Your Daily Guide

Stadium Talk

Will we keep the Chicago Bears or not? While the never-ending question plagues Illinois, it’s not the only stadium change in play. (Get it, play?)

About Those Bears

At one point, the Bears moving to Hammond, Indiana seemed like a sure thing — oh, how things have changed.

• This month, state lawmakers could vote on a deal to keep the Bears in Illinois, likely in Arlington Heights.
• Remember? The Bears purchased the former Arlington Heights racetrack back in 2023 with plans for a megaproject. But last spring’s state legislative session ended without a deal to secure financing.
• Now, a new bill taking shape would allow a municipality (like Chicago) to finance and operate stadiums. Those stadiums would pay no property taxes.
• Previously, Gov. JB Pritzker said he wasn’t “willing to give up billions of dollars of taxpayer money… to a billionaire-owned family or team.” In this new deal, taxpayers are only on the hook for surrounding infrastructure.
• A sore subject: Opponent Darren Bailey roasted Pritzker as “the governor that lost the Bears” earlier this month.

Meanwhile, in Bridgeport …

White Sox co-owner Justin Ishbia wants to move the beloved team’s stadium to Amtrak’s current site in South Loop.

• That move would cost $900 million — Ishbia’s already invested a chunk.
• In turn, Amtrak proposed moving its maintenance facility to Bridgeport, but neighbors sounded the alarm over environmental concerns, including exposure to diesel pollution.
• Following pushback, that Bridgeport maintenance facility must now receive a federal environmental review. Initially, the project was permitted to move forward without one.
• Wait, the Bridgeport Bears? As Chicagoans react to Ishbia’s plan, a pitch for a new Bears stadium in place of Rate Field is gaining traction — but the team said no.

And in South Loop …

Multiple stadiums might be on the horizon.

• The Railyards, as it’s called, is Ishbia’s plan for a mixed-use megadevelopment at what’s now the Amtrak railyard. It would stretch from Roosevelt Road to 18th Street and include a riverfront Sox stadium.
• Across that river, McDonald’s Park is currently under construction. This Chicago Fire stadium will anchor the 78, a massive, mixed-use project.
• So far, it looks fancy.