Walt
The Chicago Bears’ plan to move to Hammond, Indiana, or Arlington Heights, Illinois has received mixed reactions from fans. Chairman George McCaskey and president and CEO Kevin Warren might not have been expecting every single question on the August training camp press day to be about the stadium move. But that’s what happened – reporters didn’t want to hear about anything else. The Athletic’s Jon Greenberg called the years-long process a “debacle”. Warren was more optimistic: he saw it as a “learning opportunity”.
The Athletic recently interviewed several Bears followers, who ranged from Homewood native Cheryl Plaxico, who urged the team to stay where they are, to Joanna Garcia, who lives near Midway Airport, and simply said, “Indiana’s a no”.
Garcia’s husband, Steven, was similarly direct, saying the state “sucked”. The couple works in South Bend and passes by Hammond, and sees nothing there for them.
Another fan, Berwyn cop Bryan Ramirez, said he would never see a Bears game again if they moved to Indiana. His friend Alberto Hernandez’s position wasn’t as extreme, and appreciated Roger Goodell’s willingness to meet Illinois politicians, and said he’d prefer Arlington to Indiana.
Shorter distances wouldn’t necessarily change fans’ minds
Another Bears fan interviewed by The Athletic, Pat Kearney of Riverside, said Hammond would probably be closer for him than Arlington Heights. Nevertheless, he opposes moving the Bears across the state line and wants them to remain in Illinois. His view shows that convenience may not outweigh fans’ attachment to the team’s Chicago and Illinois identity.
In his book Halas by Halas, George Halas wrote of George Chamberlain phoning him in 1920 from the A.E. Staley Company. The previous year, the company had helped form a football team. They were originally called the Decatur Staleys and won the Central Illinois Championship in their first year. In 1921, the team moved to Chicago, and have been there ever since.
But the move would follow other NFL team relocations. It was only in 2016 that the Rams returned from St. Louis to Los Angeles, and the following year the Los Angeles Chargers returned to the area from San Diego. In 2020, the Raiders moved from Oakland to Las Vegas. The Los Angeles Rams and the Bears are both among the favorites to win the Super Bowl in 2027, according to most sports betting odds.
The NFL has been supportive of the Bears’ plan. Spokesperson Brian McCarthy told ESPN in early June that the club had kept the stadium committee and league office up to date with developments. Illinois has also been supportive. In early June, Senator Bill Cunningham introduced legislation that allows Cook County cities with over 70,000 residents (including Chicago and Arlington Heights) to form their own “sports stadium authority”
If their move gets the go-ahead, the Bears would pay for the stadium’s construction and have already dedicated $2 billion in funding toward the project. The land would be publicly owned. On the site which used to house the Arlington International Racecourse, the franchise already owns a 326-acre property.
The Bears have said a stadium can’t be built without certainty around tax. Indiana passed further legislation back in February to amend Senate Bill 27 to ease Bears’ potential difficulties with issuing bonds, acquiring land, and financing construction. So regardless of how Bears fans feel about the relocation, it seems set to happen.
