A new name is not in the cards, but the Chicago Bears are still leaning east as the franchise scours for a new stadium site.
Chairman George H. McCaskey said rumors of renaming the team as the Indiana Bears or including the city of Hammond (Ind.) are inaccurate. Because the State of Indiana made a team-friendly offer from the Bears’ perspective, McCaskey and the management team are inching ever closer to taking the team out of Chicago.
“We will be the Chicago Bears whether we’re in Arlington (Heights, Ill.) or whether we’re in Hammond,” McCaskey said on Thursday at his annual training camp press conference. “Our focus is on Hammond, that’s where we’re advancing our efforts and that’s where the bulk of our time, attention and resources are being devoted.”
Without certainty around fixed taxes and rebates in downtown Chicago or a potential relocation site in suburban Arlington Heights — 30 miles from Soldier Field toward O’Hare Airport — the Bears accepted the recommendation of the franchise’s board of directors to move forward with planning the move to Hammond, southeast of the city and across state lines.
President and CEO Kevin Warren said he’s “listening to my wife, Greta” when he says the Bears are done sharing any target dates or estimates for when they could break ground. The Bears purchased the Arlington Heights site after the interstate-linked former horseracing track closed, with plans of developing the area for a stadium and additional business and real estate ventures.
At the center of the plans is a “fixed roof” stadium envisioned as the home of the Bears and a destination for the Super Bowl, Final Four and other major events.
While Illinois legislators decided not to vote on a team-approved proposal to make a one-time payment for taxes on the new construction rather than annual billing, Indiana approved tax guarantees and the same type of incentive package Kansas gave the Chiefs to leave Missouri. The Bears would be guaranteed more than $1 billion in incentives in the Hoosier State.
“We don’t have an offer from the state of Illinois,” Warren said. “And our focus now is on Indiana. And obviously, like I said, there have been occasional meetings that have taken place. But right now our focus is on Hammond, Indiana, to make sure that we bring that to life.”
The Bears, one of the NFL’s charter franchises, have an existing lease at Soldier Field on the downtown Chicago lakefront through the 2033 season.
McCaskey said he remains sensitive to tradition and history, and understands why fans would dislike a move across the border.
“We feel that anxiety. We feel that stress,” McCaskey said. “It’s going to require an adjustment. … And as Kevin said, once people see the building, once they get in there, once they understand that our top priority from Day 1 was a world-class stadium experience, we think we’ll make that adjustment. We think Bears fans are up for that.”