Why the Bears should take their time on new stadium plans: Silvy

If you build it …

... crickets ...

We’ve discussed the “if” part of a new Bears stadium for a few years, and I’m not sure we’re any closer to it becoming a reality. To recap, the Bears purchased Arlington Park in 2021 when Ted Phillips was the team president, Ryan Pace was the GM, and Matt Nagy was the head coach.

Kevin Warren was running the Big Ten, which still had 14 teams, Lori Lightfoot was the mayor of Chicago, and Tom Hayes was still in charge in Arlington Heights.

The only thing that has changed more than the participants involved in this journey are the plans for the actual stadium.

Call it the field of multiple dreams.

The Bears have changed course more often than they’ve changed quarterbacks.

There was the original grandiose plan in the northwest suburb, then back to Chicago and the pep rally celebrating the rebuilding of the museum campus downtown, other burbs have wooed the team, the old Michael Reese site was debated, and even talks about the Bears and White Sox joining forces.

Matt Eberflus calling a late-game timeout was done with more conviction.

Here we are today with the Bears back to dreaming of what to do at the original Arlington Heights site without the funding or tax certainty the team is looking for.

The shovels may be back in the Chicago snow before the Bears get shovels in the ground and officially start building.

Some would call it another typical Bears bumbling mess. I continue to be unbothered and actually suggest the team takes it time. Two of the biggest mistakes have happened with Chicago teams while building a stadium in haste.

I was a reporter covering the planning and rebuilding of Soldier Field. After flirting with northwest Indiana and other locations, the Bears finally got approval to build on the lakefront. They were so desperate to stay in Chicago, it didn’t matter that they were restricted and had to build within the old colonnades. It didn’t matter that they would build one of the smallest stadiums in the NFL. It didn’t matter that they didn’t have enough room for tailgate demands. It didn’t matter that they didn’t own their own stadium. It didn’t matter that the field would get torn up by soccer, high school football and rugby. It didn’t matter that they had to play a year in Champaign. It didn’t matter that the concourses are narrow and it’s short on bathrooms. It didn’t matter that the new building looks like a spaceship.

Need I go on?

The point is, desperation led to imperfection and has landed the Bears looking for a new stadium just 20 years after the rebuild.

Then there’s the White Sox, who threatened to move to Florida in the late 1980s, so the state gave Jerry Reinsdorf a sweetheart deal and flubbed new Comiskey Park. The upper deck was too high, the ballpark faces the wrong direction, and just a few years later, it had to go through major renovations.

There’s one caveat that I will warn the Bears about while they take their time.

Warren once said that every year that goes by will cost the team $150 million to $200 million extra in construction costs. Just don’t pass that on to the fan. PSL and ticket prices already will be sky high. It’s not the fans’ fault that you veered from the original plan, unrealistically went back to the city and asked for billions of dollars of public funds.

Other than that, take your time.

The Soldier Field lease goes through 2033, and if the Bears open their new home in 2031 or 2032 as opposed to 2029 is not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things.

Slow and steady wins the stadium race.

Just. Get. It. Right.

In the meantime, far more fans care about the play on the field this year rather than where that field will be five to 10 years from now.

• Marc Silverman shares his opinions on the Bears weekly for Shaw Local. Tune in and listen to the “Waddle & Silvy” show weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m. on ESPN 1000.