the waning hours of the spring session in May, as they have with so many other fraught issues over the years.

But Bears leadership might not be willing to wait.

The key to any state deal is winning over the support of Chicago House Democrats, who have been reluctant to lose the Bears to the ’burbs. We get that, but Arlington Heights offers opportunities Chicago can’t for both a domed stadium and a mixed-use development that would include hotels, entertainment, retail and more.

Keeping the Bears and that development in Illinois must be the goal of both city and suburban lawmakers.

Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia used the perfect football term earlier this year in making his case for the legislation: “We cannot fumble this opportunity.”

And to prevent that, “sooner rather than later” should be now.