The Chicago Bears have backed themselves into a corner.
If they’re sincerely willing to move to Indiana, then there’s only one thing left to do: Pack the trucks. If they’ve been using Indiana as leverage to get a better deal to stay in Illinois, then, well, the gambit failed. The Bears can slink back to Soldier Field and figure out next steps.
The Illinois legislature adjourned until fall without approving an incentive package to build a new stadium. The Bears aren’t going to learn anything new before they conclude a process that is making NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell impatient.
The Bears are either bluffing, or they’re not. It’s time for them to show their cards.
Illinois lawmakers could convene a special session to reconsider a stadium deal, but what’s the point? Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, and the Democratic-controlled legislature have known for years that the Bears were angling for a new stadium deal. Facing the prospect of losing the Bears, Illinois essentially just said, “Do what you have to do. We’ve got nothing for you.” Illinois’ position seems unlikely to change in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Indiana has come up with around $1 billion toward a stadium in Hammond. The Bears have committed to paying $2 billion.
Indiana’s share would come from doubling the hotel tax in Lake County to 10%, instituting a 1% food and beverage tax in Lake and Porter counties, adding a 12% admissions tax to future tickets and creating a special taxing district to divert money to the stadium.
“Now, the Bears are going to go huddle,” Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott said June 2 on his Left of Center podcast. “They’re going to discuss the offers on the table, and when I say offers, I mean one. There’s one offer. It’s Hammond, Indiana. The state of Indiana made an offer.
“They’re going to discuss and they’re going to say, ‘We’re going to do this and we’re going to put shovels in the ground and we’re going to get this started,’ or they’re going to say, ‘No, we’re not going to do this,’ and, if that’s the case, God bless them. The Bears can go back and deal with JB Pritzker … without Hammond, and without Hammond to beat up on from the city of Chicago calling us a toxic waste dump.”
My assumption has been that the Bears were bluffing. But, even if they were, Illinois’ ambivalence must be painful to the Bears’ owners and executives.
The Bears are like a person with a lucrative job offer to leave a company in which they’re otherwise content to remain if they can just get a raise — yet that employer is refusing to make a counter-offer. At some point, leaving becomes a matter of pride, even if you’d rather stay. That might be where the Bears find themselves.
If Indiana lures the Bears across the state line, you have to give credit to Gov. Mike Braun, House Speaker Todd Huston and other state and legislative leaders who seized an opportunity that looked dubious to most, including me.
Unless, of course, you’re looking at the Bears as an investment. In that case, you might be disappointed. The finances almost certainly sound much rosier now than they would turn out to be in practice — that’s how stadium financing always goes.
Landing an NFL team also does not guarantee a bright future for Hammond. Sports stadiums often fail to live up to their broader redevelopment promise, and the Bears could just as easily move back to Chicago in 30 or 40 years.
It’s better to judge this deal as an amenity. There are only 32 NFL teams. Indiana might soon have two of them — as well as another Super Bowl hosting opportunity and all the other perks that come along with NFL teams.
You’d be justified in arguing it’s not worth the cost. That’s what Illinois appears to have decided. Just try to name one other thing Indiana could add to its northwest corner to garner the same level of prestige and transformative potential as the Bears. If you’re the mayor of Hammond, of course you want to bring the Bears to your city. There’s no other rational position.
“I’m pretty sure, within the next month, Hammond is going to learn its destiny,” McDermott said on his podcast. “We’re going to either get the thumbs up or the thumbs down.”
In the contest over which state cares the most about hosting the Bears, Indiana has already won.
Contact James Briggs at 317-444-4732 or james.briggs@indystar.com. Follow him on X at @JamesEBriggs.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: The Chicago Bears are running out of reasons to stay in Illinois | Opinion
Reporting by James Briggs, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
