Bears’ Hammond plan hinges on property-tax certainty

Bears’ Hammond – After years of maneuvering that began in 2021, the Bears say a proposed Hammond stadium project could reshape the region—while critics expect a rapid blame fight over why the team’s Chicago future unraveled.

For five years. the Bears’ next home has felt like a moving target—always close enough to matter. never close enough to settle. The latest announcement from chairman George McCaskey and president and CEO Kevin Warren. speaking for the board of directors. puts one place at the center of the debate: Hammond.

The team now says it believes a “world-class stadium project in Hammond” will transform the region by connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city. If the proposal goes forward. the Bears would become only the fourth team in the NFL to play its home games in a state that isn’t the state the franchise lives in and represents.

For fans, the argument has never been only about geography. It’s been about whether Chicago—where the Bears have long anchored their identity—could truly give the team what it needed without losing something in return.

The key technical point driving this moment is property-tax certainty. The push toward Hammond is tied to what Illinois state legislators could not guarantee: an immovable fixed number on what taxes on a new stadium would be. That mattered because the Bears had purchased old Arlington International Racecourse space—described in the account as an alternative “just in case”—after they couldn’t secure full or shared stadium ownership of Soldier Field. or obtain the public funding needed to build anew in the city. The Bears’ broader aim. according to the account. was to stop being among the few NFL teams that lacked some form of financial property rights to the stadium they call home.

Arlington Heights, and the “Village of Good Neighbors,” are described as unable to guarantee what the Bears needed, and the result is stark: the Bears are portrayed as giving Chicago “the peace sign”—a decision that could end a 106-year run in the city where the team’s identity has been rooted.

Once the proposed deal becomes real. the blame game described here is expected to start immediately and “last until the Bears return to Chicago in 40 to 50 years. ” after the new-stadium smell in Hammond wears off. In that telling, Illinois gets the first share of blame, with the McCaskey family inheriting a portion as well.

Gov. Pritzker is forecast to carry a lasting political stain. Mayor Brandon Johnson and Kevin Warren are also singled out—here. as the two black men in the middle of the situation who. on this path. allowed it to happen on their watch. And Arlington Heights. along with the “Village of Good Neighbors. ” is expected to be labeled by critics as Chicago’s “treasonous. insubordinate neighbors.”.

But the account also makes room for a different feeling: at this point, after years of headlines and negotiations that wore down supporters, it may be better—simply—to put the whole saga behind them.

The process. as described. came to a point of exhaustion: a “taxpayer-subsidized stadium” that never seemed to land on firm ground. weekly “advance in plans” updates that some viewed as empty. and games-inside-games that insiders appeared to mask as “negotiations.” Over time. the author argues. what matters to fans stopped being where the Bears play and became something else—the name “Chicago.”.

The frustration. in that view. is personal: supporters were pushed toward a feeling of being taken for granted. as the team signaled Chicago-connected pride while steering the future elsewhere. The writer describes an index finger held up in reference to the Bears’ current state and new future—only to say the finger holding up to fans is the “longer one next to the index. ” implying that fans are the ones left with a harder. lingering question.

All of this traces back to 2021. when the Bears announced they had purchased the old Arlington International Racecourse space as an alternative for their next home. That was framed as a backup plan—“just in case”—they couldn’t secure Soldier Field ownership or shared ownership. or obtain public funding to rebuild in the city.

Now. with the Hammond proposal on the table and property-tax certainty identified as the decisive hinge. the Bears’ next chapter is no longer a distant possibility. It’s an argument fans have already lived through—turning hope into doubt. and doubt into anger—while waiting to see whether Chicago keeps its team or finally watches it go.

Chicago Bears Hammond stadium Soldier Field Arlington International Racecourse George McCaskey Kevin Warren property-tax certainty Illinois politics Brandon Johnson J.B. Pritzker PILOT Soldier Field ownership