Chicago Bears bought Arlington Heights track only to build in Indiana?
- Thread starter JP4CY
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That’s a tremendous amount of development and potential jobs for a community that doesn’t have much though. It opens the door to so much development in that area. This would be a massive win for that area. It actually would be a win for that whole area, including the Illinois side.
I would say it’s actually arguably fine for downtown Chicago long-term as well. They can redevelop that area into revenue generating space more of the year.
Maybe, that's what they said about the United Center. The area has improved a little bit since the old Chicago Stadium days, but it's still not a nice area with really nothing to do there. But I'm cynical when it comes to stadiums. I think they are the ultimate example of the failure of "Trickle Down Economics" Give the billionaires billions and they will pass it down. Instead, they barely pay minimum wage, get enormous tax breaks that basically defeats the purpose of building the stadium and raise ticket prices so high the average person in the area can't afford to go to a game.
Just as a side note: I really don't care where the Bears go. I hardly ever go to games, have never been to Soldier Field for anything other than NFL and would prefer my tax dollars don't help them.
Why is everyone so surprised here? The bears ownership if extremely poor versus their peer group. Almost all their wealth is tied up in the team. They have to get these incentives in order to afford it.
Minnesota got lucky getting their public dollars when they did. That wouldn't happen in 2026
Minnesota got lucky getting their public dollars when they did. That wouldn't happen in 2026
Yeah, but New England gets a great franchise in the Pats while the Midwest gets the Bears? Just get so tired of the Midwest getting crapped on.
Exactly. Born and raised Chicagoan and I made a swift decision to never root for the Bears any longer about 15 years ago. Incompetent ownership that has only cared about their bottom line. Can’t say I fully blame them, but not the organization I will spend my time or money on. The Bears fan base is also illogically loyal and very large due to the fact the Bears are one of the oldest organizations in US sports; the McCaskey’s woke up on 3rd base but just have no clue how to run a successful sports franchise. They stayed true to their incompetence a few years ago and hired Kevin Warren. That guy has always been bad at his job.
It won't do anything. Show me a stadium where building it in one of those dumpy areas has helped. The Cardinals stadium did nothing for Glendale. Its the worst location for a stadium I've ever seen.
Every stadium in the league except for Jerryworld is paid with public dollars. The city owns these stadiums. If you want their business in your town it's up to you to help pay for the infrastructure for it. These teams just need to move completely out of the regions that won't support them. End of story. I guarantee you a city like Oklahoma City would have no trouble paying for a stadium. How pathetic is it a city like Chicago can't even come up with the funds to pay for a new Bears stadium? Look at the morons in KCMO who called the Hunt family's bluff and are now crying because KCK wanted the team more than they did. Unfortunately these places are way better off investing in their sports teams than building another lousy school or whatever infrastructure project that people think is so important.
I can’t understand the Illinois legislators being pissed about this in the slightest. The Bears have been asking to have a conversation about this for years, and Pritzker came out last year and said it wouldn’t even be on the agenda to discuss it in 2026. What do you expect the Bears to do when you come out and say that? All Pritzker had to do previously was commit to help with the infrastructure (which now he finally has because he’s in panic mode) and have a convo about tax certainty, but he was too cocky to do it. Now Pritzker and his cronies are panicking, and his legacy is going to be that he lost the Bears to the state of Indiana.
Oh that's all the state had to do. Sign on for billions in subsidies for a franchise valued at $9B?
The McCaskey family wants to develop the Arlington Heights site into a mixed use business and entertainment district, including a casino that they own. And all of this while keeping the property taxed as if it was undeveloped/vacant land.
The state will never recoup any of the value generated if they give the Bears a sweetheart tax deal.
Pritzker and the state of Illinois are in a no win situation. Either sign off on a massive handout to a billionaire nepo family, or lose one of the cultural icons of the city/state to their neighbor.
Billions in subsidies? All they’re asking the state of Illinois to do is modernize the roads and utilities (infrastructure) to the new stadium site, which even Pritzker admitted is a perfectly reasonable request anytime a business wants to make that massive of an investment in the state. Additionally, it’s borderline malpractice and a political fubar to not substantially enhance the public transportation when a facility of that size is built. And from a tax standpoint, they are asking for a bill to be passed that allows a business to negotiate their tax rate with the local municipality when an investment of $500 million or more is made, which seems perfectly acceptable for an entity willing to make an investment that massive. I guarantee you the majority of Arlington Heights is going to be very disappointed if the state of Illinois screws this up for them, which tells you how impactful the project would be. Even with a negotiated rate it’s still going to generate a ridiculous amount of tax money for AH. And all the other pro franchisees in the state already have negotiated tax deals.
Bottom line, my hunch is that Pritzker finds their requests perfectly reasonable, but he thinks he’s smarter than he is and figured he could make himself look good by playing hardball with them previously.
I don't know about you all but with the Dover Chemical Corporation just across the street I am completely 100% sold on this location being the perfect marquis for the "new" Northwest Indiana.
Interestingly, this fundamentally comes down to 'taxes'. One side exits higher taxes. The other plays their bluff. Unfortunately, it's a no win situation for the fans.
Detroit, North/West side of Philly, North/East side of STL, Camden, NJ, Trenton, NJ, Wilmington, DE, Baltimore and the list goes on but there are a lot of sad places. Just went through NW Indiana for hockey tourney last week and there is at least a pulse, not much but a little.
If they Bears level of play the past 20 years didn't scare fans off, this certainly will not.
I’m trying to think of another situation where there would be as much of an incentive to build up around the stadium though. In other situations you’re needing a good piece of land that is near good transportation options but might not necessarily care if people have to go several miles to eat, sleep, drink, etc. All of those things being close are better for fans…but the city might not care I mean. Here there would be an enormous incentive for Indiana to not do that. They would want Bears fans spending as much as possible in Indiana. On the other hand, the Illinois side would now have more of an incentive as well, because they can’t just count on fans taking the train back downtown or whatever.
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