Fans in Arlington Heights and Hammond have same goal: Be the new home of the Bears

Joe Engelman and his six high-school friends grew up together and now live all over Illinois, from Wheeling to Streamwood, and one even spent some time in Mesa, Arizona. But they still frequent Jimmy D’s District in Arlington Heights for Chicago Bears games.

The restaurant has a premium view of the former Arlington International Racecourse, one of the Bears’ proposed stadium locations and the group’s old “stomping grounds.”

“If they come to Arlington Heights, I’d be a happy person, especially because they destroyed my track,” said Engelman, 56, sitting at the head of the group’s table.

Just over the Illinois border, a growing audience of Bears fans shuffled into Pudlo’s Tap in Hammond ahead of the start of the season opener Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. A mile away from another proposed stadium site at Wolf Lake Terminals, Pudlo’s hosts complimentary potlucks for Bears games.

Sporting a newly purchased “Hammond Bears” T-shirt, Sarah Dafnis, 42, the owner of Pudlo’s, felt particularly passionate that the stadium would boost Hammond’s economy.

“It’s not just gonna be football. If they’re doing a closed dome stadium, there’s gonna be something every night of the week,” Dafnis said.

Illinois and Indiana have been in competition over the Bears since 2023 when the team bought a site in Arlington Heights, hoping to build an enclosed stadium with a massive entertainment and residential development. Since then, the Bears have advanced plans in Indiana.

Many fans in Arlington Heights watching Sunday’s game said they believe the stadium is likely coming to their town, as the Bears already own property there. Some said discussions of an Indiana location are an effort to extract more funding from Illinois.

“Getting to Indiana on a good day is horrible,” said Erin Choi, a Palatine resident who lives close to the proposed Arlington Heights spot. “Traffic-wise, I can’t imagine what it would be like to get there for a Bears game.”

But some Hammond residents said Indiana has simply made the Bears a better offer.

“We’re ready for the Bears,” Dafnis said. “We’ve seen the soil testing; we’ve seen the trucks out there … I mean, they’re laying out the red carpet.”

Back and forth

Gov. JB Pritzker has said Illinois won’t pay to build a stadium for the Bears, but as with other developments, would pay for infrastructure costs like roads and sewers, estimated at $855 million for the Arlington Heights site.

After Illinois lawmakers failed during the spring legislative session to act on a proposal to let the Bears and other developers negotiate their property taxes for big projects, the Bears said they were advancing their stadium plans in Indiana.

In February, Indiana lawmakers approved a plan to spend up to $1 billion to build an enclosed stadium in Hammond for the Chicago Bears. The team pledged to pay $2 billion toward building the stadium, and would then lease the site but collect all of the operating revenue.

Bears officials on Aug. 13 characterized talks with Illinois legislators over the summer as “minimal,” and said due diligence is now complete on one of two stadium sites in Hammond.

But more recent comments by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Aug. 26 indicate the team hasn’t ruled out Illinois.

Hammond and Arlington Heights have gone back and forth over the stadium ever since, and, adding to the confusion, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is actively fighting to keep the team in the Windy City.

Chicago resident Joe Lynn can see Soldier Field from his living room. Yet the 65-year-old spent his Sunday watching the Bears game in Arlington Heights at Jimmy D’s with family.

Lynn said he’d prefer the suburb over Soldier Field. Between concerts and general entertainment events, there’s always something happening at the Chicago stadium anyway, he said, and the former racecourse site could provide more parking.

Many fans in the Northwest suburbs spoke about how difficult both Soldier Field and Hammond are to reach by car and public transit. The Arlington Heights site, in contrast, would have additional parking and is located next to a Metra station.

As for Hammond, Lynn said he doesn’t see it happening. That’s just politics, he said, typical of Chicago.

“I think Arlington Heights is the date they want to have, but they’re keeping Hammond sort of on, they’re sort of stringing Hammond along,” Lynn said.

A ploy?

Having the Bears move near his lifelong home of Hammond would be incredible, said 61-year-old Justin Woods, sitting at Pudlo’s in a Bears shirt and matching bucket hat. Even if, he said, it might mean he would have to move because of increased property taxes.

Others weren’t too sure how they felt about a potential cost-of-living increase.

“They’re gonna raise taxes if they come here,” said 64-year-old Andy Kalina, who is originally from Hammond but recently moved a few miles down the road to Highland, Indiana. “I don’t really want to pay no more.”

Joann McGuffin lives just steps away from Jimmy D’s and the proposed Arlington Heights stadium. She said her family would probably be able to watch games from her bedroom window.

Still, what McGuffin, 60, said is important is that the Bears stay in Illinois — Indiana already has the Indianapolis Colts. Plenty of football teams have stadiums in the suburbs, she said, and the Arlington Heights area has plenty of season-ticket holders.

Many Hammond locals were similarly skeptical of whether the Bears were seriously considering Indiana.

fbelleau@chicagotribune.com; jmiller@chicagotribune.com