Pritzker Says Illinois Making Progress to Keep Bears

As Indiana officials loudly court the Chicago Bears with a publicly funded stadium pitch, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says his state is gaining ground in negotiations to keep the NFL franchise.

Pritzker said Monday that he and his team have made “progress” in talks with the Bears, even as Republican leaders in Indiana push legislation designed to lure the franchise across the border, the Chicago Tribune reported. The comments come amid heightened maneuvering on both sides of the state line, with billions of dollars in real estate and infrastructure hanging in the balance.

Pritzker’s January calendar showed two scheduled conversations with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell while Goodell was in Chicago for the Bears-Packers playoff game on Jan. 10, according to the outlet. During that visit, Goodell toured the Bears’ preferred site in Arlington Heights — the former Arlington Park racetrack the team owns — as well as potential sites in northwest Indiana, including land near Wolf Lake in Hammond.

At the heart of the Illinois talks are long-running disputes over how much public support the Bears should receive for a new stadium and surrounding development. Those issues include who pays for infrastructure around the Arlington Heights site, how the team’s future property taxes would be assessed and whether the state would help cover debt tied to Soldier Field renovations completed more than 20 years ago.

The Bears have pegged infrastructure needs alone at $855 million. The team has said it would privately finance the stadium itself, according to Crain’s, anchoring a proposed $5 billion mixed-use campus with commercial and residential components in Arlington Heights.

Indiana, meanwhile, is offering a more straightforward — and costlier — proposition. Since the Bears signaled in December that an out-of-state move was on the table, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has pushed legislation to create a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority empowered to build and finance an NFL stadium with public dollars. Insiders have put the potential price tag north of $3.5 billion.

The Indiana Senate has already passed a bill establishing the authority, and the House speaker has said he supports it. The clock is ticking: The Legislature is set to adjourn by the end of the month.

Under the Indiana proposal, the Bears would sign a lease of at least 35 years, pay operating and maintenance costs and keep all stadium-generated revenue. The team would also have the option to buy the stadium for $1 at the end of the lease — or sooner, if construction debt is paid off.

Back in Illinois, Pritzker struck an optimistic tone during an unrelated appearance in Belleville.

“There’s a lot of discussion, a lot of ongoing conversation with the Bears, and indeed, frankly, progress that’s been made,” he said, while declining to outline specific concessions. “We’re not throwing money at building a stadium for anybody.”

The Tribune reported that Pritzker’s office signed a new $25,000 contract in late December with an outside attorney to advise the administration in negotiations through the end of June.

A major sticking point remains: a proposed “megaproject” bill backed by the Bears and Arlington Heights officials. The legislation would allow the team to negotiate long-term property tax terms with local taxing bodies, requiring a change in state law. Arlington Heights Village Manager Randy Recklaus said the village, state and team are “actively working together to solve outstanding issues” and that talks are moving quickly.

The Bears declined to comment. Pritzker said he believes the Indiana threat is real, not a bluff. — Eric Weilbacher