The Chicago Bears may include a minor league baseball complex as part of its deal to move to the site of the Arlington International Racecourse by 2023.
Documents from Arlington Heights show the team included the former baseball executive’s proposal, the Chicago Tribune reported. They also show the team has deposited $125,000 with the village for studies of the football stadium proposal, and that Bears Chairman George McCaskey and other leadership members have attended meetings about the purchase and stadium construction.
The team said last fall that it agreed to buy the property from Churchill Downs for $197 million, pending approval from both parties. Churchill Downs has since closed the renowned track. The Bears would have to break their lease at Soldier Field to build the new stadium.
William Larsen, former general manager of the Kane County Cougars minor league team, proposed the minor league baseball complex. Larsen wrote in a February email to Arlington Mayor Tom Hayes that the field would host four to six teams of undrafted college players.
Larsen said scouts and others in the professional baseball world had told him there’s a need for undrafted players to pursue their goal of playing professionally, though he didn’t have financial or other formal backing for the proposal. He estimated the project would take up 10 to 15 acres on the 326-acre site and that the games could draw about 450,000 fans a year.
According to the emails, Mayor Hayes said village officials would encourage the team to consider the idea, though team officials would make the final call.
A spokesman for the Bears didn’t comment on the proposal and said the team is still trying to see if the site will work for a football stadium.
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[Chicago Tribune] – Rachel Herzog