What to know about the possible stadium move from Soldier Field – Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Bears embarked on a new era Wednesday with the purchase of a site in Arlington Heights where the team hopes to build a new enclosed stadium with a massive entertainment and residential development.

Despite the sale, the organization maintains the stadium and development are still big “ifs,” dependent on the team getting certainty on property tax limits and public subsidies to help build infrastructure for the project. But the team issued an open letter calling the purchase “an important next step” to see if the plan is feasible.

By shelling out $197 million for the 326-acre Arlington International Racecourse site, team officials plan to leave behind Chicago’s Soldier Field in favor of owning their own stadium where they could also hold marquee events like the Super Bowl or NCAA basketball championships.

The announcement comes shortly after a “megaprojects” bill was introduced in Springfield that could help the Bears finance their plans by freezing the property tax assessment for up to 40 years. But state lawmakers from Chicago are unlikely to help the Bears leave, and downstate legislators will want something in return. Even the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Ann Gillespie, a Democrat from Arlington Heights, has expressed doubts about the measure.

Here’s what to know about the possible move from Soldier Field, with reaction from City Hall to Arlington Heights.

With less than two weeks to go before Chicago’s election, Mayor Lori Lightfoot isn’t laughing at the Bears anymore.

Her first reaction to the team’s interest in Arlington Heights was to mock the NFL franchise and encourage its leaders to “focus on putting a winning team on the field, beating the Packers finally and being relevant past October.”

But now that the Bears have dropped a landmine in front of the mayor’s reelection campaign by closing on the former Arlington Heights racetrack property they hope to transform into a modern stadium, Lightfoot faces a tough situation that’s largely out of her control but will nevertheless draw criticism of her combative style. Read more here.

Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears, in Chicago on Sept. 29, 2021. The Chicago Bears have signed a purchase agreement for Arlington International Racecourse, a move that takes the team a step closer toward securing property for a new stadium and leaving their longtime home at Soldier Field. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

The divorce is far from a foregone conclusion — the Bears have simply taken the next step, one they’ve been telegraphing for over a year.

Friends of the Parks Executive Director Juanita Irizarry served on a 2022 panel Lightfoot created to figure out what a modernized Museum Campus could look like with or without the Bears.

If the team leaves Soldier Field, Irizarry said she hopes the stadium can host many more concerts each year, easing the increasingly controversial burden on neighborhood parks for big musical events such as Riot Fest in Douglass Park and the recently announced Re:SET festival in Riis Park.

“A review of the Park District budget over the past few years would reveal that the Park District has actually been growing its revenue in terms of using Soldier Field for more events that are non-football events, and there’s more potential there,” Irizarry said. “But the limitations that have been imposed by a contract with the Bears have really gotten in the way of further growth of that revenue. So we think this would be a great chance to look at that.” Read more here.

A rendering released by the Chicago Bears shows the view from the threshold of the proposed stadium of the Arlington Park entertainment district. The Bears released proposed development plans for the Arlington International Racecourse property in Arlington Heights on Sept. 6, 2022. (Hart Howerton/Chicago Bears)

Arlington Heights Village Manager Randy Recklaus said village staff is looking forward to working with the team and welcoming them to the area.

“We’re excited about this as a unique opportunity for us and appreciative that the Chicago Bears Football Club has chosen to make such a major investment in our community,” he said.

Just because the Bears have purchased the property doesn’t mean the team will build a new stadium there. Whatever they build, Recklaus said, Arlington Heights will need to vet the details of the project.

As part of that vetting, the village hired consultants to do traffic and economic impact analyses of the proposed development in late 2022. Read more here.

Bears Chairman George McCaskey and president/CEO Ted Phillips sat down with the Tribune. Here are some of their answers on how the Arlington project will be handled as Phillips prepares to depart, how Phillips reflects on his tenure and much more. Read it here.

A kick sails over a mass of Bear defenders to clear the crossbar and give Washington a 3-0 lead at Soldier Field on Nov. 14, 1971. The Bears have played their home games at Soldier Field since 1971. (Ray Gora / Chicago Tribune)

While the Bears have called Soldier Field home since 1971, the team has discussed or proposed playing its games elsewhere throughout much of the last 50 years.

Wrigley Field served as the original home venue for the team when it moved to Chicago in 1921 and remained there through 1970. The team won nearly 70% of its home games during that span.

But the Bears were forced to find a new home after the American Football League merged with the National Football League and required stadiums to seat at least 50,000 fans. The team played its last game at Wrigley Field on Dec. 13, 1970, beating the Packers 35-17. Read more here.

If the Bears dare to dream big about a new stadium in Arlington Heights, they can find inspiration in SoFi Stadium, the new star attraction of the NFL.

The league’s largest and most expensive arena and the site of the Super Bowl, SoFi, just outside Los Angeles, is overwhelming fans with its sweeping curves and epic scale. The stadium and its development highlight certain parallels to the Bears’ proposal to buy and redevelop Arlington International Racecourse. Both reflect desires to leave century-old stadiums and home cities for vast sites that allow for planned enclaves of surrounding restaurants, hotels, offices, stores and homes. Read more here.

Fans were exponentially more understanding than Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and some even expressed a draft day-like optimism that better days are ahead. They dreamed openly of shorter concessions, easier parking, better tailgating opportunities and a domed stadium that protected them from biting winter winds.

“I’ve been to multiple stadiums in the NFL and Soldier Field does not compete with any of them,” Bears season ticket holder Neal Shah of Wheaton said. “On game days, the television crews show an aerial view of the stadium, which is beautiful, but the logistics are terrible.” Read more here.