"We Aren't Any Closer To a Deal" as Bears Speculation Ramps Up Again
Governor JB Pritzker speaks at an event in Belleville Monday. (Photo: Governor’s office)
Monday marked a new firestorm in Chicago media over the long running saga over a new Chicago Bears stadium, but it appears the uproar was much ado about nothing.
A Chicago TV station reported Monday the state and team “are close to agreement on key issues that would keep the team in-state and help kickstart an Arlington Heights stadium project.”
Multiple sources with knowledge of negotiations called the report exaggerated.
“We aren’t any closer to a deal,” one source said.
Governor JB Pritzker addressed the issue Monday, not anywhere near Soldier Field, but some 300 miles away in the Metro East, where he was holding an unrelated event.
“There’s a lot of discussion, a lot of ongoing conversation with the Bears. And, indeed, frankly, progress that’s been made,” Pritzker said. “I’m pleased about that.”
Pritzker reiterated his long-running stance that the state won’t use tax dollars for stadium construction, which the Bears have not asked for with the proposed Arlington Heights site.
“We’re not gonna do anything that’s bad for the taxpayers here,” Pritzker said. “We’re not throwing money at building a stadium for anybody. We are helping businesses build infrastructure, for example, which [the Bears] would need and other things that are available to any other business that is growing or building something new in the state of Illinois that’s putting people to work. [Those are] normal incentives and that’s what I would expect we will end up with the Bears, depending on where it goes.”
Pritzker did not address the major sticking point in negotiations, which appears to be property taxes on the Arlington Heights site. Pritzker has often said the Bears should negotiate property taxes with local taxing bodies, like school districts, while the Bears continue to ask for a “Payments in Lieu of Taxes,” or PILOT, bill to move through the General Assembly and provide the team with a major property tax reduction. Lawmakers have remained skeptical of the idea.
While “progress” appears to be a moving target, Pritzker did appear optimistic about a deal Monday.
“We’re in consistent conversation with the Chicago Bears,” Pritzker said. “[We] have been, by the way, for a year and a half or two years. And, specifically, I think there’s real possibility that many of the things that we put on the table to work with the Bears on are things that they’re willing to do to stay in the state of Illinois.”
He didn’t elaborate on what those things were.
Indiana lawmakers continue to move legislation that would provide for a new stadium to be constructed, at taxpayer cost, in northwest Indiana. The team’s flirtation with the Hoosier State was met by many lawmakers with skepticism, believing it to be a “leverage play” or “bluff” to get a better deal from the state.
Multiple sources say the team remains serious about a move to Indiana if a deal in Illinois falls through.
“I never take anything as if it were a bluff,” said Pritzker, who reported more than $1 million in gambling winnings on his 2024 taxes and is a known cards enthusiast.
