As lawmakers returned to Springfield Tuesday, Gov. JB Pritzker said that a deal to get a Bears stadium in Arlington Heights “needs to happen sooner rather than later,” but is in the hands of the state legislature.
“We’ve done a lot of work in our administration to try to put something together that will work for both the state — the legislature and their concerns — and the team itself,” Pritzker said after an unrelated event in Springfield Tuesday morning.
“It is a pretty good deal that’s been put on the table that I think seems to have support broadly by the Bears ownership,” he added. “So it really now is in the hands of the House of Representatives and the Senate to get something done in a timely fashion.”
Tuesday marked the first time both chambers of the General Assembly were in session at the same time since Bears-backed megaproject legislation advanced out of a House committee nearly a month ago. But the bill failed to get a vote in the full House before representatives went on recess Feb. 26.
Politicians, lobbyists and other interested parties following the NFL club’s stadium saga have all circled their calendars for this week, after Bears brass signaled they may not wait until the legislature adjourns at the end of May for a deal to be reached, and opt to go to Northwest Indiana instead.
Both chambers are in session together this week Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The Senate then recesses until April 14.
Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia — who said during his March 12 state of the village address that waiting until May could be a “no go” for the Bears — is following developments in Springfield from afar.
“We’re all waiting patiently,” he said.
Legislation that would give the Bears a tax break at the 326-acre Arlington Park property doesn’t yet have a 60-vote majority in the House — Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s threshold to call a bill to the floor for a vote.
The bill would allow the Bears or any developer spending at least $500 million on a project to negotiate property tax payments directly with schools and other local governments for up to 40 years. Critics have questioned the potential impact for taxpayers.
Key to any deal is getting enough votes from Chicago House Democrats, who have been reluctant to help the Bears leave the city for the suburbs, especially with nearly $500 million in debt remaining on the 2003 Soldier Field renovations. But now the team is threatening to leave Illinois as a whole, after getting Indiana lawmakers to advance stadium legislation for a site in Hammond.
Whether the Bears bill will get a vote this week in Springfield is unknown. A Welch spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
But Rep. Kam Buckner — the bill sponsor and key figure in behind-the-scenes negotiations — said earlier this week the parties are still “fine tuning” the legislation so that it could get majority support.
“I truly believe that we’ll get there quickly,” the Chicago Democrat said on NBC 5 Chicago’s Sports Sunday. “It may take a couple more weeks. But once it does hit the floor, you can guarantee that it will be a bill that works for the Bears, municipalities around the state, and places like Chicago, and for both the House and Senate and governor.
“We’re not going to be blindsided or pushed over the edge by some arbitrary deadline,” Buckner told anchor Lou Canellis. “What we’re doing is the smart and prudent thing to do to make sure that the people of Illinois have representation in these conversations that does not leave them on the hook. And we’re going to do that with speed and sophistication to make sure we can get there.”
https://www.dailyherald.com/20260324/news/pritzker-bears-stadium-deal-should-happen-sooner-rather-than-later/