Bears looking past Arlington Heights for possible stadium sites, including Northwest Indiana

The Bears’ sole focus for a new stadium is no longer Arlington Heights — and no longer Illinois.

In the team's latest change of heart in a years-long quest for a new home, Bears president and CEO Kevin Warren sent a letter to fans Wednesday evening saying the team will explore other locations for their planned new domed stadium — including northwest Indiana.

Warren wrote that Arlington Heights remains "the best and only path forward in Cook County, given there are no other viable alternatives," and vowed to explore taking the team elsewhere.

"We need to expand our search and critically evaluate opportunities throughout the wider Chicagoland region, including Northwest Indiana," Warren wrote. "This is not about leverage. We spent years trying to build a new home in Cook County. We invested significant time and resources evaluating multiple sites and rationally decided on Arlington Heights."

Gov. JB Pritzker blasted Warren's thinly veiled threat to leave the state.

“Suggesting the Bears would move to Indiana is a startling slap in the face to all the beloved and loyal fans who have been rallying around the team during this strong season," a Pritzker spokesman said in a statement. "The Governor’s a Bears fan who has always wanted them to stay in Chicago. He has also said that ultimately they are a private business that makes their own decisions, but the Governor has also been clear that the bottom line for any private business development should not come at the full expense of taxpayers.”

In 2023, the Bears paid $197 million to buy the 326-acre former Arlington International Racetrack site, pitching a massive, $5 billion mixed-use development anchored by a 60,000-seat stadium. But the team has said it's not financially feasible without legislation allowing them to negotiate a discounted property tax rate in Arlington Heights — and state lawmakers have shown zero willingness to throw any blocks on their path out of Soldier Field.

Stymied in Springfield, the Bears have publicly shifted their stadium focus several times among sites on the lakefront, in Arlington Heights and the ambiguous field of suburban possibilities that the team is hinting at once again.

The Illinois General Assembly’s fall veto session closed in October without consideration of the so-called megadevelopment legislation the team seeks — not even after the Bears told lawmakers they’d commit to sending $25 million to the city of Chicago to rebuild or improve public parks and playing fields if they skip town.

Warren wrote that the Bears "have been told directly by state leadership, our project will not be a priority in 2026."

With construction costs rising, Bears sources told the Sun-Times last month that the lack of progress in Springfield might force them to consider looking at stadium sites outside Cook County. A host of other municipalities have publicly courted the Bears, including Naperville, Waukegan, Aurora, Richton Park and Country Club Hills.

Warren said repeatedly this year that he wanted to break ground by Dec. 31. In August, he said that the Bears were “ready now” to build in Arlington Heights, were the team to assuage its property tax concerns.

Wednesday’s letter marks the latest twist in the stadium saga under Warren, who took over the Bears after they’d decided to build land in Arlington Heights. On the eve of the 2024 NFL draft, Warren held a press conference declaring that building a new dome adjacent to Soldier Field was the Bears’ preferred option.

That $4.7 billion proposal was dead on arrival thanks to the $900 million in taxpayer dollars for the stadium and more than a billion in infrastructure costs — not to mention the high potential for litigation with parkland advocates who successfully fended off George Lucas’ Star Wars museum from breaking ground east of Lake Shore Drive.

Arlington Heights has remained the logical landing point for a potential move. Besides the land, the Bears are paying the village hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover outside consultants' evaluations of the proposal. The team has estimated some $855 million in public money would be needed for infrastructure costs to support a stadium there.

The Bears have committed to investing more than $2 billion into the stadium wherever it goes, while touting flowery economic projections for the region. Pritzker and other Democratic legislative leaders who pull the levers in Springfield have suggested the team needs to find a mechanism to pay off the $500 million-plus that taxpayers still have left to foot from Soldier Field's 2003 renovation.

"We listened to state leadership and relied on their direction and guidance, yet our efforts have been met with no legislative partnership," Warren wrote.

Warren's letter comes at a time in which the Bears have the attention of the NFL world. The 10-4 Bears will play their rival Packers on national television in prime time Saturday night, with the winner holding sole possession of first place in the NFC North. The Bears can clinch their first playoff spot in five years this weekend with a win and a Lions loss.

The Bears’ lease at Soldier Field runs through 2033, though they could break it early.