NEWSLETTER
A Chicago Bears electronic billboard can stay a little while longer in its Arlington Heights home.
Is this a (literal!) sign of good will? Perhaps.
Despite passing legislation banning that type of advertisement, the Arlington Heights Village Board voted 8-1 to continue allowing the Bears billboard on Illinois Route 53 to keep on humming until June 2025. And it sure seems like this billboard is getting the OK to stay because the folks in Arlington Heights want to remind Chicago’s football team that they’re still open to being the home site for the next Bears stadium.
“I would grant an exception regardless of the ongoing redevelopment discussions,” Mayor Tom Hayes said via the Chicago Tribune in explaining the support for the decision to extend the billboard’s stay . “but the extension also shows our good faith in dealing with this property owner.”
I’m picking up what you’re putting down, Mr. Mayor.
But are the Bears doing the same?
Don’t rule out Arlington Heights as a future Bears stadium site
The Chicago Bears purchased the property at Arlington Park that was once the home to the famed racehorse track with the intent of building a stadium project on the property. But that purchase was made under the Ted Phillips presidency. And even though current Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren originally had plans to follow through on that plan, the team has since entertained conversations with a bevy of Chicagoland area municipalities that have shown interest in being the future home town of Bears football.
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Things progressed to a point where the team shared its plan (and cool project renderings) to build a stadium in downtown Chicago as part of a lakefront and Museum Campus redevelopment project. The team has even vowed to invest $2 billion to get the ball rolling, but tax dollars going to the stadium project has been deemed a “non-starter” by the Illinois governor’s office. Since then, the Illinois legislature has put the franchise’s proposal on the back burner until fall session. The most recent update from the Bears president paints an optimistic picture from his point of view, but there is still so much ground to cover before I’d be able to match that optimism.
MORE: Pressure is Shifting to the Bears to Put More into Their Stadium Proposal
With that being said, I can’t shake my personal feeling that the Bears will end up building some sort of stadium facility in Arlington Heights.
Part of that is rooted in knowing that the team has already spent $197 million to buy the Arlington Park property. That is a lot of money to spend on land you aren’t planning to use. And the reality is, the best use of that plot of land – for the Bears – would be to build out a stadium complex like what was proposed in September 2022. Could the team sell it to the highest bidder? Sure. But I don’t think they would make as much money off of it as they would if they decide to go ahead, bite the bullet, and build on that land.
And yet, that possibility doesn’t seem like it is in the cards right now. But so long as neither side burns any bridges until now and when something becomes officially official somewhere else, the village of Arlington Heights is keeping the door open. To their credit, the Bears haven’t officially closed that door to Arlington Heights either. Perhaps if whatever beef regarding taxes the two sides have gets resolved, then maybe an Arlington Park project can get back onto the table.
