Chicago Lakefront Still 'Best Place' For Bears To Play: Mayor

CHICAGO — Last month, two proposed sites for a new Chicago Bears stadium in the city were deemed not "feasible," according to a report from ESPN. The team, as well as the NFL, has indicated the choice of stadium projects is coming down to Arlington Heights and a site near Wolf Lake in Hammond, Indiana.

Despite this, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is scheduled to visit Springfield Wednesday to try and convince Illinois lawmakers not to rule out the Windy City as a possibility.

"Well, I mean, the best thing to do for Soldier Field is to make sure the Bears are playing there," Johnson said Tuesday at City Hall when asked about the future of the NFL's oldest stadium. "Look, I still firmly believe that the best place for the Bears to play is in the city of Chicago."

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In April 2024, Johnson and the Bears announced plans for a stadium project near the current home of the team at Soldier Field, along Chicago's lakefront. At the time, the price tag on the publicly owned, domed stadium was reportedly $3.2 billion, with the entire project slated to cost around $4.6 billion.

The Bears were said to be considering privately investing more than $2 billion to the project, which, according to team officials, would cover more than 70 percent of the costs to construct the stadium.

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But in the last two years, the lakefront project has seemingly been pushed far behind the proposals at the former Arlington Park racetrack and in Indiana.

"And quite frankly, looking at the infrastructure that they're even discussing in the suburbs, those infrastructure needs have been present on the lakefront for a very long time. It's the top tourist destination anywhere in the state of Illinois," Johnson said of Chicago.

Last month, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signed off on Senate Bill 27, which passed the state's senate by a vote of 45-4 after being advanced by the Indiana House of Representatives by a 95-4 vote. The bill is intended for the state to commit up to $1 billion to help finance the project in Hammond.

With the current Illinois legislative session ending on May 31, along with reported pressure from the NFL for the team to decide, the next few weeks should be busy for Bears' brass.

An amended megaproject bill with new tax breaks intended to keep the Chicago Bears in Illinois, and build a new stadium in Arlington Heights specifically, was approved by the Illinois House on April 22 by a vote of 78-32. HB910 has been in front of the Senate since that government branch reconvened from a break the next week, but has still not been put to the floor for a vote.

HB910 allows for any megaproject involving an investment of $500 million or more to negotiate a freeze on its property tax assessment. The bill, which has stalled since first being introduced in 2024, moved forward after the passage of legislation in Indiana intended to lure the Bears out of Illinois.

"There are some real concerns about the project and I know the governor expressed them as well. There's some real concerns about what has been laid out, you know what's being proposed," Johnson said. "And so for me, I'm going to, of course, continue to fight for Chicago."

Soldier Field, which opened in 1924, is the NFL's oldest stadium. The Bears began playing there in 1971 after leaving Wrigley Field. It has a football game capacity of 61,500 fans, which is the smallest in the NFL. The Bears' lease at Soldier Field expires in 2033.