Chicago Bears Prioritize Suburban Arlington Heights for Stadium

Chicago is close to losing its NFL team to the suburbs.

The Chicago Bears are zeroing in on Arlington Heights as the site for the team’s new stadium, signaling a sharper pivot away from downtown after months of weighing options.

Team officials said they’ve made “significant progress” with leaders in Arlington Heights and now intend to “prioritize” the suburban development, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The Bears stopped short of explicitly ruling out Chicago. But it’s a clear departure from the team’s previous dual-track approach, when it was actively exploring a domed stadium on the city’s lakefront.

The shift comes as lawmakers in Springfield weigh “megaproject” legislation that would allow local governments to negotiate long-term property tax agreements with developers. It could potentially serve the financial key to unlocking the Bears’ vision for a $5 billion stadium and entertainment complex on the former Arlington International Racecourse site.

The team said it will not request state funding for the stadium itself but has lobbied for legislative support to secure infrastructure certainty around the broader mixed-use district.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has vocally supported keeping the team in the city through a publicly subsidized lakefront stadium, acknowledged in a statement that the Bears “intend to prioritize” the Arlington Heights site. He added that “the door remains open” in the city.

The team bought the 326-acre racetrack property for $197 million in 2021, then resolved a tax dispute with local school districts late last year and recently began urging lawmakers to formalize long-term tax terms.

Still, lawmakers say time is short. With just two weeks remaining in the spring legislative session and ongoing budget and transit funding crises competing for attention, some legislators bristled at the Bears’ timing.

State Sen. Robert Peters, whose district includes Soldier Field, criticized the announcement, calling it “bad timing” amid broader fiscal pressure. “This is not the time for us to have this conversation,” Peters said.

Even if legislative action slips past this session, the Bears are laying the groundwork for a long-term play in Arlington Heights, one that may finally sideline Chicago.

— Judah Duke