BREAKING NEWS: Chicago Bears Will Shear Downtown Stadium With…
A few months ago, Arlington Heights seemed like such an obvious choice. Still, in the realms of athletics and business, things move quickly. The Chicago Bears’ property taxes were being raised by the local schools, but Kevin Warren, the new club president, decided to take a different approach. The club started discussing the prospect of retaining the Bears in the downtown area with city Mayor Brandon Johnson after meeting with other suburban townships including Waukegan and Rockford. Not long after, a potential site became apparent: the south parking lot across from Soldier Fields.
Some believed that Warren was using this as a bargaining chip to convince Arlington Heights officials and the schools to lower their tax forecasts. Justin Laurence of Crain’s Chicago Business claims, however, that the Bears are quite serious about the endeavor. So much so that the team’s executives are getting ready to unveil the new stadium complex to the public. It would entail significant private finance as well as some long-overdue improvements to the community’s infrastructure.
There were many who thought Warren was using this as a negotiating tactic to get the schools and Arlington Heights authorities to reduce their tax projections. But according to Justin Laurence of Crain’s Chicago Business, the Bears are really serious about the project. To the extent that team management are preparing for the public unveiling of the new stadium complex. It would require a substantial amount of private funding in addition to some long-overdue infrastructure upgrades for the town.
The Chicago Bears are about to unveil their plans for a new domed lakefront stadium, complete with public facilities and hundreds of millions in private funding. Team executives are hoping that this would help them fend off a legal challenge from a parks watchdog. This is part of the city’s ongoing sports facility dance.
Like the White Sox, the Bears hope to use the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority’s capacity to issue additional bonds in order to finance the project, even though the team is anticipated to provide a sizeable portion of the funding for the new stadium.
The team is also suggesting infrastructural upgrades to the stadium, which would improve connectivity between Northerly Island and the city grid and the overall museum complex. Although the campus has long been the target of city renovations, the infrastructure needed to host a new stadium would probably add hundreds of millions to the overall taxpayer bill.
The Bears are collaborating with global law firm Sidley Austin, headquartered in Chicago, and have hired lawyers from the company to assist in arranging the intricate financial arrangement. Goldman Sachs is the Bears’ primary banking partner.
Although he hasn’t completely ruled out the Arlington Heights project, it is now obvious that keeping the Bears in Chicago is his real objective. He thinks that among the main attractions for fans nationwide are the skyline and lakeside. They had no desire to leave the region. It was always about wanting a stadium worthy of a team with a history as rich as this one. They tried to make improvements to Soldier Fields, but the Chicago Park District consistently put up barriers in their way. They eventually felt compelled to submit an offer for the Arlington property.