Bears stick – The Chicago Bears say they will stick with their late spring/early summer timeline to choose a stadium site after the Illinois Senate passed an incentives bill that the House left untouched. The team is still weighing Arlington Heights and Hammond, Indiana, wi
CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears can feel the ground shifting under their stadium timeline, but they’re not letting it move their decision date.
With the Illinois state legislature unable to finish its spring session on the bill that would have paved the way for local stadium authorities. the Bears say they remain on schedule to pick a new home. They are finalizing evaluations of potential sites in Arlington Heights and Hammond. Indiana. and “remain on the late spring/early summer timeline.”.
“We will provide an update when we have a decision to share,” the team said.
The sequence that rattled the plans started early Monday morning: the Illinois Senate passed a bill that would have cleared the way for Arlington Heights and Chicago to create local stadium authorities. That pathway was viewed as a way for the Bears to avoid paying property taxes on a new stadium in Illinois.
But the Illinois House adjourned without taking up the measure on the last day of the spring legislative session, leaving the Bears in a familiar, frustrating position — one where the stadium work continues even as the incentives framework hangs in limbo.
For state lawmakers, the bill’s failure was laid out plainly by Rep. Kam Buckner, whose district includes parts of Chicago. On social media, Buckner posted that the modified bill approved by the Senate did not have enough support in the House.
“I remain optimistic,” Buckner wrote on X. “We all share the same goal: finding a solution that works for the Bears, works for taxpayers, and earns the confidence of the General Assembly. This morning was the end of session. It was not the end of the conversation.”
The stakes for the Bears aren’t just political. Their relationship with Soldier Field is still real and still contractual: their lease runs through 2033, though the team can pay a fee to break the lease early.
This is also not a new chapter. The Bears, a charter NFL franchise, have been moving through a laborious stadium process for years, and the latest legislative twist fits the pattern of long waits and shifting routes.
In September 2021, the team announced it had signed a purchase agreement for 326 acres of land in Arlington Heights, about 30 miles northwest of Chicago. The $197 million deal with Churchill Downs Incorporated was finalized in 2023.
Two months later, in September 2022, the Bears unveiled a nearly $5 billion plan for Arlington Heights. It envisioned an enclosed stadium that could host Super Bowls and Final Fours, and conceptual illustrations included a year-round entertainment district with restaurants and shopping.
But leadership changes helped redirect the momentum. After Kevin Warren was hired as team president in January 2023. replacing the retiring Ted Phillips. the Bears shifted toward building a new stadium next to Soldier Field. The plan to transform Chicago’s Museum Campus received an enthusiastic endorsement from Mayor Brandon Johnson. while drawing a tepid reception from Gov. JB Pritzker and state legislators when it was announced in April 2024.
The team’s direction didn’t settle there. In May 2025, the Bears said they had made “significant progress” with local leaders in Arlington Heights.
At the same time, the hunt for financial leverage continued. With lingering efforts tied to tax incentives in Illinois — alongside as much as $855 million in public money for infrastructure at the Arlington Heights site — the Bears began to take a closer look at options in Northwest Indiana.
Indiana moved quickly to meet that interest. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and state lawmakers jumped on the Bears’ attention. In February. a state House of Representatives committee passed a bill that established a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to finance. construct and lease a stadium. The Bears said they were doing their due diligence on a tract of land near Wolf Lake in Hammond, Indiana.
On May 21, the Bears said Hammond and Arlington Heights were the only sites under consideration. Still, some Illinois state lawmakers kept pushing for a plan that they hoped would pull Chicago back into the conversation.
The Bears’ history with Illinois runs deep. Since the team’s founding in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys, they have played in Illinois. Since moving to Chicago in 1921, they have never owned their stadium — whether the Bears were at Wrigley Field from 1921 to 1970 or at Soldier Field since.
For now, though, the Bears are holding the line. Even after the Illinois Senate cleared a bill early Monday and the House adjourned before acting on it, the team’s focus remains on finishing its site work and reporting a decision on the late spring/early summer timetable.
The unanswered question isn’t whether the Bears will keep evaluating options. It’s what Illinois will be willing to provide once lawmakers are back in session — and whether the clock on the Bears’ next home forces that answer sooner than anyone expected.
Chicago Bears stadium Arlington Heights Hammond Indiana Illinois incentives Soldier Field lease Kam Buckner Kevin Warren Churchill Downs Incorporated