The Chicago Bears have risked the wrath of their fans after setting the wheels in motion for a move out of Illinois and into a new stadium in Indiana.
Earlier this week it was revealed that the Bears are sticking with their timeline for selecting a site for a new stadium amid an uncertain future for a proposal that could tempt them to build one in Illinois, where its current Soldier Field home is located.
The Illinois Senate passed a bill early Monday morning that would have cleared the way for Arlington Heights and Chicago to create local stadium authorities, creating a pathway for the team to avoid paying property taxes on a new stadium in Illinois. But the House adjourned without taking up the measure on the last day of the state’s spring legislative session.
As a result, the Bears said they were finalizing their evaluation of possible stadium sites in Arlington Heights and Hammond, Indiana, and they ‘remain on the late spring/early summer timeline.’
Four days later, Chicago chairman George H. McCaskey and president Kevin Warren have announced that the team’s Board of Directors voted at a meeting on Thursday to advance their stadium development project in Hammond.
‘Yesterday, the Chicago Bears Board of Directors met and voted to advance our stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana, with the exact site to be selected,’ the joint statement from McCaskey and Warren reads.
The Chicago Bears have set wheels in motion to leave Soldier Field and move to Indiana
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams may not be playing for the team in Chicago for much longer
‘We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting northwest Indiana and the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across the neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city. It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.’
The Indiana House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee passed a bill earlier this year establishing authority to finance, construct and lease a stadium for the Bears.
The NFL franchise is looking at a tract of land near Wolf Lake in Hammond — about 30 miles from Soldier Field.
Since moving to Chicago in 1921, the Bears have never owned their stadium, whether playing at Wrigley Field from 1921 to 1970 or Soldier Field since then.
But the move to relocate and build a new home in Indiana has not gone down well with a number of supporters, who are furious at the prospect of leaving Chicago.
One user wrote on X: ‘If you seriously move to Indiana, then I’m not a Bears fan anymore. Best of luck to Caleb [Williams]. He deserves better.’
Another posted: ‘You just lost a season ticket holder!’
While a third said to the Bears hierarchy: ‘f*** you guys, betraying the fans who have supported you for 100 years’.
