STORNING!: The $2 billion stadium investment by the Chicago Bears..
The $2 billion stadium investment by the Chicago Bears would significantly advance public-private partnerships.
The Chicago Bears recently unveiled pieces of a plan for building a new domed stadium and park space on the city’s lakefront, yards south of the team’s current home at Soldier Field. Opponents and skeptics of the plan began to pounce almost immediately, including because the proposal left them feeling light on details. But there is more to this proposal underneath the facade.
The new venue would be publicly-owned but funded in part by the Bears bringing more than $2 billion of private investment to the project. The development, as team president Kevin Warren said in a statement, would “improve open spaces for all families, fans and the general public to enjoy in the City of Chicago. The future stadium of the Chicago Bears will bring a transformative opportunity to our region—boosting the economy, creating jobs, facilitating mega events and generating millions in tax revenue.” Warren added that the team would share more information as plans unfold.
The proposal for the stadium and surrounding area is in its earliest stages of conception. But in a world that increasingly demands the perceived certainty of fully-formed ideas—especially of the multi-billion-dollar variety—the Bears announcement has some people and groups feeling unsettled. A fair share of residents and taxpayers understandably want to know and see more about the ideas and intentions that the Bears brass has in mind.