Bears expand stadium options, include Arlington Heights

A year after stating the goal of building a new stadium on the Chicago lakefront, the Bears are now saying an Arlington Heights, Ill., location is back on the table, team president and CEO Kevin Warren said Wednesday.

Warren made the assertion at the NFL's annual meeting in Palm Beach, Fla.

The Bears bought a 326-acre property in Arlington Heights in 2021 that was expected to include a multibillion dollar stadium project with restaurants, retail space and real estate. Over the summer of 2023, however, the team said those plans were "at risk" due to stalled negotiations over property taxes.

Instead, in April of 2024 the Bears unveiled plans for a new state-of-the-art domed stadium with the intention of building it on the museum campus in Chicago near the team's current site at Soldier Field.

On Wednesday, Warren said the final decision will include both of those locations.

"The focus now is both downtown and Arlington Heights," Warren said Wednesday. "One thing about Arlington Heights, I always try to look for the positive elements. To have that beautiful piece of land that has great topography -- you can actually see downtown from there. To have the Salt Creek that runs in between it, it's almost split equally from an acreage standpoint. And you think of the Metra spots, it has an Arlington Park location there."

"... Arlington Heights is, I keep going back to it, it's an absolutely fantastic piece of land. I thank George and his family for having the foresight."

Although the team has said construction of the stadium will be privately funded, concerns arose in Arlington Heights regarding how much of the cost of the infrastructure around the stadium would be put on taxpayers.

Warren noted "progress" in Arlington Heights, where in December the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to settle the annual property tax bill for the Bears' potential stadium site at $3.6 million.

"These are not linear processes or projects. They take time, they take a lot of energy and effort," Warren said. "I am very, very pleased with where we are. I think we, collectively as a group, are where we thought we would be."

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was not concerned at how long the Bears' stadium decision is taking.

"It's an important issue for the community and the team," Goodell said from the annual meetings, per the Chicago Sun Times. "It's not uncommon for it to be a two-year discussion. They started very early -- their lease isn't up (until after the 2033 season). Those discussions, you expect are going to be thorough. There are going to be twists and turns through that process. And then you get to the process of having to actually build once you make those decisions, ultimately. There's a lot to do."

--Field Level Media