Goodell Tours Bears Stadium Sites as Indiana Push Heats Up

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell quietly joined top Chicago Bears officials last weekend to tour potential sites for a new stadium.

Goodell toured the Bears’ Arlington Heights property along with two sites in northwest Indiana, including one near Wolf Lake in Hammond, according to a source familiar with the visit and first reported by the Chicago Tribune. Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren and Chairman George McCaskey led the tour, which took place Saturday — hours before the team’s dramatic come-from-behind playoff win over the Green Bay Packers.

The commissioner’s presence matters. Any new stadium project would need approval from NFL owners, and the league could provide a loan of $200 million or more to help finance construction. Goodell’s site visit signals that the Bears’ plans have moved beyond local posturing into league-level consideration.

The Indiana leg of the tour follows reporting last month that the Bears were exploring options across the state line. Since then, Indiana Governor Mike Braun has openly courted the team, pitching a new stadium as an economic development win. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Democratic legislative leaders, by contrast, have drawn a firm line against state-funded stadium subsidies.

The Bears have said they would cover more than $2 billion in stadium construction costs themselves, but want public help with roughly $855 million in infrastructure improvements tied to the former Arlington International Racecourse site they own in Arlington Heights. The team is also seeking changes to Illinois law that would allow it to negotiate long-term property tax agreements with local taxing bodies.

That request has run into resistance from Chicago lawmakers, who argue along with Gov. Pritzker that the Bears should first help address more than $500 million in remaining debt from the 2003 renovation of Soldier Field, which the city is still paying off. The Bears’ lease at Soldier Field runs through 2033, though the team could exit earlier by paying a penalty.

Warren previously called for breaking ground on a new enclosed, “state-of-the-art” stadium as soon as last year, with a projected three-year buildout.

— Eric Weilbacher