NEWSLETTER
Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren spoke at an Arlington Heights community meeting on Monday that provided updates regarding the team’s stadium project in suburban Chicagoland.
We’ve highlighted some of Warren’s most important remarks and added additional commentary for depth, perspective, and insight. Enjoy!
Warren wants to build “the best building in sports” for the Bears, but…
Fortune favors the bold. So I love that Warren is diving head-first into the stadium project. The Bears president saying (h/t Tribune) he wants to build “the best building in all of sports” is admirable. As is the idea that an Arlington Heights stadium project could attract high-profile wrestling events (Wrestlemania, anyone?), monster truck rallies, and even a Taylor Swift residency (hey, he said it … not me!). But there’s a but … and it’s a big one.
“We’ve had a stalemate and a lack of communication,” Warren said, via the Tribune. “and it’s a little more convoluted at this point in time than I thought it would be.”
I’m no expert negotiator, but it isn’t a good thing when the word “stalemate” is thrown out so casually in conversation. Moreover, a “stalemate” and a “lack of communication” is the type of 1-2 punch that can be problematic for two sides trying to iron out a deal. No wonder the Bears have begun exploring other opportunities.
More on that in a moment.
So, what’s the deal with Arlington Heights?
In early June, Warren and the Bears made it known that building in Arlington Heights was no longer the team’s only option. Since then, the team has held meetings with the mayors of Naperville and Chicago. Waukegan also threw its hat in the ring wanting to be the next home site of the Chicago Bears. And while the demolition of Arlington Park hit another phase in June, the Bears still used that moment to reiterate that developing the site into a stadium and entertainment complex was a lock.
So, what’s the holdup? In short, taxes.
Via the Daily Herald’s Christopher Placek:
The Bears and three school districts — Palatine Township Elementary District 15, Northwest Suburban High School District 214 and Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211, whose boundaries cover portions of the sprawling shuttered racetrack property — are far apart on what the tax payment should be the next two years.
The Bears’ last offer was $4.3 million, while the schools suggested $7.9 million. Though it’s being challenged, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s reassessment of the property would increase the annual property tax bill from $2.8 million to $16.2 million.
As my mentor, the late Tribune investigative reporter Bill Recktenwald would often tell me: “Follow the money.”
With the two sides being as far apart as they are when it comes to tax dollars, it should be no surprise that Warren and the Bears have been holding meetings with other potential sites. What at first looked like a leverage play now looks a little different given this bit of perspective. Especially after Warren said during Monday’s event that he spoke to a third town while driving to the meeting in Arlington Heights. Maybe we can apply the rule of three (when someone says they have three options, they really have just one … or none). Or perhaps we’re in store for a drag-out fight.
The Bears are 100% in on building a dome
In addition to laying out the conflict at hand, Warren also shared some other nuggets. The most notable being the franchise’s insistence on a dome stadium.
“It definitely needs to be a dome-covered stadium,” Warren said, via ABC-7 Chicago. “Because, that would afford us the opportunity for 365-days-a-year activation.”
Ever since the idea of the Bears moving to the ‘burbs entered our atmosphere, a thing I feel as if too many people were overlooking is that this stadium district needs to be functional year-round. Simply put, it can’t be juuuust a football stadium. I mean, you’ve gotta pay for that thing somehow! And the best way to go about it is to have a steady stream of draws that come to your building.
It can’t be only a few marquee events. Because even if Warren builds the best stadium in the world, it has to host more than a dozen or so football games every year to be the thing he wants it to be.
Even if NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell promises a Super Bowl within the first few years of its opening, we know that it won’t host the big game every year. Same with the Final Four. Maybe it’ll be part of a rotation, but that isn’t a guarantee. And, yes, I love the idea of an artist getting a residency. But this isn’t Vegas and suburban Arlington Heights isn’t a tourist destination. Heck, I’m even down for AEW and WWE to bring some high-flying wrasslin’ action to a new stadium. To maintain relevance, it needs to get year-long usage. Hence, the need for a dome — wherever it’s built.
Here for the long haul
Strap yourselves in, folks. This story isn’t going anywhere. And neither is Warren.
It’s not as if we were expecting anything different. But I can envision an alternate timeline in which Warren successfully navigates the waters of building the Bears a new stadium and uses it to launch him to a bigger, better gig. But Warren saying he wants an extended stay with the team means he has other ideas of building up this franchise beyond the stadium project. That’s good. One of the biggest knocks on his predecessor was that they didn’t do enough to build on the Bears’ profile. Hopefully, that changes with Warren calling the shots at the top.
In the end…
What once seemed like an easy deal and a slam dunk is turning into anything but. Again, this isn’t wholly unexpected. Firstly, we knew there was going to be a give-and-take negotiation process. That just comes with the territory. But when you throw in the Bears (notorious for fumbling the easiest situations) and Illinois politics (always a circus), it was never going to be as easy as we were hoping. Still, there is an underlying feeling that perhaps Warren doesn’t like the deal that was put in place by Ted Phillips. That would explain the gear change from Arlington Heights being a singular focus in March to flirting with other municipalities in June.
At the end of the day, the Bears moving to Arlington Park isn’t a foregone conclusion. Yes, spending nearly $200 million to buy the property makes it the most likely landing spot. But the team could flip the property if it deems it as the best decision. Ultimately, this all serves as a reminder that we’ve got a long way to go in this journey.
