Chicago Bears bought Arlington Heights track only to build in Indiana?
- Thread starter JP4CY
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Illinois doesn't have the money. Indiana does.
Are they though? And what percent of fans even stay in hotels regardless as opposed to being local?
No, it’s more that fans of politic/parties care more about this than fans of Bears
Chicago bloc (Democrats) rather have Hammond. Many Illinois republicans rather have them leave because they think this is a political loss for Pritzker and incumbent Democrats
I can’t imagine this is anything but good for Illinois taxpayers. Indiana is offering to pick up the tab for the extortion in keeping a NFL team
That AH development was just going to take business from existing properties that would pay more in taxes if Bears got their way, like Old Orchard
Unlikely, but even if true, there’s no loss. The state and city aren’t spending anything
I think it’s simpler than that. Indiana will give the Bears like $5 billion in taxpayer money while Illinois would give them $1 billion. I don’t blame Chicago and Illinois for playing hardball against an organization that’s worth $8+ billion. They can pay for their own damn stadium.
Of course Illinois has the money. It's about not sticking the taxpayers with a large part of the cost when the Soldier Field renovation from years ago isn't even payed off yet.
The Bears could easily fund the entire thing. They're one of the richest NFL franchises annually, but unlike the other teams in that top ten, except for last year they've been terrible, haven't gone to the playoffs, and obviously not the Super Bowl either in recent memory.
The news about the board okaying the Hammond proposal doesn't mean much at all. It's basically like them saying, "Well, we're going forward with a plan to build in the solar system area but we don't know exactly where it'll be, but just trust us, because we're super-duper-serious here and it'll be just smashing!"
It's become a game of each side calling the other's bluff with the Bears trying to use Hammond and Arlington Heights as leverage. The Ill legislature called their bluff on AH, so the Bears needed and got another patsy in Hammond. So their bluff has now been called there, and now the Bears are trying really hard to make it look like they're really double-secret-probation type serious about Hammond. Which by the way, like much of Indiana is a complete dump.
It's also worth noting that just because the current Ill legislative session is in the books, talks won't just end. And obviously a special session could easily be called for some type of deal.
There's nothing stopping the Bears from putting a shovel in the ground in Arlington Heights tomorrow. But as of now, the Bears haven't even conducted a traffic study for that area to determine how 80000 fans would get there on a home game Sunday. According to Bears brass, an AH stadium was already a forgone conclusion done deal months ago. And by the way, taxpayers would also be on the hook for all the road infrastructure work needed for all that traffic, which would run into the multi-millions and take years to build. And that would be the case with either AH or Hammond.
Indiana is by no means flush with cash. In fact the state has one of the worst economic outlooks going forward of any state in the country.
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demoncore1031
Well-Known Member
"The Lakers moved to Los Angeles, where there are no lakes. The Jazz moved to Utah, where they don't allow music."
Can't remember the entire BASEketball scene word for word but it was pretty funny and accurate.
Didn't the Bears already say they were paying for the full cost of the Stadium to be built in Illinois? They want the road infrastructure paid for and then the property tax certainty. There isn't a team or business going to pay 50 million a year in property taxes. Highest NFL team right now is the Rams and its 14.3 million.
"Based on current property tax rates in Arlington Heights, the team would pay about $53.2 million annually without tax breaks."
Report shows how much Bears could pay in Arlington Heights property taxes
Editor's note: This story was updated with a statement from the governor. SZALINSKI’S SUMMARY: The Chicago Bears could receive a
capitolnewsillinois.com
What they'll ultimately pay in property taxes is still being negotiated. And the legislature has a Summer session where I'm sure that will be further addressed.Didn't the Bears already say they were paying for the full cost of the Stadium to be built in Illinois? They want the road infrastructure paid for and then the property tax certainty. There isn't a team or business going to pay 50 million a year in property taxes. Highest NFL team right now is the Rams and its 14.3 million.
"Based on current property tax rates in Arlington Heights, the team would pay about $53.2 million annually without tax breaks."
Report shows how much Bears could pay in Arlington Heights property taxes
Editor's note: This story was updated with a statement from the governor. SZALINSKI’S SUMMARY: The Chicago Bears could receive a
I believe for AH they're (the Bears) claiming they'll pay for the stadium but not the transportation infrastructure which would be a massive/expensive project that would take years to finish.
I think with the Chicago and Hammond proposals, taxpayers are on the hook for a chunk of the stadium cost.
Illinois didn’t need to match Indiana though
This is mostly politics, namely Warren being horrible at it
The Bears with better leadership would be in Illinois, making money off development. They still may be
No one should be giving a god damn NFL franchise 5 billion dollars. F the Bears.
Only in Illinois where a felon ex governor can ride to the rescue
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Unfortunately, the only way to maintain Arlington Heights as an option at the time was to buy it even though doing so gave politicians more leverage on them. It would have sold for other development purposes immediately if they hadn't. Depending on how they parcel it they could actually make a good chunk of money selling it now.
Do we know that will be the case? There was some discussion among Chiccago sports affiliates earlier on that a NW Indiana location might allow them to keep an open air stadium and the "Bear Weather" and lessen the need for a development area operating year round in order to provide the revenue needed to operate in Illinois.
LOL at thinking Indiana is paying for it. The TAXPAYERS are.
