In what continues to be the ongoing saga of “As the Bears stadium turns”, we have a new turn of events: the Bears have agreed with the city of Arlington Heights on their tax bill.
We won’t dive into the whole boring story – you can check out the full writeup from the Chicago Tribune about that – but this story may not be getting enough attention.
Here’s the short of it: a few years ago, when there was seemingly no progress on a new stadium deal with the City of Chicago on the current site of Soldier Field, the Bears went out and bought themselves a 326-acre parcel of land where the defunct Arlington Racetrack still stood. And with a price tag of $197 million, it seemed fairly obvious that the Bears intended to move to the suburbs, where they could build a sprawling complex with a stadium, retail, and residential space, as so many other teams have done or are planning to do.
But then came a property tax bill from Arlington Heights that the Bears refused to swallow, and the plan seemingly fell apart like a Bears 4th quarter drive. And with that, attention turned back from the suburbs to the Soldier Field site.
But that proposal, although shiny and pretty exciting, landed with a thud. While some local politicians got behind it, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, state politicians, as well as the Governor of Illinois, mostly balked. Something about footing the bill for a sports franchise owned by billionaires, while the city and state have so many other pressing needs, didn’t seem to click for them.
And make no mistake – decades of losing and the very fairly earned perception of a cheap ownership group didn’t help to endear the Bears’ cause to anyone. The state legislature adjourned it’s spring session without taking the matter up, and Governor Pritzker continues to maintain that this is not a top priority for the state.
Which has left the matter at an impasse for the last few months. Until today’s news that the Bears and Arlington Heights have taken steps to resolve their tax dispute (even though that issue won’t be formally put to bed until at least December at a city council meeting).
But if you ask us (and surely you were about to), the turn back to downtown was never more than a ploy to gain leverage over Arlington Heights. The reality is that the downtown location simply doesn’t solve the Bears’ needs. They want full control of the stadium. They want full control of the parking, signage, sponsorship, events, etc. They want a hotel, and retail, and a destination that consumers can visit year-round.
In short … they want the suburbs.
Because the old and potentially new Soldier Field – and its ties to the taxpayers – doesn’t solve any of those problems. They can’t build a hotel on the lakefront, they won’t own the parking, they won’t own the concert revenue, etc. Yes, fans would love a new stadium downtown. But pretending that the interests of the fans are the top priority for the Bears would be silly. The Bears are going to look out for … the Bears. And we think the Bears want to think bigger, even if it costs them a lakefront view.
So let’s wait and see what happens next in Arlington Heights. But if that tax issue gets fully resolved, we think the story in 2025 will be a Bears stadium deal in the burbs.
