The Chicago Bears move one step closer to moving to the suburbs (UPD: now pushing for a lakefront city-owned dome?)

[Fenway]

50 years ago George Halas wanted nothing to do with Soldier Field in Chicago and when the NFL told him to leave Wrigley Field because it was too small and did not have lights he almost moved the team to Evanston to play at the Northwestern stadium BUT in 1971 Evanston would not allow the sale of alcohol.

The renovation of Soldier Field 20 years ago was a disaster.

Perhaps the McCaskey Family looks at what the Patriots did in Foxborough and thinks that is the way to go.


Bears sign purchase agreement for Arlington Park Racecourse land for stadium

Three-and-a-half months after putting in a bid to buy the Arlington International Racecourse property, the Bears have signed a purchase agreement for the 326-acre plot, a mayoral spokesperson said late Tuesday night.

It’s the latest — but not final — step toward moving the team from Soldier Field to the site, located 6 miles north of the Northwest Tollway, which held its last race Saturday.

The Bears said in June that they were among the groups to put in a bid to purchase the property. If the franchise’s bid was accepted, the team said then, it would be able to “further evaluate the property and its potential.” That is the case now, though the team could still negotiate with the city to remain on the lakefront.
The team told Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot about the purchase agreement Tuesday night.

“We are not surprised by this move,” Lightfoot said in a statement after The Athletic reported the purchase agreement. “We remain committed to continuing to work to keep the team in Chicago and have advised the Bears that we remain open to discussions.”

The Bears did not return a request for comment late Tuesday. Bears Chairman George McCaskey has not spoken publicly since the team put in the bid, forgoing his annual season-opening news conference.

Click to read more...

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Anything that replaces Soldier Field is fine by me, though I’m already half expecting the McCaskeys to build another dump by cutting corners to save some money.

 

[Fenway]

Lori Lightfoot: We want to keep Bears in city, but they aren't interested in negotiating

“I’m the mayor of the city, I’m a Bears fan of longstanding, I’m going to do everything I can to try to keep the Bears in Chicago,” Lightfoot said. “But just as this is a business decision for them, it’s a business decision for us.

"They actually got to come to us and tell us what they want. We have been open to a conversation. They have not."

 

[mouser]

Bears would be better off moving. Despite being downtown, Soldier field is a less then ideal location and less then ideal stadium even after the renovations.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I'm not familiar with the issues at Soldier Field. Have always perceived it as a great stadium like Lambeau or Wrigley. What went so badly with the renovations?

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Well it was a great historic stadium but was no longer NFL capable. It opened in 1924 (Lambeau for comparison opened in 1957) so while both were historic Lambeau wasn't really comparable its design was far better to update/upgrade then much older Soldier Field

The City/Bears then decided to destroy it with that stupid spaceship and well here we are with a stadium that lost its historic landmark status and Bears are leaving

Bears have wanted to move to suburbs since 70's... They should have been allowed to do it or city should have found way to build a modern stadium on South or West Side.. It never happened and here we are

 

[cutchemist42]

Arlington was a beautiful horse track facility. Will miss it.

 

[MMC]

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Google Maps location.

Arlington was a beautiful horse track facility. Will miss it.

A sidebar story to the Bears possibly moving to the Arlington site is the ongoing decline in interest for horse racing in North America.

 

[StreetHawk]

What is the weather like in that area historically between December to January? Even if the wind would be minimized it does appear that they are Probably going with a dome.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Google Maps location.

View attachment 582458


A sidebar story to the Bears possibly moving to the Arlington site is the ongoing decline in interest for horse racing in North America.

NOT TRUE, since CDI owned Arlington and just had the Million not long ago at CD, if that was the case why hasn't horse racing declined across Canada outside of Woodbine

 

[PCSPounder]

Horse racing in Portland, no more. Boise, no more. Bay Meadows on the San Francisco peninsula, long gone. Hollywood Park… just a casino now among many other things being built there.

The closer a track is to downtown, the more likely it failed. Emerald Downs is further away from Seattle than Longacres was. There’s not just a downturn due to the number of other gambling and entertainment options, the sport is retreating to out-of-sight out-of-mind locations.

Back to topic… so a Metra line goes to it hourly. No El. Does that include Sundays? Sounds like a parking gouge in the making.

 

[golfortennis]

Back to topic… so a Metra line goes to it hourly. No El. Does that include Sundays? Sounds like a parking gouge in the making.

Are you kidding? They are doing this for the fans. There's no way they would be looking to soak their loyal, die-hard customers for every dime they can.

This is a fan friendly move, no doubt.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

A sidebar story to the Bears possibly moving to the Arlington site is the ongoing decline in interest for horse racing in North America.

NOT TRUE, since CDI owned Arlington and just had the Million not long ago at CD, if that was the case why hasn't horse racing declined across Canada outside of Woodbine

It's less about fan interest and more about corporate interest.

Churchill Downs owned Arlington Park. Churchill Downs also owns the majority of nearby Rivers Casino, near O'Hare.

CDI had the opportunity to apply to open a casino on the AH property, which would've kept the track afloat. But they declined, as they didn't want to open their own competitor to Rivers.

After the sale of the land was announced, the Bears sports betting sponsor immediately switched from PointsBet to Rivers. I don't think that's a coincidence, CDI/Rivers likely negotiated the right to operate the sportsbook on the property.

I've got to say, Rivers Field has a nice ring to it...

 

[PCSPounder]

Are you kidding? They are doing this for the fans. There's no way they would be looking to soak their loyal, die-hard customers for every dime they can.

This is a fan friendly move, no doubt.

SPICY!

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Bears leave Soldier Field, Fire renovates Soldier Field to be SSS: Everyone wins.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

Bears leave Soldier Field, Fire renovates Soldier Field to be SSS: Everyone wins.

The city's plan to do so is terrible. They'd raise the field, removing the 1st level, 2nd level on the west side, and all the endzone seating, keeping the steep, awful 400 level in place.

Gut that, end up with:

 

[BKIslandersFan]

The city's plan to do so is terrible. They'd raise the field, removing the 1st level, 2nd level on the west side, and all the endzone seating, keeping the steep, awful 400 level in place.

View attachment 586934

Gut that, end up with:
View attachment 586935

Yikes. Should leave the design to Fire.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Bears are actually going to try to get the state on board with some tax trickeries for Arlington Field.

The Chicago Bears are floating in Springfield the possibility of creating new form of tax subsidy for their pending redevelopment of Arlington Park, one which would give them financial help but not penalize local school districts as harshly as conventional tax increment financing district.

Under the plan, which has not yet been submitted in writing but has been raised with key legislative players, the Bears would be able to utilize something known as payment in lieu of taxes, or PILT.

PILT originally was developed by the federal government as a means to compensate local units of government for the loss of property taxes due to the existence of tax-exempt federally-owned property within their borders. The concept since has spread to payments for state-owned property in some parts of the country and to some private developments, such as solar-energy generation, that are not feasible with normal property taxes.

The Bears’ pitch is in the preliminary stage and is receiving a mixed reception from Springfield officials. But because PILT payments can be negotiated rather than being set at a predetermined rate, and because they can be shared with schools rather than stay with municipalities, they offer more flexibility than a conventional TIF district.

Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » Bears float new tax subsidy for suburban stadium

Basically zero chance of this happening, but nice try, I guess, and at least they're not fishing for a Reinsdorfian pile of cash from the state coffers.

 

[PCSPounder]

The city's plan to do so is terrible. They'd raise the field, removing the 1st level, 2nd level on the west side, and all the endzone seating, keeping the steep, awful 400 level in place.

View attachment 586934

Gut that, end up with:
View attachment 586935

Steep is preferable for soccer… as long as the ingress/egress isn’t at the top or the bottom. Which I’m not seeing in these renderings.

DC United and San Jose are smaller, but similar mistakes.

 

[Bucky_Hoyt]

Steep is preferable for soccer… as long as the ingress/egress isn’t at the top or the bottom. Which I’m not seeing in these renderings.

DC United and San Jose are smaller, but similar mistakes.

Probably a pipe dream but would love it if they could get rid of the upper stands that protrude from the original design. Would be great to have the pre-ufo shape.

I imagine that would cost a mountain of money that no one wants to pay but would hopefully make it a premier venue for international friendlies or future CONCACAF tourneys. Even if it brought it down to 30k but had space for temp stands to bring it to 40-45k for those big matches, could be glorious.

 

[MMC]

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Just nonsense. They're trying to a) play tough with a municipality after having already bought land there and b) are somehow surprised that a Chicago-dominated county assessor's office isn't giving them a tax break for trying to leave Chicago.

Bears continue to be comically-run, especially after they wasted a lot of political capital pushing for state tax breaks that merely allowed Chicago and downstate legislators in Springfield to laugh all the way to the political bank for easy PR points opposing a DOA bill.

And if they try to go into a new county, expect them being somehow surprised at the inevitable NIMBY opposition.

 

[Brodie]

I know she never will but McCaskey should probably just sell the team for the $9 billion it is probably worth and let someone competent take over the operation. How can you let a deal get this far without thinking through the contingencies? It isn't like the tax issue isn't a well known aspect of stadium financing.

Moving the team further and further afield just makes no sense, this is going to end with them going back to the table begging for whatever Lightfoot was willing to offer them to remain in Soldier Field. Naperville is NIMBY central, so what is next? Elgin? Aurora? Kankakee?

 

[JimAnchower]

I know she never will but McCaskey should probably just sell the team for the $9 billion it is probably worth and let someone competent take over the operation. How can you let a deal get this far without thinking through the contingencies? It isn't like the tax issue isn't a well known aspect of stadium financing.

Moving the team further and further afield just makes no sense, this is going to end with them going back to the table begging for whatever Lightfoot was willing to offer them to remain in Soldier Field. Naperville is NIMBY central, so what is next? Elgin? Aurora? Kankakee?

The next owner of the Bears will almost certainly be Pat Ryan. He currently owns about 20% of the team. He is also financing Northwestern's new football stadium. There are rumors he will purchase more shares once Virginia passes.