NFL commissioner Roger Goodell joined Bears chairman George McCaskey and president/CEO Kevin Warren in a meeting with Illinois legislators this week, a source confirmed, leaving open future discussions about a stadium site in either Chicago or the suburbs.
The Bears said in a statement Friday they “appreciate the recent engagement from Illinois leadership to explore legislation, which has allowed us to share our feedback.”
The Bears’ Illinois flirtation is in advance of the fall legislative veto session, which begins Nov. 17 in Springfield. No deal can happen until then, and recent history would justify even further skepticism. The Bears’ stadium search has dragged on for more than five years. The team might have less of a sense of where it will build than it did in September 2021, when it agreed to buy 326 acres in Arlington Heights.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday called the meetings “part of a continuing endeavor” to get ready for the veto session.
“We want to make sure the legislation is ready for people to look at and maybe have some hearings during that first week,” he said. “And then hopefully get voted on during the second week of veto.”
Goodell met with Illinois politicians in August, later saying that “we want to make sure that Arlington Heights and Illinois have an opportunity, and Indiana as well, to put their best foot forward.” A month later, he joined Pritzker and Bears minority owner Pat Ryan in another meeting with legislators. The commissioner would not have been involved in such discussions unless the Bears were interested in staying in Illinois.
Different city sites have pitched renderings of Bears stadiums to the public in recent weeks, one at Rate Field site and another at the former U.S. Steel South Works. The Bears are unaffiliated with either.
The Bears say they’re working with Indiana leaders and finalizing the details of two different sites near Wolf Lake in Hammond, for which they’ve pledged $2 billion. The team’s board of directors voted in June to move forward with those plans, though no one ruled out staying in Illinois even after legislation to lower the Bears’ Arlington Heights property taxes flopped in the legislature’s spring sessions.
Pritzker didn’t expect Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s surprising ouster to disrupt negotiations.
“We’ve got leaders other than the speaker involved in the House of Representatives as well as in the Senate,” he said. “So things are moving apace.”
