What to know about possible move from Soldier Field

The Chicago Bears embarked on a new era in February 2023 with the purchase of a site in Arlington Heights where the team hopes to build a new enclosed stadium with a massive entertainment and residential development.

In April 2024, the team laid out elaborate plans for a new publicly owned domed stadium, but now, the storied NFL franchise’s sights are focused on the northwest suburbs — or is it northwest Indiana?

Here’s what to know about the long road to a new stadium.

So, Indiana? Really?

The Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge, a common path for Chicagoans to travel to Indiana, shown from South Ewing Avenue in South Chicago on Dec. 17, 2025. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

Indiana lawmakers took another step on Feb. 19 toward potentially luring the Bears to the state, as a key committee approved a plan to create an agency that would build a new stadium for the team.

The Indiana House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, which oversees state spending, voted 24-0 to establish a northwest Indiana stadium authority empowered to issue bonds to finance, construct and lease a stadium for the Bears near Wolf Lake in Hammond.

The move comes as Republican Gov. Mike Braun and GOP lawmakers in Indianapolis have acted quickly to encourage the NFL charter franchise across the border, a development that would be a significant economic advantage for “The Region,” as northwest Indiana is called, as well as a political victory against Democratic-dominated Illinois. Republican House Speaker Todd Huston sponsored the measure, having called it “an incredible economic opportunity.”

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. gestures after the House Ways and Means committee passed Senate Bill 27, a stadium authority bill that will create the financial structure for a Chicago Bears stadium in at the Indiana State House in Indianapolis, Indiana, Feb. 19, 2026. The bill still needs to be approved by the Indiana House. (Andy Lavalley/for the Chicago Tribune) — Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. gestures after the House Ways and Means Committee passed Senate Bill 27, a stadium authority bill that will create the financial structure for a Chicago Bears stadium, at the Indiana State House in Indianapolis on Feb. 19, 2026. The bill still needs to be approved by the Indiana House. (Andy Lavalley/for the Chicago Tribune)

As Indiana moved swiftly, Illinois lawmakers on Thursday morning canceled a hearing in Springfield on proposed legislation that could help keep the Bears in Illinois. A spokesman for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement on social media that the Bears requested the Illinois meeting be paused.

Under the Indiana plan, the Bears would pay $2 billion toward the construction costs. The Bears would have to investigate whether the site meets all its requirements for a stadium before signing any deal, just as when the team made similar offers for sites in Chicago and Arlington Heights.

Is Arlington Heights still a possibility?

Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia speaks at a press conference about the Mega Project Bill and how to keep the Bears in Illinois on Jan. 16, 2026, in Arlington Heights. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

While Indiana officials play up their efforts to lure the Bears across the border for a new stadium, Gov. JB Pritzker said he and his staff have made “progress” to incentivize the football team to stay in Illinois.

The key sticking points in Illinois have been over how the state would legislatively or financially aid the team in its desire to build a stadium in Chicago’s northwest suburbs. In particular, topics have evolved around assistance for infrastructure around a proposed Arlington Heights stadium, property tax certainty for the team and payment of debt for the Soldier Field renovations done more than 20 years ago at the team’s behest.

Rolling Meadows Mayor Lara Sanoica, who supports bringing the Bears to neighboring Arlington Heights, issued a statement that the proposed Indiana law would be a bad deal for workers.

“Indiana’s sales pitch is that you can build a world-class stadium by shortchanging the workers who build it,” Sanoica said. “Illinois doesn’t work that way. We know our families deserve better than a race to the bottom.”

What about Halas Hall?

Halas Hall sits in the snow on Jan. 19, 2026, in Lake Forest after the Bears season ended with a loss to the Los Angeles Rams in an NFC divisional playoff game. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

While questions remain about where the Bears will build a new stadium, the team reaffirmed on Feb. 20 that its practice facility and corporate headquarters — Halas Hall — will remain in Lake Forest.

The clarification came after Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott said during a news conference that Hammond’s Northwest Indiana stadium proposal includes a practice facility. “That’s absolutely correct,” McDermott said when asked whether the proposal contemplates football operations in addition to a stadium. “They are talking about everything.”

Following those remarks, the Bears reiterated that Halas Hall will remain in Lake Forest, even as Northwest Indiana and Arlington Heights remain under consideration for a future stadium site.

What’s the history of the team in Chicago?

While the Bears have called Soldier Field home since 1971, the team has discussed or proposed playing its games elsewhere throughout much of the last 50 years.

Wrigley Field served as the original home venue for the team when it moved to Chicago in 1921 and remained there through 1970. The team won nearly 70% of its home games during that span. But the Bears were forced to find a new home after the American Football League merged with the National Football League and required stadiums to seat at least 50,000 fans. The team played its last game at Wrigley Field on Dec. 13, 1970, beating the Packers 35-17.

What would an Arlington Heights stadium look like?

The Bears released an economic impact report that included architectural renderings of the proposed stadium in Arlington Heights on Sept. 30, 2025. (MANICA Architecture)

Construction of a new Bears stadium in Arlington Heights would generate thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity, but would also require substantial taxpayer support for infrastructure, according to team projections released on Sept. 30.

Infrastructure such as entrance and exit ramps from near Route 53 and changes to the adjacent Metra train line would cost $855 million in public funds, the team’s consultant estimated in its report. The report attempts to assuage concerns about the price tag by pointing to gross state tax revenues of almost $1.3 billion over 40 years, according to projections from HR&A Advisors, Inc.

Arlington Park’s rebirth

1 of 43

The former Arlington International Racecourse is seen at sunrise on May 23, 2025, in Arlington Heights. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Expand

One week before his inauguration as the new mayor of Arlington Heights, Jim Tinaglia walked through the downtown streets he’s called home for more than 50 years. What was once a “sleepy little town,” as he described it, has become a bustling community, a place Tinaglia has had a hand in building, himself, through his work as an architect.

He’d built “at least a dozen” places here over the past 35 years.

If there’d been a constant amid all the growth in one of Chicago’s largest suburbs it was probably the horse racing track a little ways northwest of downtown, the one now locked away and waiting for new life. For decades, Arlington Park had been a deeply-ingrained part of the culture here, and a source of pride.

Incoming mayor Jim Tinaglia in downtown Arlington Heights on April 28, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

“Our identity,” Tinaglia said of the track. “For 100 years.”

Now it will be his mission to lead Arlington Park’s rebirth — to complete the long, winding journey of bringing the Bears to Arlington Heights. It’s a large part of why he ran for mayor, and also why he believes he was elected: to finish a deal that has proven elusive since a rush of early momentum, and to help convince Bears leadership, once and for all, that they should move from Chicago to the northwest suburbs.

What about a domed stadium on the Chicago lakefront?

1 of 12

An artist’s rendering of a new state-of-the-art enclosed stadium with open space access to the lakefront was released by the Chicago Bears on April 24, 2024. (Manica)

Expand

Warren envisions a stadium just south of the Bears’ current home at Soldier Field, on the site of what is now a parking lot. The facility would seat about 65,000 for football, with standing room up to 70,000, and a capacity of 77,000 for basketball.

Unlike Soldier Field, it could hold events year-round, including concerts, soccer, college basketball playoffs, or, once in a great while, the Super Bowl.

The Bears say they would pay $2 billion, a huge private investment, plus $300 million requested from the NFL. The rest of the $3.2 billion cost of the stadium alone would be paid with $900 million from the state. The team said another $325 million would be needed for infrastructure, including improved road access and utilities as part of up to $1.5 billion for full build-out with extras like a hotel.

The public money would be borrowed through bonds issued by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, or ISFA, which previously financed construction of Guaranteed Rate Field, where the White Sox play, and the 2003 renovation of Soldier Field. The bonds are to be repaid over 40 years by the city’s 2% hotel tax.

“I remain skeptical about this proposal, and I wonder whether it’s a good deal for the taxpayers,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. “There are a lot of priorities that the state has, and I’m not sure that this is among the highest priorities for taxpayers.”

Could Indiana be an option?

The Indiana legislature moved a bill aimed at attracting the Bears to Northwest Indiana just yards from the end zone, with final approval by the Senate on April 9.

House Bill 1292, authored by Rep. Earl Harris, D-East Chicago, would establish a Northwest Indiana professional development commission and a professional sports development fund. Harris said the commission would be tasked with exploring and implementing strategies to attract one or more sports franchises to Northwest Indiana.

“The Bears are the big boy, so that has received the most attention,” Harris said. The bill passed the Senate 46-2.

Or what about another site in Chicago?

Other cities and municipalities around Illinois have previously expressed interest in talking to the Bears about a future stadium.

What would happen to Soldier Field without the Bears?

1 of 31

Soldier Field on the lakefront on March 11, 2024. where the Bears have proposed building a new domed stadium. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Expand

The divorce is far from a foregone conclusion — the Bears have simply taken the next step. If the team leaves Soldier Field, Friends of the Parks Executive Director Juanita Irizarry said she hopes the stadium can host many more concerts each year, easing the increasingly controversial burden on neighborhood parks for big musical events such as Riot Fest in Douglass Park and the recently announced Re:SET festival in Riis Park.

Why Arlington Heights?

The league’s largest and most expensive arena and the site of the Super Bowl, SoFi, just outside Los Angeles, is overwhelming fans with its sweeping curves and epic scale. The stadium and its development highlight certain parallels to the Bears’ proposal to buy and redevelop Arlington International Racecourse. Both reflect desires to leave century-old stadiums and home cities for vast sites that allow for planned enclaves of surrounding restaurants, hotels, offices, stores and homes.

What are fans saying?

Some fans expressed a draft day-like optimism that better days are ahead. They dreamed openly of shorter concessions, easier parking, better tailgating opportunities and a domed stadium that protected them from biting winter winds.

“I’ve been to multiple stadiums in the NFL and Soldier Field does not compete with any of them,” Bears season ticket holder Neal Shah of Wheaton said. “On game days, the television crews show an aerial view of the stadium, which is beautiful, but the logistics are terrible.”

What to know about possible move from Soldier Field

Why Arlington Heights?

What are fans saying?

LJ News Opinions

Mexico's latest cartel violence prompts fears of 'narcoterrorism' in replay 1990s Colombia

Recommended

Southern California father killed by hit-and-run driver

‘What have I missed?!’ Britain’s Got Talent viewers are left baffled as audience appears to BOO judge Bruno Tonioli as the final kicks off

Popular News

Connect with us

Category

Site links

Legal Pages