Chicago Bears solely focused on building new stadium in Arlington Heights this year

The Bears still are solely focused on building a new enclosed stadium in Arlington Heights and hoping to move ground this year.

Team president and chief executive officer Kevin Warren confirmed the Bears’ plans during a news conference Friday at Halas Hall in Lake Forest.

“We are still extremely focused on Arlington Heights, on building our stadium there,” Warren said. “That’s our plan. We strongly believe that is the only location in Cook County that will allow us to build a stadium, a new Chicago Bears stadium with a fixed roof. We are making great progress.”

Warren said that the Bears have only been discussing plans for building a new stadium with the village of Arlington Heights. The two parties have met weekly over the past couple of months.

The Bears are ready to move forward with their new stadium on its 326-acre lot in Arlington Heights that it officially bought in 2023. Warren said that the designs are ready and that he’s hoping to move ground this year and ceremoniously break ground next year after going through the final necessary processes with Arlington Heights.

But there’s still a hurdle the Bears need to clear. That’s the mega project state legislation in Springfield that would allow the team to negotiate with local governments over property tax bills.

The bill stalled during the spring session and will have a chance to pass during the fall veto session. It will now need a 3/5 majority to pass.

Warren was confident that the Bears could work with Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and state legislators to pass the bill and get the project moving.

“We’re ready now,” Warren said. “Everything is in order. So if that bill passes in October … there are items we have to work on, and obviously, there is a process you have to follow with the village of Arlington Heights from an approval process. But obviously they are committed. So the goal would still be to be in a position to move dirt this year. There’s still work, some initial work that needs to be done to get the site ready, but to hopefully break ground next year formally ... to actually move dirt this year. And to be ready to play in our new stadium.”

The Bears’ search has had twists and turns since the team submitted a bid to buy Arlington Park in June 2021. Under the then-team president Ted Phillips, the Bears unveiled plans for a $5 billion stadium and mixed-use development for the site in September 2022 and closed on its sale in February 2023 for $197.2 million.

But a property tax dispute with Arlington Heights-based schools forced the Bears to look elsewhere, leading other Chicago suburbs to throw their hat into the ring.

Under Warren’s leadership, the Bears shifted their focus to the Museum Campus just south of Soldier Field. The team and Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson revealed a plan for a $3.2 billion stadium in April.

After the Bears received strong pushback from public funding to build a new stadium in Chicago, the Bears shifted focus back to Arlington Heights this year. Warren reaffirmed that commitment Friday and thought the city of Chicago could still benefit from a stadium, even if it wasn’t in the city limits.

“Chicago and Arlington Heights are in the same county, so it’s not like we’re moving to another county,” Warren said. “We’re still in the same county, so this will be a financial benefit, not only from a jobs standpoint for building the stadium and people working full time, but also just from a hospitality industry standpoint.”

Warren told reporters Friday that he wasn’t surprised that it would take this long for the stadium project to come together. Bears controlling owner and chairman George McCaskey echoed that sentiment Friday and said he’s looking forward to building a stadium that will draw major attractions to the area.

“Chicagoland deserves it,” McCaskey said. “We’re missing out on major events. It’s a great opportunity to provide jobs both on a temporary basis and permanent basis, and it’s a chance to attract major events to the greatest city in the world. The village of Arlington Heights would benefit. The city of Chicago would benefit. The county of Cook would benefit. And the great state of Illinois would benefit.”