Bears megaproject bill sacked, but lawmakers draw up new play to keep team in state

SPRINGFIELD — The property tax break legislation backed by the Chicago Bears to build a stadium in Arlington Heights didn’t have the votes to pass in Springfield.

But legislators crafted an alternative proposal to try to keep the football franchise in Illinois — maybe even still in Chicago — and prevent the team from bolting to Indiana.

The plan discussed at the Capitol on Sunday — the final day of the spring session — would give municipalities including Arlington Heights the ability to create their own public stadium authorities.

Like competing legislation approved in Indiana — and the existing setup wherein the Bears play at the Chicago Park District-owned Soldier Field financed by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority — the proposal could enable a new tax-exempt public stadium, as opposed to a private one where the NFL club would be subject to property taxes.

Municipalities in Cook County with a population above 70,000 would have the ability to create a local stadium authority, according to pending legislation that was to be filed by state Sen. Bill Cunningham late Sunday. Towns would enter into a lease and other agreements with the team.

In the case of Arlington Heights, the village would own the structure, but the Bears would pay to build it — and pay no property taxes on it.

The public/tax-free designation would apply only to the stadium, not a surrounding mixed-use entertainment district.

Bears officials didn’t immediately respond to the latest developments in Springfield. Arlington Heights officials have previously been wary of getting into the public stadium business.

“We’re not picking winners and losers,” said state Rep. Kam Buckner, the Chicago Democrat who has led stadium negotiations in the House. “Our job, I think, is to create the mechanism to keep them here in the state.”

Buckner, speaking to reporters outside a closed door caucus meeting of House Democrats just after noon Sunday, said the mechanism could give Bears officials what they need in the Northwest suburb, or make their conversations more fruitful for a new stadium in Chicago.

The idea to authorize new local stadium authorities “has existed in one shape or form for a while,” said Buckner, who met with Gov. JB Pritzker and Cunningham — the lead Senate negotiator — on Saturday.

“And as we find ourselves here up against the clock, some of those older ideas have come back again,” he said.

Legislators’ Hail Mary play in the waning hours of their spring session Sunday night came after a bombshell revelation from Cunningham the night before: Legislation long-sought by the Bears to lower their tax bill at the 326-acre Arlington Park property didn’t have the votes to pass the Senate.

“We’re focused on trying to construct a bill that will ensure that the Bears stay in Illinois,” said Cunningham, a Democrat from Chicago’s South Side. “The current proposal on the table — it just does not have the votes to pass. But we have not given up, and we’re hopeful that we’ll have a plan moving forward.”

A property tax deal that would have paved the way to the Bears’ suburban relocation was ultimately too bitter of a pill for members of the Chicago delegation to swallow, Cunningham confirmed.

The new legislation devised overnight into Sunday morning provides incentives for the team to build in Arlington Heights, Chicago and other municipalities, putting them all on an “equal footing” to compete for a stadium, Cunningham said.

Although Bears brass have publicly said they are only considering two locations for a new stadium — Arlington Heights and Hammond, Indiana — they’ve met privately with Chicago city officials “repeatedly” for months, he added.

“From day one, there has always been a Chicago problem with the Bears’ proposal,” he told reporters. “The Bears have had a proposal on the table for a couple of years that asks Chicago members of the legislature to vote for a tax credit that would encourage a business to leave Chicago. Legislators generally don’t do that. That’s always been an obstacle to passing this bill.”

The revelations by one of the upper chamber’s top leaders followed a two-hour Saturday closed door caucus meeting of Senate Democrats where the stadium saga was discussed. Cunningham spoke to reporters just after 10 p.m., before heading into a late night committee meeting.

He said members of his caucus had “a couple ideas in the works” and were hopeful a better plan would “crystallize” by Sunday morning.

He added that he had a constructive meeting with Pritzker to discuss those ideas.

Lawmakers were staring down a midnight deadline Sunday night to pass Bears legislation and a $56 billion state budget. Earlier Sunday, the Senate advanced a measure allowing rideshare drivers to unionize. Both chambers approved a cellphone ban in schools.

“We’re going to make every effort to take care of this (Bears bill) before the end of the day tomorrow,” Cunningham vowed.

State senators have been considering the so-called megaproject legislation since the House passed a 376-page version on a 78-32 vote on April 22. There was talk at the Capitol in recent days that the bill could be pared down — from an economic development tool that could benefit any project worth more than $100 million in the state, to one that just focused on the Bears’ proposed $5 billion redevelopment of the former racetrack in Arlington Heights and other projects in Cook County.

Under the Payments in Lieu of Taxes financing mechanism outlined in the bill, the team would have been able to negotiate tax payments directly with school districts and other local governments for up to 40 years.

But in private caucus meetings among supermajority Senate Democrats in recent weeks, it became apparent there was no appetite to support such a long-term tax reduction.

“There are concerns about the property tax break, and caucus members just aren’t really comfortable with it, so we’re trying to find out an alternative,” Cunningham said.

The Bears have been lobbying for the special tax break for at least three years, and Pritzker has been supportive of the concept as a statewide economic development tool, arguing similar programs are in place in other states.

But property tax relief for homeowners and affordability were on lawmakers’ minds this legislative session.

Part of what helped get the megaproject legislation out of the House was a property tax relief sweetener — inserted after months of little movement on the bill — that would have deposited half the Bears’ annual payments to Arlington Heights-area taxing bodies into a locally held property tax relief fund.

Of that amount, 60% was intended for rebates for residential homeowners in the megaproject area, and 40% would have gone to the state’s property tax relief fund.

Despite best efforts in the House, Cunningham said, that provision made things even more problematic for many lawmakers.

“The problem is it’s just very complicated,” he said. “It’s based on a method where we’re not really sure how many tax dollars that proposal would generate, so we don’t know what we would be able to refund to the taxpayers.”