The Chicago Bears and city of Chicago met to discuss potentially keeping the team within city limits, the two sides said Thursday, which would be a major reversal after the Bears spent $197.2 million in February on a suburban site that would permanently remove the team from Chicago for the first time since 1921.
Khyiris Tonga #95 of the Chicago Bears celebrates after fumble recovery in the third quarter of the ... [+]
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren, who previously met in June, released a joint statement Thursday that said the two met again and “plan to have regular dialogue with each other.”
In February, the NFL franchise announced it had purchased 326 acres in suburban Arlington Heights, which formerly hosted a horse racing track, with plans to move the team’s games from Soldier Field, which is owned by the city, to a new $2 billion stadium it planned to build with an accompanying entertainment district.
The team noted at the time that there’s “still a tremendous amount of due diligence work to be done” before choosing to build a stadium in Arlington Heights.
It’s unclear under what arrangement Johnson and Warren spoke about keeping the Bears in the city. The city has pitched upgrading Soldier Field, but the team may have also discussed finding new land for the Bears to build a new stadium on.
The Chicago Bears moved to Soldier Field from Wrigley Field—home to the MLB’s Chicago Cubs—in 1971. The stadium, which sits along Lake Michigan in the city’s Museum Campus, was built in 1919—though it wasn’t renamed Soldier Field until 1925—and saw major renovations before the 2003 NFL season. However, the Bears have signaled their belief that the stadium doesn’t compete with other newer NFL stadiums in terms of size and amenities, and the franchise wants to own its own stadium. But the team’s plans to move to the suburbs were put in jeopardy when an unfavorable $95 million property valuation hiked the property taxes on the Arlington Heights property four times higher than they were in 2021, the Chicago Tribune reported. After the tax hike, the Bears released a statement saying the Arlington Park property is no longer their “singular focus” as they search for a new venue. In addition to holding meetings with the Chicago mayor, the Bears have held meetings with the mayor of nearby Naperville, the Tribune reported. Additionally, other suburbs have made their pitches including Waukegan, Richton Park and Aurora, which have all sent letters to the organization. However, Arlington Heights is still in the conversation as the Bears began demolition on the horse racing track there in February to make room for the stadium, the Tribune reported.
With a capacity of 63,500, Soldier Field is the smallest stadium in the NFL, despite the fact it hosts the team of the country’s third-largest city.
Any more announcements from the Bears. Chicago isn’t the only city in the running for the new stadium, and given the team was set on leaving just months ago, it may not be a frontrunner. The organization is likely to make a formal announcement somewhat soon.
We estimate the Bears’ value to be $5.8 billion, making them the fifth most valuable franchise in the NFL.
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