Sun-Times/WBEZ Poll: Most don't want to see tax dollars used on Bears' Arlington Park move
Illinoisans are calling conflicting plays on a potential Chicago Bears move to Arlington Heights, split among those who favor spiking Soldier Field for a new suburban stadium, others who want the team to hold the line on the lakefront - and a large chunk who are punting on the issue.
But an outsized portion of them agree on one point: They don't want to see any of their tax dollars thrown at the potential suburban mega-development.
That's according to a Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ Poll that found a little under half of Illinois voters don't want a cent of public money going to the team's $5 billion plan - not even to chip in for infrastructure costs, the kind of subsidies that Bears executives have already acknowledged they'd seek.
The survey last week of 770 likely general election voters across the state underscores the difficulty the team faces in lining up support for its sprawling proposal to transform the shuttered Arlington International Racecourse into a stadium campus accompanied by scores of new restaurants, businesses and residential buildings.