Bridge to a Deal? Bears, Gov. Talking New Stadium

Pritzker Spending 'Major Taxpayer Money' to Study $5 Billion Sports & Entertainment Plan

By Clete Campbell Windy City End Zone

Will this be the bridge that ultimately builds the biggest stadium project in Illinois history?

It’s more hush hush than a Super Bowl game plan, but both the Chicago Bears and Illinois governor’s office are talking and both putting together blueprints on how to proceed with funding negotiations on the team’s proposed $5 billion Arlington Heights stadium and entertainment project.

The Tribune reported Thursday that Gov. JB Pritzker has spent $100,000 of taxpayer dollars to analyze the potential impact of the Bears’ proposal. Meanwhile, the Bears have multiple consultants working on the plan – the most ambitious and expensive stadium project ever conceived in the Prairie State.

The two sides are still the distance from Soldier Field to Arlington Heights (28.3 miles) away from making any real progress toward a deal. Pritzker has said a hard no to any public dollars for the Bears’ ambitious domed stadium and commercial district. The Bears have agreed but want public money for the amenities (i.e., the stadium neighborhood development plan).

ABC 7 Chicago’s Craig Wall reported last week the Bears and the state “are not in sync on using taxpayer dollars.”

“They’re a private business making business decisions for their economic benefit,” Pritzker said of the Bears last week. “Obviously, we want it to benefit the state as best it can. But I am not going to use taxpayer dollars unless it’s good for taxpayers.”

Yet, as the Tribune reports, Pritzker is spending “major taxpayer money” to study the feasibility of Bears’ grandiose plans.

And the two camps are talking. It’s another telling sign that all Bears stadium progress roads are pointing toward the Northwest Suburbs.

But as the Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman and Mitchell Armentrout write, “a ton of things need to happen before the Bears’ quest for a new stadium reaches the end zone in Arlington Heights.”

As for Pritzker, he’s rooting for Chicago to rise from the ashes and get back in the Bears stadium race.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says he won't invest state money in the Bears' stadium plan unless "it's good for taxpayers."

“Personally, I would like to see the Chicago Bears stay in the city of Chicago,” he said. “I’m a Bears fan. It’s where I’ve watched them play all these years. But again, they are a private business and are going to make their own decisions” on where to play.